Bristol Live brings you a full transcript of Bristol City manager Michael Skubala's post-Sheffield United written press conference

After a three-game week, Bristol City now have the best part of seven days to rest, recover and regroup before they return to Championship action this weekend with a trip to Stoke City.

Since the extended international break came to an end, the Robins have found themselves stuck in a bit of a rut. What appeared to be a positive point gained away from home against Charlton Athletic was followed up by a frustrating - albeit far from terrible - home defeat to Blackburn Rovers.

Tuesday evening's loss against Tony Mowbray's side ensured that there were plenty of eyes on Saturday's meeting with Sheffield United. For the fifth time this term, however, the Reds were beaten in front of the City faithful at Ashton Gate.

In a game of very few chances, the Blades ran out 1-0 winners. Ollie Arblaster was the only player able to produce a moment of true quality in the contest, volleying home from the edge of the penalty area, following a hopeful Blades free-kick to score what proved to be the winner with just five minutes played.

That strike, and a flat performance from Michael Skubala's side, means that the Robins are now without a win in any of their last three games. Such a spell has seen the Reds slip to 16th in the Championship table, with the current gap to the play-off places three points.

City will have the opportunity to close that gap at the bet365 Stadium this weekend. Before we turn our attention to that away day, however, here is a full transcript of everything Skubala said to the written press after the full-time whistle at Ashton Gate...

The same result as Tuesday night, Michael, but I imagine your feelings are a bit different.

Yep. I think we didn't do well enough. I think that's clear today. It's a completely different feel from Tuesday, and that's probably why you have to win those games on Tuesday.

That was a frustrating night, because we had all the chances, but today, I thought we started too slowly, lost too many duels, weren't aggressive enough, they got on top of us, and our clearances weren't big enough in a typical Championship game. We didn't do well enough at the start of the game, so a different disappointment, if you like, compared to Tuesday.

You did have one big chance before they scored. Would it have been a different story if that had gone in?

100 per cent, and that's our challenge at the minute. That's probably the biggest chance of the game. When you go through one-on-one, you have to score. When you look at our chances on Tuesday, you have to score. We're talking about goals going in at one end, but the reality is, we're not scoring the chances we're getting.

Every game, if you go 1-0 up, it's a different game. Especially at home, it makes a big difference; they have to come out, they have to be different, but it's a big moment. We planned for trying to get down the side of them, we did it well, got in and you have to score.

That's our biggest challenge at the minute; there's no doubt about it. We're not taking the chances at the right moments in our game, and we're being punished.

Did you feel they were more physical today?

100 per cent. They were too physical for us. Like I say, we lost too many duels: the first contacts, second contacts. I thought we got, not ran over; we ran hard, we worked hard, the lads worked really hard, but we just couldn't cope with their physicality today.

That's probably why I made the changes at half-time, to try and get us up the pitch a little bit.

What can you do about that as a coach?

What, the physicality? That's a challenge. We have to find a way to get forward...

Is that a mental thing?

No, you have to accept that some players are bigger and stronger than other players. We have to keep working on that; it takes time, but we can play, or we can be more aggressive in our actions.

There were some moments in the first half where there was not enough pressure on the ball, and they just kept turning it on us. We couldn't get up the pitch, and that was the challenge.

After the early chance, there was nothing really in the way of good build-up in the way that you like it.

We didn't have enough; there's no doubt about that. We've got to work on that. It didn't come out enough. I did think, to be fair, after their first goal, we looked a little bit shaky. When they were pressing our backline, we were making too many passes around the back, but I think we regrouped after that.

We got in at half-time, tried to make a few adjustments to play the game in their half, rather than our half, and I think we did that second-half. I thought we had a spell where we looked like we were going to create something and a bit of momentum, and I think it gets to that time where they start clogging it up and taking fouls.

We lost the moment in the game, so loads to work on. I'm disappointed, for sure, but we have to score first.

Michael, what's the mood like in the dressing room this evening?

Look, the players are disappointed. They know we've got to improve. Like I say, it feels like teams don't have to create loads against us to score, and we didn't create enough today. I can't say we created enough today to hurt them, but I do think we got bullied a bit, so we have to be better in that, and we have to be more aggressive.

I think it's disappointing again; no one wants to go through this period where we've lost too many games. We started the season well, and we're having a dip, for sure. We've got to find a way out of it and stick together in that moment.

I imagine you can understand the frustration from the fans' perspective, whether that was directed at the officials or the performance.

Or at me. That's football. They've paid good money to be here, and I don't think we did enough for them. I thought the fans were good today; second-half, they really tried to drive the team, so I have no problem with the fans being disappointed, as the players are, as I am.

They can show their frustration, and it's important, but I thought the fans really got behind their team today.

In terms of the chance creation, what did you feel was missing today that was there on Tuesday?

I thought second-half we got to the final third, and then we didn't threaten enough with our final action or with our final pass. We were coming back too often, not playing forward enough, not running behind often enough, not sliding enough. It looked like we might create a moment, maybe, on our set pieces, but I thought in open play we weren't brave enough to make that final action.

I think in these games, at home, we need to be braver with the ball; we need to be braver to run beyond their backline and create more chances. But again, look at Tuesday's game. We created loads. Today, it was a different style of game because of the way they set up.

Is that a confidence issue? You've mentioned before the lack of Championship experience.

Maybe because when it's all going well, it's easy to be confident. When you get a few punches on the nose and things are happening, that's when we have to really step up as a group in these moments to dig ourselves out of it, which we'll do. All we can do is work on the training pitch.

I imagine you'll say it hasn't decided the result today, but was there any frustration on your part with the officials? The fans made their feelings clear.

If I were them, in the late part of the game, doing what they were doing: bumping, getting fouls, getting them up the pitch, I would do the same. In some ways, it's the officials maybe being a bit too soft in moments, but in some ways, we need to make sure we're not naïve in that. That's part of our learning as a group.

Pat Bamford, I've worked with him for years; as soon as he gets the ball and you touch him, he'll do that, because he's cute and clever. We probably lost our flow by getting into tussles that they wanted to get into, and again, the last 10-15 minutes of the game changes, because we were on top. It's game management, and we have to improve at that.

Is this a good time to have a clear midweek?

It's always a good time to have a clear midweek, so we can get back on the grass with the players. It's really good if you win three games, but when you lose games or don't pick up enough points in a three-game week, it's really difficult because all you're doing is match-prepping, going again for the next game and trying to get things tactically changed, because of all the different styles.

When you can get some time on the grass with the lads, it's really important.

I imagine mentally, that chance to reset and rest can be important.

Yep, and work. We have to work. We can rest and reset a little bit tomorrow, but we have to be in and work again. That's always been my mentality: you can work at these things.

You can work at game-management, you can work at being smarter in certain situations, you can work at making sure we're in the right positions for set-pieces. It's all work and it's all consistency of work that we need to improve on.