Bristol City’s Anis Mehmeti claims Robins have enough quality to challenge this season

Daniel Wales and Charles Hague-Jones discuss whether Bristol City have enough squad depth to compete for large parts this season.

Transcript

00:00So, Dan, looking at City to start off with, obviously in the Championship they've not

00:07had the most desirable season so far. Only three losses, though, sitting pretty much

00:13mid-table, but there is still a bit of a gap to go to reach the top six. Just the comments

00:19on Anis Mameti, the Albanian winger, obviously he's sort of come out and said they have the

00:25depth to be that top side. I mean, it's a long, old season, the Championship is such

00:32a tough division and it always seems to go down to the wire, especially with that race

00:36for top six and promotion in the end. He believes they've got the depth to do so. How sort of

00:44true could this be and how positive could it be in the lead-up to such a busy period?

00:50Well, Bristol City have always been a side who have struggled to break into that top

00:54six of the Championship. They've always had that sort of, at least in recent years, the

00:58issue of being a decent enough Championship side, but not quite having the quality to

01:05break into those challenging for promotion. But Anis Mameti's comments are quite interesting

01:09because actually, if you look at the table, they are only three points off the playoffs

01:14as things stand. Mameti was really good last time out before the international break. He

01:19scored one and helped set up another against Norwich City, a 2-0 win at Carroll Road, which

01:25was a really good win away from home for Bristol City. And that, of course, was Mameti's first

01:29start in three games. He's been a bit frustrated, I think, to be honest, and I think that sort

01:34of performance for him will really help him get into his stride. I mean, obviously, Liam

01:39Manning was quite happy to heap a lot of praise on him, but Mameti himself, as you rightly

01:43say, he thinks that Bristol City have the depth to challenge those at the top of the

01:48league at the minute. And that's quite a strong claim because there are some strong

01:51sides of the Championship currently. You look at Leeds United, you look at Sunderland doing

01:55so well, you look at Burnley, Sheffield United, Middlesbrough even creeping into that playoff

02:00spots as well, well, or just outside it. Obviously, as I mentioned before, Watford. So there's

02:05a lot of good sides there. So it is a big task, but Liam Manning is a capable manager.

02:09Obviously, he's come off the back of his own bereavement recently with the loss of his

02:13son, which was really quite tragic. But now he's back. And as I say, they're a really

02:17good win away from home against Norwich City, which, you know, as I say, propelled them

02:22to a good place in the league. They are 10th, which on paper doesn't look brilliant in the

02:28Championship, but because of how congested it is at the moment, it's, as I say, not too

02:32bad. Up next, they've got Burnley, which is a tough game, obviously. But when you've got

02:38players like Mameti who are, you know, vying to get into the team, you've got players like

02:41Naki Wells who are scoring as well. There is half a chance for them, I'd argue, to be

02:47honest. It's whether it can be sustained across a full season, though, that is the question

02:52because they do have moments of quality, but whether it's enough to be right up there for

02:57a long period, that's a different question.