Liam Manning has heaped the praise on Bristol City captain Jason Knight after an impressive start to the new campaign.
The 23-year-old donned the captains armband ahead of the Championship season alongside vice-captain Rob Dickie, with the duo replacing Andi Weimann and Matty James who departed Ashton Gate in the summer.
And the midfielder has led by example in recent weeks putting on standout showings against Swansea City and Sheffield Wednesday last week.
Knight has played every minute of every Championship game this term for the Robins and has one goal and one assist to his name. The former Derby talent made two Nations League appearances for the Republic of Ireland in September and has also been called up to the national squad for the current international break.
And Manning has been impressed with how Knight has stepped up to the mark after becoming City’s captain in August.
He told Bristol Live, “I think a lot of people forget how young he is and there’s a huge amount of responsibility on his shoulders but he thrives off it.
“He’s got a terrific voice now in meetings and in the changing room and I’ve always said since he joined the club, he’s someone who leads by example and optimises what you want to see in a player.
“Wednesday night was probably the best game he’s had this season for us. His quality and basics were really good, he made really good decisions, broke up play really well, landed on seconds and kind of optimised what you want your captain to do. He was excellent.”
Manning has also spoken about the importance his leadership group have on the pitch and the role they have during matches.
He added, “We want a culture and create a platform where the players have the opportunity to do that. I think we’ve kind of tweaked how we’ve worked over the years but rather than tell them what to do, the game is so random and can look so different and there’s so many different things in game, we do a lot with players understanding why they do the things they do, which sometimes is why it goes wrong.
“But when you get it right, it makes you a lot harder to stop and we’ve definitely seen that this year in terms where we play through teams, over teams, round teams, attacking in different ways. When I’ve got my voice screaming and shouting from the sidelines, the players don’t hear me too often. What you then need is people on the pitch to have an impact on the performance to get everyone aligned.
“I think when you see a team struggle it’s because there’s a lack of alignment in what they’re doing. Teams are really well coached and set up nowadays that it’s quite often the opposition causing problems and the team becoming disjointed. That’s when you need your leaders, your characters and your voices for people to get back on the same page.”