Steur does a Bruno, Elanga & Botman worry - My takeaways from Bristol City 4-1 Newcastle
It's only pre-season and plenty of key players were missing, but it wasn't pretty at Ashton Gate last night.
The Championship side cut through our defence with ease at times, and were relatively untroubled at the other end, with Sean Neave's efforts either side of the break two of (very) few strikes on goal before Harvey Barnes pulled one back in a 4-1 defeat.
But what did we make of it on the whole? What did we learn? Who impressed and who did not?
The key takeaways
Some of our main observations from the match...
1. Steur brings out his inner Bruno - After pulling the strings against Gateshead last weekend, the 18-year-old Dutchman displayed his technical ability, composure and passing range once again. The biggest compliment I could give him is how similar his playing style is to none other than Bruno Guimaraes. Always wants the ball, punchy passes into the final third, creative and some slick body faints. Early days, of course, but he's clearly a huge talent.
2. Elanga's Sweden lift clear to see - After such a tough first season on Tyneside was followed by a few goals and bright showings at the World Cup, it was great to see him going past his man down both flanks, playing without fear and getting dangerous balls into the box.
3. Jaouen poor for both goals - The young Frenchman was beaten by Greenwood's relatively central free-kick and got down too slowly to stop Tolaj from making it 2-0. One positive was that he looked comfortable with the ball at his feet, but it's no surprise to see the club are actively pursuing a new No.1 to replace Nick Pope, as Jaouen is still so young with bags of development ahead of him at 20.
4. Another injury concern - Schar limping off with a muscle injury just under three weeks before the season starts is a worry, leaving us with three fit options in Thiaw, Burn and Botman. With Joelinton being eased back, Miley overcoming a leg break and Tino still on the comeback trail, we could do without this and may have to dip into the market if it's a bad one.
5. Botman off the pace, Murphy poor again - Botman was hard done by for Bristol's second goal after a clear push, but the big man looked painfully slow in his attempt to stop their third strike, and made a real mess of their fourth with a lazy swing that summed up his sluggish night. As for Murphy, he did start at right-back, but followed a sloppy showing against Gateshead with more of the same here. Loose, wayward deliveries and a little one-dimensional.
6. Plenty of possession, very little spark - We had 74% possession in the first half, but the Bristol City goalkeeper only had one real save to make from Neave's effort. We were without over 10 key senior players, but it wasn't exactly inspiring from an attacking perspective. Aside from Elanga's bursts and some punchy passing from Steur, there was no one making things happen or providing a goal threat.
