Coach’s Corner: Bristol City 3 Millwall 2

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The Robins ultimately sealed the win thanks to a hattrick from Andreas Weimann, but a change of system and a key substitution at half time was what made the difference.

Bristol City lined up in a 4-1-4-1 formation, with Matty James dropping very deep from the outset to support the central defenders and pick up the ball in his own half. Despite this superiority in the centre during the build-up, the Bristol players preferred to use wide outlets to get up the pitch in an attempt to get around and down the outside of Millwall’s low block. They generally attempted to get the ball down and play through midfield, although their best chances came from more direct play, and often found it hard to play from defence to midfield thanks to Millwall’s rigid structure.

Millwall played in a 3-4-1-2 formation, with Sheyi Ojo given a free role behind the front two. He caused plenty of problems with his movement and unpredictability in the first half and helped Millwall keep the ball in attacking areas once they played the ball forward. They set up to stifle Bristol City and play the ball forward whenever possible – which is likely what led to the mistake for the first goal. The defence attempted to create space to play the ball forward by passing square, but Bristol City’s high press often prevented them playing in to the strikers and led to several mistakes for much of the first half.

Two Contrasting Styles Collide

The game started off with Bristol City enjoying the bulk of possession, and Millwall happy to sit back and try and maximise the counterattack. As I explained above, Bristol stacked the centre of the pitch with Matty James dropping deep, but mainly looked to exploit the flanks in the opening exchanges.

Millwall rarely had any meaningful possession before the first goal went in – ironically during their one spell of possession in the opening stages Bristol City looked quite disorganised and seemed to find it difficult to rearrange back into their 4-4-2 defensive shape. Yet for all the systems and tactics and analysis and training, the first goal came thanks to a simple mistake.

As Bristol City played forward down the left wing, Millwall’s defence seemed to have covered a cross towards the box. However, when Millwall’s goalkeeper Białkowski came out to deal with the back pass, he scuffed his clearance straight to Andreas Weimann who lobbed the ball straight back over him and into the empty net. Although mistakes like this are part and parcel of any sport, I just wonder how much of an effect the game plan of getting the ball forward as quickly as possible had on Białkowski’s decision. Had he taken a touch or looked to play out through the defence, rather than clear first time, he might not have put himself in such a compromised position.

After the goal went in, the camera actually panned to Gary Rowett for a few seconds, and you can clearly see he is signalling for his players to play over the top and bypass the midfield. However, in order to do this, the Millwall players needed time and space, but Bristol pressed high in order to get close enough to the defenders to prevent them from playing long. This resulted in a lot of square and sideways passing between the Millwall defenders, who didn’t have many options to play into the midfield, and led to quite a few loose passes.

The Goal that Changed the Game

Five minutes or so after the first goal went in, Bristol City dropped deeper, allowing Millwall to play through the centre of the pitch. Plenty of space opened up in the middle as Millwall also stayed deep, possibly for fear of conceding a second goal. This allowed Sheyi Ojo to get on the ball more and ultimately allowed Millwall to enjoy more possession in the final third of the pitch. Bristol City looked somewhat flustered a few minutes after scoring their first goal; the players seemed to start to panic when they crossed the halfway line in possession, and defensively players failed to press or drop as a unit, resulting in them not getting close enough to the Millwall players to hinder them. Looking to get the ball forward quickly and play for the second ball, Millwall started seeing more of the ball between the halfway line and the edge of Bristol’s box, and the space in this area was what got them back into the game.


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The goal comes from a transition after Bristol City give the ball away while constructing attack and then fail to press Millwall as a unit. One player goes to press while others drop in deep, and this gives Millwall the time and space to make 3 or 4 uncontested passes before eventually getting the cross in for Bradshaw to hit home.

Millwall’s second goal – or the penalty awarded for it – comes from another transition. Bristol City are comfortable in possession on halfway but give the ball away with a sloppy pass, at which point they are very slow to get back into position. Nobody goes to the ball when it is first given away, then two Bristol midfielders are caught on the wrong side of Ojo and can’t recover thanks to his pace. The defence is also caught out and don’t get in line quickly enough, allowing Afobe to run across the back line and in behind easily as Ojo plays the ball through.

After Millwall scored their second goal, they sat back and looked to preserve their lead, while Bristol City began dominating possession again and looking to play out from halfway through their three central players. Thanks to Millwall’s front three defending from the halfway line, Bristol couldn’t find the space to play through the middle and instead tried to create 2v1 situations on the wings where the full backs would come to receive from the centre backs with only one opposition striker pressing. However, Millwall countered this with intense pressing on the ball as soon as it entered their defensive half, meaning that most of Bristol’s attacks broke down not long after crossing the halfway line.

Half-time Changes Make the Difference

Bristol City introduced Martin and Massengo at the break, in an attempt to offer more attacking options in the final third, but more importantly to help play the ball out through the Millwall low block. On paper, they changed system to a 4-1-2-1-2, but in possession they lined up in more of a 3-5-2 formation. I am a big fan of the 3-5-2 as although it’s difficult to implement, if you get it right it gives you superiority all over the pitch thanks to the full backs being involved at every stage of the attack.

Thanks to this change, Bristol City started the second half brightly, moving the ball well, finding more space and time, and creating two decent shooting opportunities within the first 5 minutes or so. They eventually got their goal thanks to an overload on the left, when Massengo pushed up to support the left back and left midfielder at the same time as Semenyo dropped in to receive a throw-in. This lead to a 4v3 up against Millwall’s right-sided players and gave Massengo the time and space he needed to pick out a cross for Weimann to latch on to and poke home.

Goals Change Games

Despite the influence that Massengo had on the game after being introduced at half time, he could so easily have been the villain of the piece for Bristol City fans just moments before the winning goal went in. As Bristol played out from the back, Massengo was caught in possession as Saville pressed well but was able to recover with a last-ditch tackle on the edge of the box. At the moment he nicks the ball, Saville find himself in a 3v1 situation with two attackers supporting and just one Bristol defender to beat before having a clear opportunity at goal. Unfortunately for the Lions, Saville didn’t release the ball quickly enough and allows Massengo to get back in. It was a really poor piece of play to not move the ball and take advantage of the overload, and it really should have been 3-2 to Millwall at that point.

It wasn’t to be though, and instead it was Bristol City that provided the dramatic finish with a goal from yet another transition, this time in their favour. A long ball forward reaches the Bristol attackers and Millwall seem to have got bodies back to deal with it, but two defenders drop behind the defensive line which allows Semenyo to latch on to a through-ball in behind and put in the cross. When the first shot goes in, the Millwall defence somehow manage to keep it out, but with all their defenders having moved towards goal when the cross came in and the midfield not having tracked back, Weimann was all alone in the box to finish the follow-up.

It was a cruel blow for Millwall, especially considering the chance just a few minutes before the winning goal, but a risk you take when you play a full block and counter-attacking system. Bristol City will be relieved that they managed to recover after half time, and that the changes made were successful in helping create more going forward after being stifled for most of the first half. The win will give them confidence going into their cup and league double-header with Fulham while Millwall will be disappointed to start 2022 with a loss but their performance and ability to take chances should give them encouragement for the remainder of the season.

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