Bristol City's selfless striker on putting team first and Liam Manning's Eddie Howe-like traits

Harry Cornick walks into the press conference room at the High Performance Centre and half-jokingly asks about the state of his hair in preparation for his interview.

At the end-of-season awards in May, he bounced into the Lansdown Restaurant at Ashton Gate channelling Don Johnson-era Miami Vice, insisting he was the best dressed among his Bristol City teammates.

Upon signing for the Robins from Luton Town in January, he didn’t exactly try to shun the limelight by electing to take the No9 shirt which had been vacated by Chris Martin a few hours earlier.

You could, based on such surface level judgements, brand him “a bit flash” as an individual but what’s interesting about Cornick is that his core attributes and characteristics as a footballer, and how he speaks about himself, run completely contrary to such a stereotype.

When he declares he’s “very much a team-comes-first person”, it’s impossible to argue such analysis based on his 37 appearances for City; hard-working, honest, committed, selfless, bereft of ego and with a willingness to play whatever role is required of him, irrespective of personal desire.

Right now, that would be to be starting through the middle of the Robins attack but when the number 14 is relayed to him, outlining how many games he’s played as a substitute in the Championship 2023/24, he doesn’t display any outward frustration, but more an understanding of his place in the squad at this moment in time, and what’s required of him by head coach Liam Manning.

“I’ve been off the bench a few times but whatever the team needs me to do, I’m happy doing it,” Cornick said. “I’m very much a team-comes-first person, so however I can help the team and do my bit for them.

“If that’s my role within the team, if that’s where the manager sees me, then I’m more than happy to do that. I want to play, I want to score, I want to start but if I’m more effective off the bench, and he sees that, then I’m not going to say otherwise, I’m going to do what he wants me to do.

“He’s come in and spoke to everyone individually and as a collective about the team coming first and it’s a team ethic around the place. I know that and I’ve spoken to him as an individual about how I can get into the team and he’s told me what I need to do to try and push that.”

Three of those 14 substitute appearances have been under Manning as he’s earned 18, 21 and 26 minutes, each time replacing Tommy Conway offering a very clear strategy of altering the focus and the profile of the City attack in the second half.

And on each occasion, Cornick has made something happen: at QPR, his run on the shoulder of Sam Bell saw him hold the ball up, admittedly after a slightly heavy touch, which then led to the Robins first shot of the game as Jason Knight skewed an effort wide; against Middlesbrough, a purposeful solo run through centre-field opened up the pitch for a counter-attack as he exchanged passes with Mark Sykes but couldn’t get the necessary connection to finish off the move; while Wednesday’s visit to Southampton witnessed another gallop downfield only for momentary hesitation to allow a defender to close the space, and then win the ball, as Knight was ready to run ahead of him infield and onto goal.

As he admits himself the execution wasn’t there, but getting to each point is no fluke or coincidence. Cornick unsettles defenders through the contrast in style he brings to what they’ve previously faced in Conway but also because he knows precisely what he needs to try and do before he’s given his chance.

“When you come on as a sub, you just want to make things happen and have an impact,” Cornick added. “When I’m watching the game, I’m trying to see what TC is doing and see how he can affect the game differently. We’re different players in a sense, we’ve got different strengths and weaknesses. But I just try and look at a way how I can impact the game. I might look at their defenders and see if there’s an opportunity for me to exploit, whether that be running behind or if you can drop in and get the ball to feet more. (It’s about) trying to study the game.

“I think when you come on as a sub it completely matters what stage of the game is. So obviously against Middlesbrough, we were winning 3-2, we’re a bit deeper and trying to hold onto the game. Against Southampton, we’re trying to push on and get a goal.

“But in a game there are always dull spots, moments that the crowd goes down a little bit and I just try and get the crowd on their feet again, really, whether that be trying to win a flick on, or trying to just do something to get them going again, get the atmosphere up and push the team on.”

That moment at St Mary’s was replayed to Cornick and the rest of the squad inside the video room at the HPC on Friday morning as Manning dissected the good, bad and ugly of the 1-0 defeat. But it’s all for constructive reasons - to keep the positive parts and make sure the negative elements serve as a learning exercise.

