Liam Manning has made it clear Bristol City will be utilising the international break to the fullest extent in a bid to change their fortunes around. And a behind-closed-doors friendly could be on the cards for City during the two-week stoppage.
Last week, the Robins head coach revealed in his pre-Cardiff City press match conference that his side will be looking to organise a friendly or play an internal 11 vs 11 match with officials and kits.
When asked if there had been any developments over who City could face, Manning said, “We’re going to finalise it this week and I’ll see what we are going to do.”
While the head coach remained tight-lipped on who they could face this week, the international break has come at the right time for the Robins who played three games in eight days last week.
Three consecutive draws against Swansea City, Sheffield Wednesday and Cardiff City continued City’s unbeaten run of four league games but that hasn’t stopped some supporters venting their frustrations as boos could be heard from sections of Ashton Gate in their previous two fixtures.
Manning has since insisted positive results will come and believes City must take advantage of the international break in a bid to convert dominant displays into wins. And the Robins boss has also stated it will be key for returning trio Rob Atkinson, George Earthy and Ross McCrorie to continue building their fitness.
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He added: “The lads will be off recovering then we’ll be in at the back end of the week – Wednesday, Thursday, Friday making sure all the bits we know we need to get better at we’re working at.
“If you have loads of opportunity and then give loads of people rest expecting things to change, you’d be slightly mad. So it’s about making sure we’re in, we’re working, the bits we need to get better at we’ll be covering and then the week after that we’ll be getting ready for Middlesbrough.
“They’ve been working hard, we’ll be pushing them again. It’ll be a good opportunity to get some physical work in given we don’t have a game next weekend so it’ll be a tough week physically and tactically.
“It’s good to keep building on some of the lads (Rob Atkinson, George Earthy and Ross McCrorie) keep building up their fitness to get them in a better spot for selection.”