Gerhard Struber has confirmed that Max Bird will start from the bench when Bristol City face Charlton Athletic this weekend, with the Robins head coach also revealing Joe Williams won’t be risked against the Addicks as he continues his recovery from injury.
City welcome Nathan Jones’ side to BS3 for their first home league game of the season on Saturday afternoon. Last season’s League One play-off winners got their first Championship campaign in five seasons off to the perfect start last weekend as they scored late in stoppage time to beat Watford 1-0 at The Valley.
The Addicks followed up their opening day success with a win over Stevenage in the first round of the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night, while the Robins got the better of MK Dons, having beaten Sheffield United on Saturday evening.
After missing the trip to Bramall Lane with injury, Bird returned to the Reds’ matchday squad against the Dons and played the final 15 minutes of City’s 2-0 win, being introduced in place of Adam Randell. While Struber was impressed by what he saw of the former Derby County man in that brief cameo, he is eager to manage his minutes over the coming weeks and is not therefore planning to throw him straight into the fold this weekend.
“I think Birdy gives us a really good feeling,” the head coach told Bristol Live in his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon. “He makes the team, especially the midfield, strong with his game intelligence.
“He’s very, very clear in his actions, so in more directions, we can see that he has a lot of experience in the Championship and a football brain that helps us in our way.
“I think, of course, we think about whether he’s ready for a start, but I think also this needs time to grow him with the right load, and tomorrow he will come from the bench again. Then, we see forward and look forward to how things are going in the next few game days.”
Like Bird, last weekend’s season-opener at Bramall Lane came too soon for Williams to feature. The 28-year-old sustained an ankle ligament injury in the first leg of City’s play-off defeat to Sheffield United last season, which Liam Manning later confirmed would require surgery over the off-season.
Williams was again not included in the Reds’ squad for Tuesday night’s cup win over MK Dons, and although there had previously been hope that he would be able to play some part against Jones’ side, he’ll have to wait a little bit longer for his return.
“He needs a little bit more time with his injury,” Struber explained. “We don’t want to bring him back and risk again something.
“He’s on a good way, but I think he needs a little bit.”
Another player left out of the Robins’ side for the clash with Paul Warne’s Dons was Rob Atkinson. The centre-back started City’s win over Sheffield United but was replaced by Rob Dickie in midweek, with Struber confirming he had opted to give the former Portsmouth loanee a rest after he had felt something in his back in the wake of the win at Bramall Lane.
After Tuesday night’s win, the Reds boss was confident that Atkinson would be able to play a part against Charlton at the weekend. That remains the case, but like with Williams, City won’t take any unnecessary risks.
“Yeah, we hope everything is good tomorrow,” Struber replied when asked if he still expected Atkinson to be able to feature against the Addicks. “Also, the training went in a good way.
“But we have to speak again that we don’t want to go in a risky moment.”
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