Bristol City urged to sign "midfield general" | OneFootball

Our Bristol City Fan Pundit has identified the type of player his club needs in the second half of the season

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Bristol City have made a promising start to their 2024/25 Championship season so far, sitting just outside the play-offs.

However, there are plenty of top teams sat in those positions ahead of them, and reinforcements may be needed to gain and sustain a place at the top table.

With the January transfer window now in full swing, it’s the perfect time for the Robins to add anything they feel is missing from their squad.

We asked our Bristol City Fan Pundit, Tom, which position he feels is most crucial for his club to address in this window.

Bristol City must target a midfielder, says Fan Pundit

Speaking to Football League World, Tom said: “Now, a lot of Bristol City fans, I think it’s the popular opinion, are desperate, desperate, this January transfer window to bring in a striker who is going to finish, a finisher really, more than anything.

“You know we've brought in two strikers in the summer, neither of them have hit the ground running, maybe, how we wanted them to.

“We’ve been playing Nahki Wells up front and Sam Bell up front, who has just traditionally for us played out wide you know as a replacement for these two players, Sinclair Armstrong and Fally Mayulu, who haven't quite worked out as quickly, possibly, as we like them to. They’re two young players and they need to develop and I think you could see that they're both really raw and they maybe just need a bit more time in the game.

“And that's not going to be my opinion. You know, a lot of Bristol City fans would want a finisher, another striker, but I think what we need is just a midfield general, a player who's just going to calm the game down when we need someone to and, you know, put their foot on top of the ball and control a game on their own.

“Since the departure of Matty James in the summer, I feel like we haven't had that. We've got a lot of midfielders who are battlers, and then we've got other ones who progressers like Max Bird. I wouldn't say he's, you know, a midfielder who’s going to drop in and just control the game from just the centre of the pitch.

“I think that's someone who we would need in some games where we're playing against a team who's playing a low block against us, just to calm down the play, you know, help us progress the ball better in games where maybe we’re losing, we need to bring on players to make an impact.

“That's a player that when, you know, a team is trying to control the game against us or make us, you know, make bad decisions, that’s someone who can just come in and settle things down, which I think we've needed in a few games. I think we've had games where, you know, we may have conceded and we haven't been able to get back into the game.

“And so that's why I think, yeah, that's a huge position that we could, you know, invest in for quite cheap, bring in someone experienced, you know, in the January window and it's someone who's going to improve us massively because, you know, that sort of, someone experienced, someone who's got that nous and that, you know, that knowledge of the game is always going to help in the dressing room as well as on the pitch.

“I think that's someone that we could need because I think, attacking-wise, I think we’re really good, defensively we’re a bit shaky, but I think it's getting there now that we’ve got the five back.

“But in games where, you know, we're up against it, we're not playing as well as we need to and we need to make a good change. I think that's our position in which, you know, we can improve there to bring on a player who's just going to change that for us and bring a bit more structure to our game.”

Experience in the centre would help the Robins

In breaking down what’s currently lacking in his club’s squad, Tom mentions bringing in someone experienced, and the merit in doing this for City is high.

Of those currently listed as a midfielder in the Robins’ first team, Joe Williams stands as the oldest at 28 years old, admittedly with an impressive 210 Championship games under his belt.

Bristol City have the eighth-youngest squad in the second tier and, along with that, one of the smaller first-team squads, according to Transfermarkt.

That seems to leave room for an experienced professional, like Tom describes, who operates in the middle of the park and can therefore have the most influence in the game throughout its different phases.

Having that presence to calm this young squad down during intense moments could be the difference between putting points on the board or not, which in turn could have a huge say in where the Robins find themselves in the table come the end of the season.