Daniel Wales and Charles Hague-Jones discuss Bristol City’s next fixture.
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00:00Dan, looking at Bristol City and on the road in their next championship game.
00:05Now, these are the crunch games where it all comes down to the why.
00:08Obviously, we mentioned before, their running is quite a tough one.
00:12Out of all the sides around them, you know, they play a few of the top sides,
00:17the likes of Sunderland, Leeds as well.
00:19But QPR away, QPR have had a real indifferent season,
00:22struggling at the best of times, really.
00:26It's a chance to go there and win,
00:27but also QPR is quite a tough place to go.
00:30I mean, you know, teams that play expansive football in their back three,
00:33for example, like Bristol City, they do struggle with the width of the pitch.
00:37They do struggle.
00:37I remember Wolves, when they went up from the championship,
00:40really struggled at QPR and the likes of teams who play that expansive,
00:44you know, level of football.
00:46They do sort of get found out at QPR.
00:48So maybe it's a chance to possibly go back to a 4-3-3 for Liam Manning's side.
00:53I mean, obviously, it's a bit of a strange one when you go to somewhere
00:57and you have to adapt, but they are in a great vein of form at the moment.
01:01They've pushed themselves on merit.
01:02You know, there's no coincidence that they are now up to 5th into the table.
01:07How important is this game on the weekend for Bristol City?
01:09Well, it's huge because, of course, as you mentioned there,
01:13the running they've got after this as well in their final four games is quite tough.
01:17And you think as well, they're playing Sunderland,
01:18the team who they actually could end up playing in the playoffs as well.
01:21So that's quite an interesting matter.
01:24But they got such an important victory against West Brom in midweek
01:28to see them into 5th place with a bit of a buffer as well.
01:31Of course, Coventry did win too, so they're right back into it now as well.
01:35But they've certainly created a bit of a buffer between themselves
01:38and teams just outside of the playoffs, which is really important.
01:42And if they're able to go to QPR, who, as you say there,
01:45aside with not a great record of late, a bit of an indifferent season,
01:48and let's be honest, they're not completely safe from relegation,
01:52it's probably very unlikely that they would go down.
01:56But certainly of late, they've been really poor.
01:58It's a game where Bristol City basically have to go there and win
02:01to maintain the points that they're bringing in at the moment
02:05and make sure that when they're going into these tougher games to come
02:09that they have a bit of a buffer and a bit of a barrier
02:11because if they don't, then you worry a little bit
02:14that they might slip out of things,
02:16regardless of how good they've been of late.
02:19It's always hard and tricky to have to go into those games,
02:22such hard games, needing something at that stage of the season
02:26because if you don't, then, well, you just worry about what might happen.
02:32For Bristol City, though, I think it's a game, as you say,
02:35despite the fact that they are an expansive team
02:39and they're going up against a tight-knit stadium like Loftus Road,
02:42because of how good they've been of late and the confidence they'll have,
02:45they all fancy themselves, no doubt about it.
02:47And if they come away without the three points,
02:50you'd imagine that they'd be really disappointed with themselves as well.
02:54But from Bristol City's point of view, you just have to think that,
02:58well, they are good enough and they've showed their ability of late as well.
03:03And they've got goal scorers from different parts of the pitch.
03:06You've got Nakuels and it's from Meti, for example.
03:08They're the two sort of leading the line at the moment and doing really well.
03:10But you've got goals coming from behind them as well.
03:12You've got Scott Twine, George Lapsley as well.
03:16So plenty of good players who can really push them on.
03:20But it's just, it's a tough game though, but one that they will expect to win.
03:26Yeah, their away form hasn't been as desirable as maybe they would have liked at times this season.
03:32And, I mean, in terms of the trip away from home, it's obviously a tougher place to go.
03:39But when you have a running like this and you're in a position that Bristol City are now in,
03:44you know, stats need to go out the window.
03:45Stats need to play no part in this.
03:47You just need to take every game as it comes and get over the line.
03:50And, I mean, that's the hard part really now is making sure that they do do that
03:55and make sure they are there.
03:56They've beaten West Brom, obviously, a playoff contender, which was a massive win.
04:00And, you know, what are the factors now to making sure they are carrying on their consistency
04:05and making sure they do go all the way?
04:09Well, it's just about playing the way they've been playing in that sort of free-flowing,
04:14attacking, expansive way.
04:15Because that's the way Liam Manning has got them playing and it's worked for them.
04:18I think it took a while for it to bed in over his first year and a half, sort of,
04:23at his time at Ashton Gate.
04:25But now that they've found their rhythm and they understand their roles on the pitch,
04:28each player knows their individual role.
04:30But they've also got that freedom to express themselves as well.
04:33And that's really important because without that, then they'd be a bit too rigid.
04:36But they're not and they're winning games.
04:38And it's just a game where they just have to show their quality against the side
04:41who are really lacking in the championship at the moment this season.