Every word Gerhard Struber said on QPR, Bristol City rotation, Pecover, Knight injury and more

A full transcript of everything Bristol City boss Gerhard Struber said to local media ahead of the Robins’ Ashton Gate clash with QPRBristol City boss Gerhard Struber met the media ahead of the Robins’ clash with QPR(Image: Bradley Collyer/PA Wire)

For the second time in just a matter of days, Bristol City are in Championship action at Ashton Gate as Gerhard Struber’s side welcome Queens Park Rangers to south Bristol this weekend for what will be the Reds’ final game before the October international break.

Having gone three matches without a win, albeit whilst producing good performances in draws against Preston North End and Ipswich Town, the Reds will be desperate to head into the break with three points to their name, but it won’t be easy against a QPR side that has found some form in recent weeks.

Julien Stéphan’s side are unbeaten in their last five Championship matches ahead of Saturday’s trip to the West Country, and come into the clash with City off the back of back-to-back draws against Sheffield Wednesday and Oxford United. Most recently, the Hoops were made to rue missed chances as they played out a 0-0 draw with Gary Rowett’s U’s at Loftus Road on Wednesday evening.

Depending on results elsewhere in the division, a win for the Robins could see them head into the international break sitting as high as second in the table, although that would require Wednesday producing a major upset against Coventry City in the early kick-off at Hillsborough.

A defeat would mean that they have only managed to claim five points from this block of five games between international breaks. While that would be by no means a disaster at this early stage of the campaign, it would likely feel like an opportunity missed given the close nature of the Championship so far.

Heading into Saturday’s game, however, the mood around both supporters and the Robins’ camp seems to still be rather positive and optimistic. Here is a full transcript of everything Struber said to local media at the High Performance Centre ahead of the Robins’ clash with QPR…

Let’s start with a quick injury question. Have you got a sense of roughly how long Jason’s going to be out of the team for?

I think already we know that Jason will be out for the next few weeks, and I think, best case, when everything goes in a good direction, then hopefully we have him back soon. But I cannot speak right now in a clear timeline, I think we have to also check and come and exchange with the one or other specialist.

Of course, we know how important Jason Knight is for us, and we cannot go, of course, with him in a risky direction, so we need him in the end. When he comes back, he has to stay back and not that we lose him on the way. I think it’s very important that we are here before we come out with a clear timeline, that we check all our boxes, and then we will do it very clear in the next few days.

A couple of the more long-term ones with Joe Williams and with Cam Pring, when we spoke about them originally, it would be the sort of middle of this month for them coming back. Are those two on track for that?

Not at the moment. We have to be patient with these guys. In more directions, we plan that they are back much sooner, like what is the reality, but we have to look on the healing, and it is not always on the same level about different reasons, and in these directions we have to be patient also with them.

Are we looking a long way in the future, or is something you could see in the next month or so? Without putting an exact timeframe on it.

I would say with the one or other player, we have a long-term goal to come back on the pitch. But also, we have the one or other player we look at in the next few weeks, he’s back and ready for the team. I can speak also open with Joe Williams, this could be a longer time that he is back on the field.

Zak did a great job in there in midweek, and you’ve got opportunities to give players like that a little bit more gametime. I’m just interested in some of the younger players. Are there any that you feel are getting closer to being trusted at the level where you’re thinking of using them?

Yeah, I think we have some interesting young boys. Leo Pecover, Elijah Morrison, Ephraim [Yeboah], I think these are boys that are close to our group, especially Leo right now. He has made really good training sessions with us, and he is very, very close. On the same time, we have to look at how high the temperature is in a game, how the game is working, and is this the moment to bring a young boy in the game?

Leo Pecover at Cheltenham Town ahead of Bristol City’s pre-season friendly(Image: Photo by Rogan/Bristol City)

In this direction, I have a lot of experience, and I have hopefully, also in this season, the right moment for these boys. The boys are close, but we need also the right timing for them and we work for them so that we can give them, in the next few weeks, the one or other moment.

For Leo in particular, in the position that he plays in, you’ve got some players doing very well in that role at the moment.

Yes exactly. From the one side, it is a competition topic, but of course, the boys in this area did a great job. Also, he is very interesting in how he interprets the training offense-wise in a really good way, is very good to see. He knocks on the door very loud at the moment.

The last two games have both ended in draws, but performance-wise, you’ll have been happy with what you’ve seen. Is there anything that’s key to turning those good performances into the three points you’re desperate for?

I think these are scoring moments; I think, of course, we can speak about it. I think in Preston, we have chances enough. I would say the last game, we were super organised and very close to picking up three points; we need also sometimes a little bit of luck. I think we were a little bit unlucky the last game with the penalty, but the boys did great. I think in the one or other moment, especially when we play against teams on such a high level like Ipswich, you’ll be super-focused also in our transition moments, how we crush them and I think in this direction we can always improve a little bit.

These are small things, how we break the last line down, how we create in overload moments the right decision under pressure, this is, of course, something where we can improve. At the same time, I see so many good moments from the boys, so I think we’re on the right way, but the standard is also growing and our expectation is high. We are happy with our performance, but of course, not with two points in the last two games.

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You’ve got a break after Saturday with the internationals, and it’s always nice to finish on a high going into that. QPR have shown a little bit of form, though, so what are you expecting from them?