Cornick didn’t flinch at having it projected back to him and his teammates, it’s just all part of the process of removing ego and the self for the greater good - to get better as a collective.

He feels just as responsible as any player in the forward department for the lack of goals this season, although he’s quick to point out the quality and regularity of chances have been steadily improving, citing expected goals.

But City’s inability to breach the Southampton defence inevitably led to concentration on finishing in the training days building up to Norwich City today, with Kalifa Cisse leading a game on Friday morning for the non-starters at St Mary’s whereby anyone not producing at least a shot on target would lose a goal for their team. An exercise to sharpen the mind in front of goal, while retaining a competitive element built around the group.

The aforementioned video sessions also help Manning highlight an important aspect of general team play, by focusing on certain individuals and what they want to see when they’re on the ball. For example, if George Tanner receives the ball in a crossing position, what kind of runs by each of the forward players, does he like to see to make the ball into the box more effective.

When Matty James receives possession in space in a deeper area, what is the desired movement ahead of him and who should be making it? As detailed from his perspective, not necessarily that of Manning.

“It’s a good insight into what we’re trying to become,” Cornick said. “It’s going to take time, we’re not going to become this world-beating side overnight or win every game 5-0, it’s a process and all the lads are buying into that.

“He’s like Eddie Howe in a way with his detail," he added, having worked with the now-Newcastle manager when he was a teenager and in his early 20s at Bournemouth. "He knows what he wants.

"When he’s on the training pitch, you’ll do a keep-ball but in his head he knows what he wants you to do in that keep-ball, and he’s trying to push you into playing the way he wants you to play, kind of what Eddie Howe used to do. I can see similarities there and in the meetings and the debriefs he works that way as well.

“He sits us all down as a team and goes through a few clips of the game of what we’ve done well but, more importantly, what we haven’t done so well and what we can learn from it. It’s not a blame culture and he says he doesn’t want anyone to feel bad if they’re the one that’s made the mistake; it’s not pointing you out, it’s ‘this is what I can do better’.

“He goes through what we could do, and I think it’s really interesting to see where other players want you (to do); so when George Tanner gets on the ball, where does he want me to be? Where does he want Pringy to be? Where does he want everyone to be? So we can all help each other in relation to the pitch.”

With 11 games over two-and-a-half months since his last City goal, Cornick freely admits he’s in the midst of a bit of a barren run in front of goal which, while true, also feels a little unfairly harsh given he’s only made two starts in that time, at Rotherham United and Cardiff City.

But he continues to demand more of himself in front of goal, going into detail around the act of doing such is more in the head than in the type of finish that is chosen in any given moment.

There is a third aspect to breaking his self-confessed slump, though, provided by Manning: the act of repetition in positioning. Drawing on the case studies above of where Tanner, James or Jason Knight want him to be when they attack forward, Cornick shouldn’t be thinking about where to go necessarily, it should just happen out of habit. Then the chances and, hopefully, the goals will start to flow more consistently.

“Personally, it’s been a stop-start sort of a season. I’ve been okay, but I’d like to chip in with a few more goals,” Cornick said.

“For me, personally, confidence is one of my main things. When I’m confident and I’m playing and I believe in myself, then I’ll obviously play a lot better. When I’m going through a barren run, which I feel like I am at the minute because I haven’t scored in a while, then I just want one to drop for me.

“Confidence is massive when it comes to finishing and everyone knows that when a striker is confident whatever they do, they score; if it comes off their shin, they mis-hit it, it goes in. It’s whether it goes your way and I think our luck will turn in front of goal.

“The gaffer spoke the other day about not trying to think about scoring goals, like if you want to improve on that you need to think from a cross, ‘I need to get front post every time, so every time there’s a cross - front post, front post, front post’. Every time that Jamo gets on the ball, and you saw it the other day, the passes he puts in behind for the runners - how many times are you making that run? And it’s a law of averages. Eventually you will get on the end of one and score.”

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