With his new cohort of players, in which a large percentage of last season’s team progressing to the Under-21 team, Wilkinson has spent the last seven weeks working with his team ahead of the 2023/24 season.
And our youngsters will begin their defence of the Premier League Under-18 title by welcoming Blackburn Rovers to the City Football Academy on Saturday 26 August, with kick-off scheduled for 11:30 (UK).
“We’re in a much better place in terms of where the players are physically, the work we’ve been able to get into them and match minutes as well,” said Wilkinson when asked about how his team’s preparation has gone.
“It’s been slightly longer than normal but we probably should see that as a positive just because we’ve arrived at the first game of the season in probably a much better place than we have over the last couple of years.”
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The game will be available to watch live on City+ and Recast where you’ll be able to see Wilkinson’s side play their first competitive match of the new campaign.
And the head coach expects the match to be an exciting one that his squad will be able to showcase their learnings from the past seven weeks of pre-season but not without being tested by a tough Blackburn side.
“[They’re] A team we’ve played a lot over the two or three years. A couple of years ago they had a really really strong side, a lot of those players have now sort of gone on to the first time which is a great barometer of their academy,” said Wilkinson.
“They produce a lot of players for a club which has such high competition in the north west. They’re always got good quality players and they play in a real competitive way. They know what they’re about they know what their strengths are and their weaknesses.
“From what we’ve seen so far it looks like they’re probably playing a little bit more football than they have in previous years which will give us a different challenge. We’ve always had really competitive games against Blackburn so I don’t expect anything different on Saturday.”
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