The wind and rain throughout Saturday's game at Stoke City meant there was no chance of the two teams producing a memorable Championship encounter.

As it was, Michael Skubala was the happier of the two bosses at the end of a drab 0-0 draw as Bristol City prevented a run of three straight defeats.

City at least put in a satisfactory level of performance after a weak effort in the previous game when Sheffield United walked away from Ashton Gate with all three points.

Skubala is learning the hard way what Championship football is all about as he comes to terms with opposition coaches who are technically stronger than probably most of those he faced in charge of League One champions Lincoln last season.

Opposition players are more skilled at this level too.

Ask any City fan right now what they think of Skubala's tactics with a quarter of the season gone and you will most likely be met with a blank expression.

Not knowing his best starting XI would be a common complaint and why, having spent around £9m on two strikers in the summer, only four teams have scored less goals than the Robins so far this season.

More worryingly, no-one has scored a goal from open play since Dom Ballard's winner against Watford six weeks ago.

The main talking point on Saturday was not about the game but what went before it when Skubala announced his team.

Legendary comedian Sir Ken Dodd once had a catchphrase: "How tickled I am."

City goalkeeper Sam Tickle certainly was not when he found himself on the bench.

Signed from Wigan in the summer, despite pulling off some exceptional saves in his 12 games so far, Tickle's overall performances have not inspired a great deal of confidence among the fanbase.

He had a lot to live up to after 2025-26 player of the season Radek Vitek's confident displays and, in particular, his command of the penalty area.

Skubala elected to give a debut to 29-year-old Brad Collins, who was signed as a free agent in the summer, having played more than 100 Championship games for Barnsley and Coventry City.

Collins gave a confident display in the swirling wind and I would expect him to retain the shirt, barring any mishaps, for the three games that remain before the next international break.

The other thing about Skubala's team selection was that he altered the shape.

So far he has been rigid in his 4-2-3-1 formation, but against Stoke he switched to 3-5-2 or 5-3-2 depending on which way you want to look at it.

That enabled him to field two strikers in Ballard and Lorent Tolaj, although it was evident from his display before the planned substitution that the Swiss marksman was some way off full fitness.

It will be interesting to see if Skubala continues along this path.

There were seven fixtures to play between the two international breaks and our podcast team discussed how many points we expected to accumulate.

About 11-12 seemed to be a consensus view which would see us on course for a top-eight finish. Here we are four games into that run with just two.

And after Saturday's trip to Bolton there is a tough home match against Wolves on Wednesday night, closely followed by the visit of Norwich City.

Our predictions suggested four points from these three games is a minimum requirement to prevent voices of disquiet getting louder as fans become concerned on whether the three-year project is progressing along the right track at this still very early stage.