O'Neil: Manchester City Performance Will Give Us Belief
Thursday, 22nd Oct 2026 16:00
Blues manager Gary O’Neil believes last week’s performance against Manchester City at the Etihad will give his team belief that they can compete next time they face one of the Premier League’s top clubs.
Although Town were beaten 3-2, they pushed the home side to the final minute of the 12 added on and on another day might well have claimed a point.
After the match, O’Neil had said he was disappointed to lose the game and he was asked whether that was an illustration of how far the Blues have come in a short space of time.
“I think that is a good point,” he reflected. “I think it can change quickly, though. We were disappointed on that day because we performed to a level that we thought would be able to get something. And also, I think we could have been slightly better in a few situations that might have made a difference.
“But it’s not like we’ve made a statement and that we’re all OK now and we’re going to be fine against everybody. I think there’s an awful lot of work to do still here this season.
“Seven games in, nine points, but a lot of work ahead of us. So, no one’s getting carried away. It was a decent effort against a good Manchester City side, obviously. One that, unfortunately, didn’t give us any points, but does give us some belief next time we go into a game of that sort of nature that we can be competitive.
“So, a very different test coming tomorrow against Nottingham Forest. But equally difficult. Watched all of their games. They’ve performed far better than their points tally would suggest.
“They’ve managed to lose football matches on scorelines, but I think if you watch them as if it was a boxing match, you definitely wouldn’t have them as the loser in it.
“They always seem to be the ones that are creating chances. So, I think it’ll be a real big test for us tomorrow evening at home against Nottingham Forest.”
Quizzed on whether he believes the gap between the top clubs and the rest of the division is narrowing, O’Neil added: “I would guess so. I haven’t looked at it in too much detail. When you play the big, big teams, you can still feel a difference, of course you can.
“They have world-class players everywhere, so playing Manchester City and Arsenal, which we have already this season, there is a difference to playing those guys and playing the others.
“But I think the league and the way that teams are going about it, the physical nature of the league, the fact that a lot of teams are going man for man now, set pieces being so important, you can close that gap on one-off days. You can definitely close that gap.
“It will still be those teams that finish at the top of the league, I’m sure, but on those one-off days, it does feel like you can find a way to close the gap, as we nearly did last weekend.
“But, back to Nottingham Forest, I think just full focus on what we want to be, what we think the game is going to look like, trying to get our fans invested in it the same way we have in recent weeks, and trying to create another special evening.
“Three Premier League wins so far, which is real good going from the lads. If we can make it four this weekend, it will be a real good start for us.”
Town have been joined in making a good start to the campaign by fellow promoted sides Coventry City and Hull City with none of the trio currently in the relegation zone.
Should the more established sides be more wary of this season’s promoted trio than has been the case in recent previous campaigns?
“I’m not sure, to be honest,” O’Neil said. “I haven’t put a lot of thought into anybody but us. I have big respect for the whole of the Premier League. Every team and coach you face are exceptional. So there’s going to be nothing given to us.
“I think coming up from the Championship still makes it a challenge each week. You are still trying to close a gap to the teams that have been here for more years, more transfer windows.
“But we did have a good go in the summer to try and do as much business as we could to try and keep the real core of our group and put it all together.
“And I think it’s too early in the season to make a call on whether us, ourselves and Hull will end up down in and around the bottom three.
“Of course, it’s still possible that all three of us can. We’re working every day to make sure that we don’t.
“But I don’t think anything’s been set yet. It’s still very, very early in the season. I’m sure it will start to take shape in the next few weeks, and we’ll start to have a little bit more of an idea of what the league’s going to look like.”
_Photo: TWTD_