The Blues’ inability to take a couple of early chances was compounded when a mix-up between Joe Hart and Kolo Toure allowed the visitors to go ahead through Kalinic.
City levelled through Patrick Vieira but they could not get past Rovers’ rearguard action, and the England midfielder says the team must quickly learn to use a few more tricks to unlock massed defences.
James said, “It was very frustrating, we know how Rovers play, they have a game plan that they carry out very well. We knew they would make it tough, sit men behind the ball and we have to prepare for a lot of teams to do that.
“When that happens it is down to us to break sides down, I thought we created enough chances to do that but we did not quite have the luck you need. We had the chances, so maybe we should have won, but there was a real sucker punch at the other end.
It was one of those days but we have to learn from it quickly. Given our chances, it was a disappointing day.
The 24-year-old felt that a busy period of international games for most of the City squad took its toll, and he added:
“We have not had a lot of time together as a team, and there are a lot of new players in the squad. A lot of us were away on internationals this week and we just had a couple of days to prepare, it’s not ideal but it’s what we had to do. We were not as sharp as we could have been.”
It’s easy to forget that James has only been at the club for less than a month, but he knows that such are the demands of the season already that there is no time to sit back & relax into life at City.
“Settling on takes time, but you try to get there as soon as possible,” he adds. “It’s a big move, learning to play with new team mates and off the field it’s a big thing too. It’s not easy, but it is what we do and it is about how quickly you take to it. As a team, we have deserved to win the last two games, but we have to learn to win those games when you don’t play so well.”
