Bristol City boss Liam Manning has spoken about how he is motivating his side ahead of their difficult task at Bramall Lane.

Bristol City travel to Sheffield United, where they will have to overturn a three-goal deficit from the first leg of the Championship play-offs.

After matching Sheffield United across the park in the first half of the opening tie at Ashton Gate, the game was turned on its head after Bristol City centre-back Rob Dickie was handed a red card for his challenge on Sheffield United’s Kieffer Moore, a decision that Liam Manning branded as a ‘disgrace’.

Dickie’s dismissal swung the momentum in Sheffield United’s favour, who were able to capitalise, with substitutes Andre Brookes and Callum O’Hare bagging the crucial goals.

With a near insurmountable task awaiting Bristol City, who will need to beat Sheffield United by three goals to set up extra time at a minimum, Robins boss Manning has opted for an interesting way of getting his side up for the fight.

Bristol City boss Liam Manning shows squad famous comebacks as motivation ahead of play-off clash

Bristol City’s challenge on Monday evening certainly will be difficult, and there will be plenty of emphasis on the Robins coming out of the traps.

They will require paramount motivation to attempt such a task, but Manning has potentially gone about it well, having shown highlights of famous footballing comebacks.

Speaking to the Bristol Post, Manning has spoken about the mindset needed from his players approaching the tie, as well as the famous comebacks they will look to replicate.

“We’re definitely not down and out; that has to be the mindset of everybody,” said Manning. “It’s funny, naturally you tend to look at comebacks and the history of comebacks, and I’ve gone back through loads and spoke the other night about the League One play-off a few years ago.

“You go back to the Champions League final, which we were laughing about this morning, 2005, the Milan-Liverpool one.

“We were chatting to a few of the lads about that, which was quite funny because there were quite a few of the lads who were born after 2000, so there were a few who were either not born or still in nappies when that game happened. That’s the beauty of it; if you throw the towel in now, that speaks volumes about you as a person and a professional.

“I’ve said it from day one coming in here. I’ve had to fight to get into the position that I’m in, having had numerous setbacks, not making it as a player etc.

“So for me, I’ll be fighting until the final whistle tomorrow night and I’ll be expecting the same of the lads, and that has to be underpinned by a huge amount of belief.”

Liam Manning must instruct Bristol City side to achieve one clear goal early on vs Sheffield United

Whilst on the surface, such a feat of overcoming a three-goal deficit to a top Sheffield United side appears difficult, it is not entirely out of the picture.

All the pressure will be on Sheffield United to ensure that they get the job done in front of a demanding Bramall Lane crowd, which could easily work against the Blades.

Sheffield United have already lost 3-0 at home this season to narrow Championship survivors Hull City, and that was at a time when the Blades were still fighting toe-to-toe with Leeds United and Burnley before such a result put a dent in their promotion hopes.

If Manning’s side can get their noses in front early on, and potentially go into the interval with a one-goal lead, a further two-goal swing in the second half could easily be possible for his side to manage, something that he should be instructing the team to prepare for.

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