Full Bristol City press conference transcript on Leeds United, Bailey Wright's return and the Robins secret weapon Every word from the Robins assistant head coach ahead of the Elland Road trip Are you grateful for the time to reflect after Preston or do want to get it out of the way and move on? A bit of both. We have reflected on the Preston game and watched it back. We have picked the bones out of with the players, seeing what we didn't do so well and seeing what we need to improve on and get better at. The lads are hurting, the staff are hurting and we want to go out and put it right. We're itching for this game on Saturday against Leeds. It's been really upbeat, great intensity and competitive in training during the last ten days. Any friendlies played during the international break? No friendlies this week but we've had 11 vs 11 and 10 vs 10 games. What's the latest injury news? All good. A lot of boys are coming back from injuries. Bailey Wright played 60 minutes against Colchester on Monday which is a big plus. Eros Pisano played last week with the U23s. Frankie Fielding is back in training. Hakeeb Adelakun and Mo Eisa have had another week's training under their belt. Marley Watkins is back running. Obviously, the international boys went away and played games. Callum, Lloyd, Jay, and Tomas all played minutes which is good and they are coming back injury free. A lot of competition for places in the side now? You can see that in training this week, you can there are places up for grabs, you can see real competitiveness in the squad. It's been brilliant. The intensity and quality in training has been excellent all week. It's been very feisty at times. Bailey Wright back in the squad, that must be a big positive ahead of Leeds? It's a massive positive for us. He's the club captain and a big character. He's one of our leaders and it's great to have him back on the training pitch. He's had a tough six or seven months but it shows what sort of captain he is when every day he will come into smiling, upbeat and ready to go. It's great to have him back on the grass so a big plus. How did you spend your international break? Any scouting or watching games? Yeah, I watched a lot of games. I went down to London and did a two-day course, a leaders course and I've been painting my little girl's bedroom so a little bit of everything. How are plans coming together for January in terms of player recruitment and scouting? That is always ongoing. We're six or seven weeks away from the window opening but we're always looking. The scouting team and analysis team are always looking at that. How did the Bristol City fans forum go on Tuesday night? I thought it went really well. There were some great questions from the fans and as ever the gaffer was open and honest with answering them all so it was really good. I think it's important that the fans get that time and opportunity to get a bit more in-depth insight. It gives them a bit more knowledge and understanding on why we make decisions and what happens so it's beneficial for both sides really. What are your thoughts on Leeds and Marcelo Bielsa this season? Obviously Bielsa is a top coach, one of the best in the business. It will be good to test ourselves against that. Leeds are a good side who have some strengths but they also have some weaknesses as we saw in the last game against West Brom. We'll focus on us. Going to Elland Road, it's a great place to play football with a great atmosphere, full house, and a lovely pitch. The lads are desperate to put a performance in for the 700 or so fans who will be supporting the lads. Hopefully, they will be nice and loud to encourage the lads and the lads will be desperate to put in a performance. It must have been great to see Lloyd Kelly performing well for England under-21s. Do you think he is in contention to feature on Saturday? He's been outstanding all season. I think he played the first 12 games and we pulled him out to rest him a little bit. He had a slight loss of form and a knock as well so we need to make sure we look after to make sure he can last the season. But what he has achieved in the last year or two has been unbelievable. To go and represent England under-21s in the last two games is incredible and a huge credit to him and how he conducts himself in training every day. He is so humble, honest and hard working. Always open and willing to learn and improve. All the way through the Academy up to the first team, the work the coaches have done with Lloydy, we can look at him now as an England under-21 international playing regular for Bristol City, it's brilliant. It shows the lads at the Academy what they can achieve if their attitude is right. Can City send out a statement to the league in the next two games? We're a force in the Championship and we'll prove that across the length of the season. We have real quality and strength in depth with some great characters and good players in the team. We know we can compete and we'll be up there. Probably just need to be more clinical when we're on top in games and start taking our chances. But it's a tough league and every team has quality. It's about doing the basics well, winning your battles while executing the game plan. We're still a young group. I think we had seven new players in the line-up against Preston. They are still getting to know each other and building that understanding. Do you think this is the most competitive squad this season? The squad is so strong at the moment and competition for places is great. It's a nice headache for the gaffer ahead of Saturday. It's great to have Hakeeb and Mo back as they offer something different. Mo's pace and running power in behind, he's quality in the final third. Hakeeb, the fans haven't seen the best of him yet. He has real quality and real ability. A lovely touch and great movement. It's great to have them back and fully training so another big plus. You can see that in training every day you'll see the quality and have a great group of characters. We're more than a match for anyone and we're looking forward to Saturday. https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/bristol-city-preview-leeds-united-2245553
You're probably right, though we have an uncanny knack of getting good results in big games to raise our hopes, then get absolute trash in games where we ought to be getting results.
Yeah this has crossed my mind. It would be so us to get a win there. But then I remembered that we never beat Leeds.
so what is the secret weapon? I think it will be a disappointment, not being negative but a game that we played extremely well had some good missed chances and capitulated …..
I’m not sure. As ever we are so hard to predict. We played SO well vs Stoke and got nothing, but I left Ashton Gate that afternoon feeling strangely positive - maybe we had finally found the ‘magic formula’ - and there is only one Jack Buckland after all. At Reading, LJ started with the VERY lineup that I would have done - and what most of OTIB called for - and it didn’t work - in fact it was utterly awful. Preston was even worse by all accounts - although they do have a Hoodoo over us so we were never going to win that one. LJ doesn’t know his best 11 and after Reading I have to say I can understand - because I don’t either. Toss a die - 1-2 for a home win, 3-4 for an away win and 5-6 for a draw. It’s anybodys guess.
Must admit, got a bit of a bad feeling about this game, although I have been wrong before (it has been known)!!. 3-1 Leeds ...fingers crossed I'm wrong!!
Would be surprised if we get anything out of this game, although as others have said with us you never know , we’re just as likely to do well just when you least expect it .
8 key Leeds players missing, we surely should get a result if our players are all available. https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport...ws/leeds-united-injuries-list-bristol-2247550
Perhaps we will win 5-0 with one of the most perfect displays of football ever - so LJ thinks he’s cracked it and starts the next game with the same 11 - but we play absolutely awful and it’s back to the drawing board again!
Prutton: Leeds will beat Bristol City 2-1. https://thisisfutbol.com/2018/11/blogs/prutton-leeds-will-beat-bristol-city/
I think he's being kind to us for some reason. When teams have lost heavily in their last game they must be licking their lips having to play us in the next match because quite frankly we just aren't there again.
