Michael Skubala has called on the wider Bristol City squad to take greater responsibility for goals and assists, as his side's attacking output continues to concern supporters and staff alike heading into Saturday's trip to Stoke.

A collective burden, not a striker's problem

The Robins have won just once in their past six Championship outings, scoring only three times in that stretch. Across their 11 league games this season, Bristol City have found the net on only 12 occasions, the fourth lowest total in the division. Only Charlton (10) and Lincoln, Derby and Preston (nine each) have scored fewer.

Skubala was direct in his assessment when speaking to BBC Radio Bristol. "You want the strikers to score goals but I think the team has to chip in with more, more assists, more goals," he said. "I like teams 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?"

The numbers back up his concern. Of City's current squad, only Dom Ballard and Scott Twine, both on three goals, and Lorant Tolaj, on two, have scored more than once this season. The spread of contribution is worryingly narrow.

Assists skewed towards one player

The assist picture is similarly lopsided. Rio Cardines leads the entire Championship with six assists, a remarkable individual return. Yet beyond Cardines, only Jed Wallace and Tolaj have contributed further, with one each. That concentration of creative output in a single player leaves the team exposed whenever Cardines is quiet or marked out of games.

Skubala's frustration with the display against Sheffield United last weekend was evident. City managed seven shots with just one on target, and the manager conceded they played "sideways too much" and "launched" the ball towards Ballard without supplying adequate support around him. They lost 1-0.

He contrasted that with the performance against Blackburn a week earlier, when City registered 20 shots and seven on target, albeit without scoring. "We have to get back to a performance level that we want the game to look like," Skubala said. "It's really difficult because you can be drawn into games that the opposition want it to look like."

New faces still finding their feet

The City manager was keen to contextualise the struggles within a broader settling-in process. The club made a significant number of signings during the summer window, and Skubala acknowledged that knitting together a new group takes time. "Not only are they getting to know each other, they're getting to know how I want it to look and how I want it to be," he explained. "I don't think it looked anything like I wanted it to look like, or the fans want it to look like, or even the players want it to look like on Saturday."

There is, however, a note of encouragement ahead of the Stoke fixture. Both Joe Williams and Tolaj are understood to have returned from injury during the week and are available for selection, giving Skubala additional options as he looks to freshen up a side that has visibly laboured in recent weeks.

The road to more chances

The manager laid out a clear developmental pathway rather than a crisis-management plan. "There's a stage back to more goals; it's how we can create more chances and how we can be brave and still take people on and how we can get more chances from that situation," he said. "We're looking at that, we've been working hard on that all week. The lads have been brilliant this week in training."

Whether City can translate that training-ground improvement onto the pitch at Stoke this Saturday is the immediate test. With only one win in six Championship matches, the Robins can ill afford another afternoon in which the burden of creation falls almost entirely on one man.

Frequently asked

How many goals have Bristol City scored this Championship season?
Bristol City have scored 12 goals in 11 Championship games this season, the fourth lowest total in the division at the time of writing.
Who is Bristol City's top scorer in the Championship this season?
Dom Ballard and Scott Twine lead the scoring charts for Bristol City, both on three goals, with Lorant Tolaj on two.
Who leads the Championship for assists this season?
Rio Cardines of Bristol City leads the entire Championship with six assists, though he is almost alone in contributing creative returns for the club.