There will be considerable interest around Nigel Pearson’s first team selection of the 2023/24 Championship season
Andi Weimann made a good point when he said the squad gathered together at the High Performance Centre earlier this week to relay the message to each other than just because they might not get picked today, it is but one of 46 Championship games.
All the excitement and anticipation of an opening match of a season means there will be a degree of extra significance placed on the 11 players Bristol City manager Nigel Pearson selects to start against Preston North End.
Who appears to have won their respective personal battles over pre-season will form much of the debate when the team drops at 2pm and, to some extent, there is value in that but two factors must be considered, firstly the profile of the opposition but, also, as Weimann alluded to – it’s a squad game and provided you put the work in, you’ll get an opportunity.
Pearson can fill his bench with nine substitutes, and is able to use five of them. The options in the dugout could be almost as significant as those on the field from the first whistle given how many matches are decided in the final 30 minutes.
And that is partly why, along with providing safeguards against injury, fatigue, suspensions and losses of form, having a deeper squad with a greater and more varied spread of quality and unique attributes matters.
Of course, this team does have a massive Alex Scott-influenced level of intrigue around it; will he, won’t he? And if he doesn’t, what does it all mean? We’ll address that in the section appropriately marked “midfield” as we break down what starting XI is likely to take to the field at Ashton Gate…
Goalkeeper and defence
It’s a small and probably obvious gesture, but handing Max O’Leary the No1 jersey must feel good for the 26-year-old who’s been at City for 17 years, and was cited as a prospect a decade ago, but it wasn’t until towards the end of 2022 where he could properly call himself the Robins first-choice.
With numero uno on his back and a ringing endorsement from his manager earlier this summer, O’Leary knows he has the full backing of the man in charge and although he handed a quiet summer in between the sticks – such was City’s domination in nearly all of their games – he didn’t put a foot or hand wrong.
If anything, the most interesting aspect in the goalkeeping department will be who’s named as his No2 with Harvey Wiles-Richards and Stefan Bajic gunning for the honour.
In front of O’Leary, it’s a pretty straightforward selection for three-quarters of the defence. Ross McCrorie’s bacterial infection renders him unavailable which means George Tanner has a clear run at right-back, especially after Harry Leeson wasn’t given a squad number.
Tanner has been an increasingly dependable presence on that flank and if he can just add a bit more attacking craft to his game he’ll become a fine two-way full-back.
The centre-backs will almost certainly be Zak Vyner to the right and Rob Dickie to his left, with that pairing and those positional roles road-tested throughout pre-season. Outside of that duo, unless he wants to bring Cam Pring inside, Pearson only has academy prospects Raph Araoye and Jamie Knight-Lebel.
How Dickie operates on the ball should be a real strength for City this season but what we must also be mindful of is how he defends on the turn in an ever-so slightly unfamiliar area, as he’s traditionally tended to line up on the right.
He will need support and strong communication with his full-back, which will be a straight battle between Pring and new man Haydon Roberts. It’s a tough call based on their performances over pre-season and stylistically, you can make a case for either man: Pring’s pace and direct running vs Roberts’ slightly more nuanced and technical approach.
What could give Pring the advantage is his ground speed and how he can assist and cover for Dickie on that side of the field, if he should make any gallops forward or – less favourably – get caught on the turn.
Midfield
We’ll get an easy one out of the way first: shock horror, Matty James will start as the deepest of the midfield three. We know this because, when fit, he always does. It’s almost pointless to debate it. Kal Naismith’s lack of match action over pre-season also means his only other source of competition is from Andy King who’s likely to be among the substitutes.
The Joe Williams vs Jason Knight contest is an intriguing one but what Pearsond does know is that with both men fit, he now has express energy in midfield for a full 90 minutes, something he wasn’t always afforded with last term whenever Williams was out of the team.
As for this game, it’s a little bit of a coin toss but we’re anticipating a debut for Knight who has impressed over the summer and can give City both tenacity in a defensive sense but also support the attack, something Williams, for all his qualities, perhaps doesn’t do as consistently.
And the reason that is important is because Scott is likely to miss out. No, he’s not (at least to our knowledge) on the cusp of a move to Bournemouth – as much as you may fear it to be true. Because, let’s be honest, do you honestly think that Nigel Pearson… Nigel Pearson … will have it dictated to him who he can and can’t pick in his matchday squad, especially if that direction would effectively be coming from a club that isn’t Bristol City.
Either a deal is done or it’s not, there is no middle ground. The manager said on Thursday he was unaware of any new bids and the situation remains as it has been throughout the summer. That may change between now and September 1 but Scott, at least for now, remains a City player and is carrying a training ground injury that prevented him playing for at least two days during the week.
He may, of course, make a recovery and be passed fit but, when removing the context of his future in this window, City wouldn’t want to risk him given his importance to the team, especially not for a game where the manager has other options in the position.
That should fall on birthday boy Andi Weimann’s shoulders who after his explosive campaign of 2021/22 didn’t have the same level of potency last term, partly because he was back to being a bit of a Swiss Army Knife in attack where his best position remains in that “false 10” role behind the central striker.
