Mark Hughes expressed his compliments to his Bradford City side before their bout against top of the league Forest Green Rovers, as the Bantams look to get back to winning ways this weekend.
Bradford are yet to win a game under Hughes and have lost their last five outing, but Hughes has took a deep look at his squad to really see where his team can excel.
“It’s about recognising what the group is best suited to accomplish and the work they need to do to do well”
The former Man City and Stoke boss had heavy praise for the talent the squad withholds and believes that it could be their ticket to a successful end to the season, after the majority of their campaign has been one to forget.
“I’m pleasantly pleased with the amount of technical ability we’ve got in the group and that’s why we’re going to try to be a team that passes more than we have done”
Hughes is already implementing his tactics and ideologies to his side, with a recent formation change being welcomed by fans and players alike.
There was also mentions of returning players in the words of Hughes, after he said that Dion Pereria is ‘close’ to a return, as well as Charles Vernam apparently being a ‘couple of weeks ahead’ of his estimated recovery time and is said to be doing well.
Forest Green was obviously going to be on the mind of Hughes, with a trip to the league leaders only a couple of days away. A trek down to Gloucestershire is where the Bantams are off to next, facing the League Two high flyers who are also without a win in five games.
Hughes has strong faith in his squad’s ability going into his first away game and does believe they have a chance of taking some points back to Yorkshire, but it certainly won’t be an easy feat.
“They’re a good side. They’re there on merit, but maybe results in recent weeks haven’t been as straight forward for them, so maybe we can go there and probably cause an upset”
“It’ll be a hard game for the first away game but I’m looking forward to it like every game so far, so it’ll be a good test for us”
The new gaffer has enjoyed his first two weeks at the Yorkshire club and is looking forward to the time ahead with his new side, as well as mentioning how he’s enjoyed getting stuck in behind the scenes a bit more than he normally would as a manager.
“It’s been great, I’ve really enjoyed it. You sometimes forget what this role demands of you and there’s a lot of elements to it.”
Hughes has obviously been at some big clubs at the past, working with teams whose facilities and resources are a lot more expansive that Bradford’s, but he’s welcomed the new challenges with open arms.
“I don’t think it’s an issue. It actually means you need to get involved more than you needed to at other places”
Bradford travel down south this weekend to take on Forest Green Rovers this Saturday at The New Lawn Stadium at 3pm, with both sides in the hunt for a long awaited win.