Sky Bet Championship expert Noel Whelan has praised Lee Johnson for his honest and blunt assessment of Bristol City players after their recent home defeat to Preston.
The Robins are 13th in the table after slipping to three consecutive defeats, two of them coming on home turf.
They only lost six times in 23 games at Ashton Gate last season, but Saturday’s result means they have already lost four times in front of their own fans this term.
The City boss told reporters after the 1-0 defeat that he felt ‘let down’ by his players and they ‘didn’t bring along their B game, yet alone their A game’, as he made his frustrations known (see the quote in full in the video, below).
Former Leeds, Coventry, Middlesbrough and Millwall striker Whelan says it was a risky approach by Johnson in the modern game.
He said on Sporting Life's latest Sky Bet Championship Podcast: “Back then [in Whelan’s playing days] you’d take it on the chin and prove a point.
“I think these days you’ve got to be really careful what you say to football players because it is a different breed, they are very sensitive and you have sometimes got to put your arm around them rather than tell them a few home truths, even if you want to tell them a few.
“You’ve got to go around the edges, massage their potential.
“Saying that, I like his honesty. Sometimes players need to know that they get everything done for them, pick up a decent wage and if he says they haven’t even brought their B game there’s a real problem there.
“Is he losing the dressing room? Are they just not hitting the standards they have set?
“You have got to be careful what you are saying because it’s not just the players, it’s the fans as well and the club might think, ‘hold on a minute…’ because that’s just the way a business is run these days.”
Bristol City odds (via Sky Bet)
- Promotion: 16/1
- Top-six finish: 11/2
- Finish outside the top-six: 1/9
- Relegation: 28/1
Sky Bet Championship Podcast
From Jose Mourinho to Pep Guardiola, Johnson to Marcelo Bielsa, modern-day managers have different ways of dealing with players after poor performances.
While there is no right or wrong, Whelan insists Johnson was correct to question his men in this instance.
“Bielsa protected his players [after Leeds’ 4-1 at West Brom], he took everything on his shoulders for that loss and those goals going in," the footballer-turned-pundit added.
"Should Johnson have done that? No – I want Bielsa to say, ‘Bailey Peacock-Farrell should have saved that, we gave the ball away, he shouldn’t have been caught on the ball, we should have defended better’.
“They need to realise that if they are going to go out and win football matches – he’s not making the bad pass, he’s not losing the ball, he's not the one in net – absolutely, vent it.
“If they are men, they will take it on the chin and get on with it and start proving to themselves that they can go out and do it.”
- Hear more from Noel Whelan, Gareth Jones and Tom Carnduff on Bristol City, building on last season, replacing their key players and more in the latest Sky Bet Championship Podcast by clicking the image below...
Odds correct as of 1645 GMT on 14/11/18