Also, a really good transition team, so they are also with long transitions, short transitions, very, very good in the league, so we have to be super organised again. Hopefully, our gegenpressing is again on a really good level, and then I think maybe we’ll see a transition against transition, counter against counter game. We have to be, also, in our possession on a good level, so what we did against Preston. In more directions, we have to jump on the roof and build up again a very high-intensity game. I think this is always the ticket for points.

Gerhard, you’ve spoken about Leo there. Can you talk us through what it is that excites you about him, because fans will have only seen glimpses of him?

I think he’s a player who in on-ball moments, is with very good dribbling power on the way. Very creative and also, he has a good shooting ability from different angles on the goal. Also, he learns the last few weeks how we work, so how the style is working, and this has many to-dos with how we work against the ball and I think, in this way, he’s also growing.

Also, we can rely on him; how he pass balls out of pressing zones, how he come in good combination moments with the boys, not only dribbling but also combination moments. He’s a very interesting player, a very interesting young player with, I would say, a high potential profile. The time will come, very soon, that he’s at Ashton Gate, not only on the bench.

He’s got some good players in that position to learn from, as well, the likes of Anis. Will playing alongside players like that only help him?

Yes, of course. I think this is for players with high potential, they should train with us and then they learn, of course, the most when they have best practise examples next to them in the training. And also, the tempo, the intensity, the aggression is so much higher than in the youth teams and players with this talent, and also, this attitude – and this is also something that is great from Leo – is in the end, the doable for development.

How’s Rob Atkinson after Tuesday?

Ready. He was out today in the training sessions. He feels a little bit, but he’s available tomorrow.

Rob Atkinson celebrates after opening the scoring in Bristol City’s draw with Ipswich Town(Image: Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)

It must be really positive for you that he’s been able to put a run of games together?

Today, I was a little bit surprised that he’s on this level and ready again. I thought more that he [would be] maybe out for this game, but right now it looks very good.

Did everyone else come through okay?

Yes. All the players are ready.

When you’ve got players playing well, I know you have to rotate, but I’d imagine you want to keep that consistency in your team?

I’m not always the coach with the highest rotation, but in moments like that, where we have so many games in a row, then of course, I think also in this way. We have one more day to rest and then I will decide tomorrow in the morning in which direction we want to go but we have an interesting roster and we have to give tomorrow, also the one or other player gametime to use the chance.

Max O’Leary played for the Under-21s this week. How close is he to first-team contention?

Close, close, very close. I would say, also today, he did great in the training. He’s very close, and we will see how everything’s working after the international break.

With him available, you have plenty of options in goal now, don’t you?

Yeah, this of course makes the situation again stronger that we have Max back and it’s always performance. Performance is in the end the decision-maker.

We asked you about a lot of individuals on Tuesday, but we didn’t ask about Neto Borges. How impressed were you with him on his first start? I thought that in possession, he looked really dangerous.

Yes, exactly. This is what I told you the last few weeks, that he gives us a little bit of a difference face in the game. He’s very comfortable in on-ball moments. He can bring, I would say, sometimes his teammates in better moments. He’s on a high level with his passing, his pace, and with his passing power. In this direction, he gives us a really interesting picture, and it was a promotion, from himself, in this game.

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When we spoke to Emil Riis, he said he was the exact sort of wing-back he’d love to play with. Is that the impression you get, that he’ll bring the best out of players like Emil and Ross McCrorie?

I think we have more interesting players in the wide areas; we have, in the end, also Yu, we have, of course, Sykesy. In more directions, we have players – and with Ross, he’s normally a player who is always on a really high level and gives us something special – so it’s very interesting what we have on the left and on the right side. But every one of them is a little bit different and gives us something that is not so easy to calculate.

I wanted to ask you about Sinclair, as he looked bright in his cameo. How much do you think a goal would help him because he’s come so close on a couple of occasions?

Of course. It is always important for a striker to score in the end. He was close, he is close, but he has to do it. In this way, it is nothing between. We support him in a way that, in the end, he has chances on this level.

I think his pace helps him; his timing in this game helps him to come behind this line in the right moment, and then, he is close to deciding in the right way to finish and be clinical. In this direction, we hope he can make the next step. We train this a lot with him. Hopefully, we can see the outcome in the game.

Have you seen that progress on the training pitch? It does feel like he’s getting into positions more often.

Yes, of course. I think it’s important that we have not our strikers in the direction of the corner flag; we need our strikers in front of the goal, and right now, he has more tactical understanding in which direction he has to come behind the last line and which direction we want to have him. He grows, [but] in the end, strikers we always count in the end on goals. This is also here the same in Bristol City, like in other clubs, and in this direction, he has to be ready in front of the goal.

Finally, from me, heading into the break, you’ve not got many players going away. I’m sure the likes of McCrorie and Mehmeti want to be playing for their countries, but from your perspective, is there a bit of you happy that they’re staying here and getting that break?

I am very, very happy for players to have in the end international invitations from their own country. I think this is always a really good feedback when you’re an international, so I would like this for my players. At the same time, we want to use the time also for the one or other really good training session, and we will create, again, an in-house game with the boys next week.

With all the games behind us and the training sessions with the style we play, the intensity is always really high. I think also for some players it is really good to relax a bit, so we want to use it in all good directions, in a good way the international break.

Every word Gerhard Struber said on QPR, Bristol City rotation, Pecover, Knight injury and more

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