Bristol City lock horns with fierce rivals Cardiff City in the Severnside derby this weekend
Liam Manning has issued a warning to Cardiff City, saying that his team, Bristol City, will be motivated for this weekend’s Severnside derby. And the boss of the Robins thinks there’s going to be an interesting competition with the form book torn up for the “unique” game.
On Sunday, City takes on their fiercest rivals in a match that will also be shown live on Sky Sports from Ashton Gate.
The Bluebirds going into this weekend’s meeting bottom of the Championship standings having pickled up four points from their opening eight league games. Meanwhile the Robins have lost just twice in the league to date as they sit 13th on 10 points following Wednesday’s 0-0 draw against Sheffield Wednesday.
A feisty battle awaits the two sides and Manning is certain his team will be pumped up for the derby. Even though Cardiff hasn’t had a great start to the season, the City manager made it clear that the Robins will not be taking this match lightly.
“A tough game,” he remarked. The division is so tight that nobody could have predicted the results last week. This is due to margins, which can be attributed to a variety of factors, including luck, well-executed procedures, consistent hard effort, poor referee choices, or other factors.
“You must do every effort to ensure that the weekend goes as smoothly as possible for you. I am aware that this is a little different from other championship games in that there will be some extras for the fans and us. They will be intensified while remaining the same.
“The bare minimum is from the start of the game, we have to be ready to have a fight, outrun them, outwork them and play in the manner we want. I think it goes out the window in most games to be honest. Of course this weekend with it being a derby, it has the extra bit naturally anyway.
“You look at Portsmouth, they had one bad game potentially and conceded six. You look at the numbers and go off that, you can misread numbers. We’ll be making sure we’re prepared, making sure we’re fired up and we’ll be making sure at the weekend that we of course show them their respect that they deserve in the prep and the planning but we want to make it really difficult for teams to come to us.”
After sacking manager Erol Bulut almost two weeks ago after a winless start to the campaign, Cardiff’s form has taken a positive turn after beating Millwall 1-0 in midweek under interim manager Omer Riza.
After watching Tuesday’s midweek game between the Bluebirds and the Lions at Cardiff City Stadium, Manning has also noted the adjustments made by the interim Bluebirds manager.
“There have been some noticeable alterations and modifications to their appearance. Of course, he’ll have his own opinions. They will likely be better than they were the previous time they played Millwall, which I watched, as he has clearly had an extra day to work with the players on the grass.
“We can devote all of our attention and effort to the opposition, but in the end, what matters most is ensuring that we are in the best possible frame of mind.”
