Sky Blues manager Mark Robins talks all things pre-season tour, Nottingham Forest friendly, and potential new signings.
Following the 3-1 victory versus Leamington on the weekend, the Sky Blues squad jetted off to Alicante, the following day, for a week of warm weather training.
City boss Mark Robins assessed his side’s work ethic in pre-season and revealed how the tour has unfolded, so far.
“It’s warm, but it’s been ideal. It hasn’t been as hot as previous years, but in the afternoon it tends to get a little bit hotter.
“This morning there will be some offloaded training this morning, some will train on the pitch and others are going to have a recovery day, but that’s a normal Wednesday for you.
“Over a week’s period, some players have done nearly four games worth of training, some have done three, some have done two games worth.
“Those ones that are playing catch up will do some more work this morning and it’s been a really good exercise. Yesterday, they worked really hard, there has been some really good quality training going on and I’m pleased with the way things are going, the application is really good.
“They went out for a meal and a couple of drinks last night, nothing stupid, but I think we can trust them and that’s a big part of things. They’re a good group and they know what they need to do to remain close and become closer and obviously I allow them the freedom to do that, but we get on with work as usual this morning.
“They’ll be golfing this afternoon to give us a different environment for a bonding session and a different sport to play, so there will be a few tired legs tomorrow, but that’s good because we’ll be overloading and they’ll be bang on it again today because on Friday there will be a really stern test.”
The Sky Blues will face Premier League newcomers Nottingham Forest on Friday as both sides look to prepare themselves for the upcoming 2022/23 campaign.
Forest secured their long awaited return to the top-flight via the Championship play-off final at Wembley Stadium, just a short while ago.
City clinched a dramatic opening day win against the Reds last season, but Steve Cooper’s men tied up the season head-to-head at the end of the year with a City Ground win and Robins anticipated a tough test when the two face up at the end of the week.
Further, Robins talked to the latest transfer news, providing an update on potential incomings.
“We’re still pursuing targets. I think we are there with one and getting there with another and hopefully we will have another one, but we’re looking at loan signings which is why things take time.
“There’s potentially a fourth one that I want to do, so we’re looking at four players in the defensive area of the pitch. At the moment, that’s what I’m looking at and hopefully we can get those finalised as quick as possible.
“You have a longer list and then you whittle that down to a shorter list, some targets you get, some targets you don’t, we’re just one of many clubs that are after similar players, so we’re always competing with others and that means by default you’re going to win some and you’re going to lose some.
“We weren’t in to do a huge amount of business as we had done in previous summers because I want to try and give us more depth but I want quality because that’s how we’re going to get to a better level than we played last year.”