![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0_Anis-Mehmeti.jpg\")
Anis Mehmeti is Bristol City’s top scorer this season(Image: Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA\/Getty Images)<\/p>\nAnis Mehmeti and Bristol City face Sheffield United at Ashton Gate in what is their first Championship play-off campaign in 17 yearsAnis Mehmeti is Bristol City’s top scorer this season(Image: Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Liam Manning is under no illusions that Anis Mehmeti will have a “hugely important” role to play for Bristol City<\/a> in their play-off campaign, with the Robins boss feeling the Albanian international “changed the game” from the bench against Preston North End.<\/p>\n Mehmeti was a second-half substitute as the Reds came from behind to secure a 2-2 draw against Paul Heckingbottom’s side<\/a> on the final day of the season. Although the 24-year-old didn’t pick up a goal or an assist, he proved to be a constant thorn in the side of the Lilywhites with the ball at his feet and helped City pile on the pressure both prior to and following Ross McCrorie’s brace<\/a>.<\/p>\n Despite not finding the back of the net since March, the former Wycombe Wanderers<\/a> man remains the Robins’ top scorer this season with 12 goals. The majority of those came in the first half of the campaign with the winger’s role slightly reduced over the course of the last few months.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Nahki Wells makes simple request of Bristol City fans before play-off clash vs Sheffield United<\/a>READ MORE: Liam Manning makes ‘mad’ Ross McCrorie admission with Bristol City fans seeing best of defender<\/a><\/p>\n While the Reds are down to their bare bones in several areas of the pitch heading into the first leg of their play-off semi-final with Sheffield United on Thursday evening, competition for places in attacking midfield remains rife with Max Bird<\/a>, Scott Twine, George Earthy<\/a> and Mehmeti all vying for a starting role. On the face of it, selections made in recent weeks would suggest that the Albanian international is behind his competitors in the pecking order, but his display on the final day of the season has provided his head coach with a bit of a headache.<\/p>\n “Yeah, definitely. I think he’s had a terrific season,” Manning told Bristol Live<\/a> when asked if Mehmeti was getting closer to becoming more consistent. “I think if you look at his performances and his numbers last season to this season, I think he’s massively progressed, and he’s still got more room for growth as well.<\/p>\n “He’s someone that I love working with, he’s driven, he’s hungry, he’s desperate to learn and improve. He’s in love with the game, which I think is something that often gets overlooked as well. He’s so passionate about it, and you can be tough with him.<\/p>\n Bristol City are fighting to secure their place in the play-off places and you won’t miss a beat with our free newsletter.<\/p>\n All the latest news, views, interviews, gossip and analysis concerning the Robins, delivered straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n It’s completely free and you can sign up HERE<\/a><\/p>\n “Of course, there are elements where he gets frustrated with me, but you want that, you want people who are not happy to not play. As long as they control it in the right way and they put the team ahead of themselves, which I spoke about at the weekend, I’m okay with people being annoyed at not playing. It’s then, when you do get the opportunity, what do you do with it?<\/p>\n “The only way you give me a headache is by delivering and Anis at the weekend, I thought he was excellent and changed the game for us. I know in the next two games he’s going to be hugely important.”<\/p>\n Though it was Twine who partnered Bird as the second number 10 on the final day of the season at Ashton Gate, it has typically been Earthy who has started alongside the former Derby County<\/a> man over the course of the last few months. Even when the two attacking midfielders have been in fine form, however, it has not been unusual to see Manning make changes in-game, in that position.<\/p>\n Join Bristol City Live’s Whatsapp community for all the biggest Bristol City stories sent straight to your phone<\/strong><\/p>\n Bristol City Live<\/a> is now on WhatsApp and we want you to join our community.<\/p>\n Through the app, we\u2019ll send the Bristol City news, live match coverage, team news, transfers, fixtures, analysis and more straight to your phone.<\/p>\n To join our community you need to already have WhatsApp. All you need to do is click this link and select \u2018Join Community\u2019.<\/a><\/p>\n No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Bristol Live<\/a> team.<\/p>\n We also treat community members to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. If you don\u2019t like our community, you can check out at any time you like.<\/p>\n To leave our community, click on the name at the top of your screen and choose \u2018Exit group\u2019.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.<\/a><\/p>\n Click here to join our WhatsApp community.<\/a><\/p>\n From the outside looking in, such tweaks have seemed like little more than the City boss freshening things up or adding a different dimension to his side in the final third. In reality, the way in which Manning and his coaching staff have approached substitutions as a whole this season has changed from their first campaign in charge in BS3.<\/p>\n “I think we’ve been much better this season at that. It’s one me and Hoggy spoke around, trying to be a bit bolder and braver with the changes that we make,” said the head coach. “It gets overlooked a lot, the volume of changes that now get made in games versus five, six years ago when it was less.<\/p>\n “The game can become a bit bitty, not just because of the number of moments [where changes are made], but just when you change 10 players in a half, for those players to get up to speed and find rhythm, that takes time. We consciously said, let’s be a little bit bolder and let’s make three or four at once to give them time to settle into the game, get up to speed, and it’s probably helped us a little bit this year.”<\/p>\n READ MORE: Liam Manning details Nigel Pearson conversation as Bristol City prepare for play-off campaign<\/a>READ MORE: Cam Pring injury latest as Bristol City prepare for play-off meeting with Sheffield United<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anis Mehmeti and Bristol City face Sheffield United at Ashton Gate in what is their first Championship play-off…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,2686,748,393,4884,10583,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-83342","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-bristol-city-fc","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-liam-manning","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114469652831047684","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1744487785_996_2_Liam-Manning.jpg\")
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