Liam Manning has slammed Bristol City’s “ridiculous” Championship schedule after the Reds missed the opportunity to climb into the play-off places as they drew 1-1 with Cardiff City in South Wales.
The Robins let a one-goal lead slip at the Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday lunchtime with Yousef Salech’s 90th-minute leveller ensuring the points were shared between the two Severnside rivals.
City had taken the lead midway through the second half when captain Jason Knight headed home Yu Hirakawa’s right-footed free-kick. While it had looked as though the captain’s third goal of the campaign would be enough for the travelling support to secure bragging rights, Bluebirds forward Salech turned home from close range with just injury time left to play.
Although Manning was frustrated by the manner in which the Reds conceded late on, he felt the congested Championship schedule in the run-up to the game was always likely to leave his side on the back foot in South Wales.
“I feel for the lads a little bit because they left it all out there. When you look at it the schedule is just ridiculous this week,” Manning said in his post-match press conference. “I don’t get why we have to play at 12:30 today.
“We’ve had a day less and I just think it becomes a little bit neglectful on the players when you cram in so many games unnecessarily. I don’t get why we’ve done this week. We played Sunday, we played Wednesday night and we’ve played early on a Saturday. It’s just unnecessary for me, I don’t understand why they do it.”
City welcomed Swansea to Ashton Gate last Sunday before Stoke City made the journey to the West Country on Wednesday evening. With just two clear days between the 2-0 win over the Potters and Saturday’s trip across the Severn Bridge, The Reds had very little recovery time.
Despite the quick turnaround, Manning opted to name an unchanged squad against the Bluebirds in South Wales, before turning to his bench at half-time. Both Scott Twine and Mark Sykes were withdrawn at the interval with Hirakawa and Sam Bell being introduced in their place.
The Robins have another congested period to come next month when they are set to face Millwall, Hull City, Sheffield United and Norwich City in the space of just 11 days. While Manning feels the lack of breaks between games is impacting the quality of matches, he admits City are powerless to change it.
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“No, they take no notice whatsoever,” the head coach continued when asked if the Reds were able to raise this issue with the EFL. “We’ve got it again soon where we’ve got four games in 11 days. It will keep happening across the game.
“Also, regarding the quality, I didn’t think it was a great-quality game. When you’re pushing lads that far and they’re going through what they have done this week, they’re absolutely exhausted so it becomes quite tough. Rather than seeing two teams at their very best, their freshest, you end up with teams trying to ground out and find a way to get something.
“I find it frustrating at times because people are paying hard-earned money to watch,” he continued. “Ultimately, what you want to see is two teams at their best, at their freshest, going toe-to-toe. I thought it was a pretty brutal game first half.
“The lads gave everything, but you can see naturally, some of them are feeling it. The demands are that high now and naturally, a consequence of that is their physical output. I just don’t understand why we do it.”