Square Pegs In Round Holes For City

Steven Pressley has admitted that neither the decision to play Adam Barton on the right-hand side of midfield or the tactical reshuffle that took place after his substitution against Brentford worked for the Sky Blues.

Barton, so often impressive when playing for the Under-21’s, has yet to make his mark on the first team under any of the City bosses he has played for and struggled to make an impression when deputising for Carl Baker at the weekend.

Pressley refused to be too hard on the player, feeling that Barton had to cover in an unfamiliar role.

‘I played with Manny (Mathieu Manset) in behind and I tried to push Cyrus Christie higher and wider,’ said the City boss of his decision to sub Barton at half-time against the Bees.

‘But the truth is, we work very hard on our system of play and when we came out of our familiar system I felt we were less effective because I have said it so many times, young teams have to work to a structure because they don`t have the same know-how as senior players.’