Hirakawa and Bell questions answered as City's scoring challenge examined

The Reds are set to make the trip to the bet365 Stadium to face Stoke City this weekend. Saturday's meeting with the Potters will present City with the chance to end a three-match winless run that began after the recent extended international break.

Having returned to Championship action earlier this month with an away draw against Charlton Athletic, Skubala's side have since been beaten at home by Blackburn Rovers and Sheffield United. Across those three matches, the Robins have scored a single goal, a Scott Twine penalty at The Valley.

Naturally, such a run has caused concern around sections of the City support, particularly given the Reds created very little against the Blades last weekend. In Skubala's eyes, it falls on his whole squad, not just the Robins' strikers, to turn things around.

"You want strikers to score goals, of course, but I think the team has to chip in with more: more assists and more goals," the City manager explained on Thursday afternoon. "I'd like the team to be braver in and around the box.

"When we get there, can we play forward, even though it's another 10-metre pass? Can we get the ball in the box? Can we create more chances? I think there's a stage back to more goals; it's about how we can create chances and how we can still be brave, take people on and see if we can get more chances from that situation.

"We're looking at that, we've been working on that all week, and the lads have been brilliant this week in training. There's been a real energy to training, especially in those types of bits where we want to be more aggressive and even in the final third.

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"Being aggressive doesn't mean just duelling and fighting; it means being aggressive with the ball in certain situations where we want to pin teams back or get defenders running back towards their own goal.

"We've been working hard on that and - like you say - everybody's got to chip in with goals and keep improving all the time to add to numbers."

One of the few scoring opportunities the Reds did create against Sheffield United last weekend fell to Hirakawa. Before what proved to be the Blades' winning goal, the Japanese winger was unable to beat Michael Cooper from close range, having latched onto a loose touch.

In 12 appearances this term, Hirakawa's only goal or assist, so far, has come in the shape of his last-minute winner away at Burnley. Though Skubala has been impressed by the 25-year-old's impact after his loan spell at Hull City last season, he feels he is capable of showing that bit more bravery.

"Yu's been great since I've been here," the Reds manager told Bristol Live when asked about his current performance level. "He's another great guy. The lads love him as well, and he's such a great character.

"I think there are times where he's been really exciting for us, with the ball, and there are times where he gets me off my seat and the fans, I think, off their seats as well. It's his final action that sometimes he's clean with, and other times, I think we can keep improving.

"He's probably one of those players who I'd like to see be even braver with the ball in the final third, because he excites me, gets me off my seat, and does the things that I want to see, you want to see, and the fans want to see. But I think more of us need to do that in the squad; we can't just leave it up to Yu. Everybody has to do that when they play."

One player who perhaps hasn't had the opportunity to showcase that bravery in the opening months of the season has been academy graduate Bell. The forward penned a new three-year deal in south Bristol this summer, after a strong end to the season and Skubala's appointment as manager.

So far, though, the 24-year-old has played just 36 minutes of football this term, all of which have come in the form of brief second-half cameos from the bench. As you'd expect, his lack of action has been brought into focus at a point in which goals have been hard to come by.

Asked if Bell was an option in his mind amid the recent struggles, Skubala replied, "Yeah, it's in my mind, and it's in my mind that we're talking all the time about how we can improve these areas.

"I hate to say it, but it's our job to think about these things; it's not something that we've missed or a stone that we're not trying to uncover. It's not the easiest thing to create chances - it's probably the hardest thing. I think it looks different away from home than at home sometimes, with the way that teams are set up.

"We want to be as good at home as we have been away from home and every game we go into to try and hurt the opposition. We think we can do that when we get it right."

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