How Liam Manning has coached Bristol City to the brink of the play-offs

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Daniel Wales and Charles Hague-Jones discuss the impact of Liam Manning at Bristol City.

Transcript

00:00With Bristol City looking to hold on to a play-off place

00:03come the end of the Championship season,

00:05we've looked back at what Liam Manning has done

00:07to get them in this position.

00:09To actually work with a Championship club is incredibly tough

00:12and to actually maintain your status in the Championship is so hard

00:16and how competitive it is as well.

00:20Liam Manning has been a fantastic asset for Bristol City

00:24in terms of English managers as well.

00:26There's a real lack of them in today's game, unfortunately.

00:30The game's gone so passive and you have to walk the ball into the net.

00:36We have the likes of Spanish managers, Portuguese managers coming in

00:41and having to thank them for that.

00:43But there is so many.

00:44At the same time, there's so few English coaches.

00:48He's only 39 years of age.

00:50Do you feel maybe he's got the potential to be one of the next

00:53up-and-coming English managers?

00:56I do think so, yeah.

00:57Yeah, I mean, obviously, he's at a club like Bristol City

01:00and no disrespect to Bristol City,

01:02but they're probably not going to be Premier League champions at any point.

01:05But certainly, for where he is in his career right now,

01:10it's fantastic developing a lot of young players,

01:12getting them playing some really attractive football.

01:14And they are potentially on the path to promotion

01:18from the Championship to the Premier League by the playoffs

01:21if things continue to go their way this season.

01:23You know, the way it's looking, there's every chance of that.

01:25Him alongside his assistant, Chris Hogg,

01:27they've worked wonders with a club who were, let's be honest,

01:30just a normal mid-table average Championship side

01:34and he's got them playing in such a way where they could well go up.

01:38Yes, they haven't got perhaps a lot of the world-beater names,

01:41even like some of the clubs in the Championship have.

01:44You know, you look towards the teams like Leeds, Burnley,

01:46Cheggle United, Sutherland, for example.

01:48As much as they're in the Championship, they've got big-name players.

01:51Bristol City don't really have that,

01:52but it's credit to Liam Manning that he's got his players

01:54playing in such a system where they all know what they're doing

01:57and they all know how to create...

01:59They create so many chances every week.

02:02That's what's good about them.

02:04Admittedly, they haven't always taken them at times this season,

02:07but their chance creation is really, really good

02:09and that's just the way he's got them set up.

02:11And so it's a credit to him that, you know,

02:14they've gone from this relatively average mid-table side

02:17in the Championship to a side challenging for promotion

02:19because Bristol City hadn't been in this situation

02:21for many years in the Championship.

02:24So it does come down to him.

02:25As you said as well, there's not a lot of English coaches,

02:29especially in the Premier League.

02:30Obviously, this is Bristol City in the Championship,

02:31but if you look at the Premier League,

02:32it's only Eddie Howe and Graham Potter at present

02:35at Newcastle United and West Ham, respectively.

02:37So there is a gap in the market,

02:40in the manager merry-go-round for good young English coaches

02:44because you've only got those two at present

02:46who are sort of flying the flag.

02:47In the Championship, there's obviously a few more.

02:49You look at Frank Lampard, he's doing pretty well with Coventry,

02:51but he's also been through another couple of jobs

02:53where it hasn't gone so well for him.

02:55So it's big for Liam Manning.

02:58And it's just now a case of,

02:59does he stay with Bristol City for the long term,

03:01especially if he gets them up, perhaps he will.

03:04Or does he, you know, if not,

03:06does someone else take a gamble on him

03:07and try and push him up the ladder a bit faster?

03:10Yeah, obviously on Liam Manning,

03:12what sort of stands out,

03:13if you look at his Bristol City side

03:14and the stats that we look at this season,

03:16I mean, goals scored,

03:18they are up there, you know, ninth in the league

03:20and it's incredibly tough to score so many goals.

03:22But then also, interestingly, goals conceded,

03:25they haven't conceded many at all this season as well.

03:29So do you feel that's sort of been the balance,

03:32finding that balance in terms of attacking

03:33and defensive threat as well,

03:36you know, stopping it going in that end

03:38and really trying to make an impact in the attacking phases?

03:41He's sort of really put that stamp

03:43on his Bristol City side this season.

03:46He certainly has, yeah.

03:47And I think that's what's been key.

03:48It's the fact that they're not just a basic side

03:51in the championship who are, you know,

03:53quite happy just to play a route one long.

03:56But I know there are stereotypes for English managers,

03:58but sometimes they still exist a little bit.

04:01He's sort of, you know,

04:02actually got into the principles of football

04:03and how it perhaps should be played

04:04and is perhaps playing in a more contemporary fashion,

04:07which is, you know, not as common for English coaches.

04:10And following Bristol City's recent 1-1 draw

04:13away at Loftus Road against Queen's Park Rangers

04:16in the championship,

04:17Liam Manning reflected on what has been

04:19a positive week for the Robins

04:21in terms of their play-off push

04:22for the end of the season.

04:24We just spoke about it in there.

04:25I think it, yeah, such a full-on week.

04:28You can see lads are flat out on their feet

04:30giving everything.

04:30So again, this week getting, you know,

04:32the rest of the recovery,

04:33you know, don't need a huge amount of training

04:35at the minute just in terms of obviously

04:36keeping people fresh available.

04:38So yeah, we'll have a solid week

04:40and then get ready for next Friday.

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