Bristol City’s third goal against Millwall was a thing of beauty. Or “utter filth”, as one podcast was moved to call it, that being the diametric opposite in the purest definition of the words but, in footballing terms, equally as descriptive and complimentary. George Tanner’s low diagonal pass infield - something which he attempted, and often delivered, on several occasions - into Max Bird was dummied by the midfielder as he ran into space the behind Jake Cooper, who simply wasn't expecting it.
The ball reached Fally Mayulu, who with Shaun Hutchinson to his side, flipped a pass into the path of Bird who, by now was clear down the inside right, and the Frenchman spun away to then get on the end of the return , before side-footing past Lukas Jensen, the spin generated by his shot always taking it away from the Millwall goalkeeper. It was a moment of inspiration from Bird, as he could have taken Tanner’s path with his back more towards goal and progressed what would have been a more orthodox move forward, or even brought it into stride to try to take on Cooper. The execution of each pass was also devastatingly accurate to ensure the ball travelled from Point A to Point D with laser-sharp precision.
But what lay at the heart of it was an understanding and the relationship between teammates also, to ever-so slightly burst the any romantic bubbles, it was something that has been several weeks in the making. Bird’s movement, the way he left the ball without looking, kno.