Liam Manning has offered his verdict on the decision to scrap FA Cup replays, admitting he has "contradictory feelings" ahead of Bristol City's clash with Wolves.

The Robins welcome the Premier League side to Ashton Gate on Saturday as they look to kick off their cup campaign for the season, having impressed in the Championship over the festive period. The Reds played five matches in the space of just 13 days with some players left dead on their feet following the 1-0 win over Derby County last time out.

Manning's side enjoyed success in the competition last term as they managed to beat West Ham United at the second time of asking, courtesy of a Tommy Conway winner and took Nottingham Forest to a replay, before losing to Nuno Espirito Santo's side at the City Ground on penalties.

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The controversial decision has been taken in this year's edition of the tournament to remove such replays with games instead decided on the day by extra time and penalties. Although Manning feels players are already being pushed to their limits due to the gruelling fixture schedule, he admits that he does have mixed opinions on the FA's decision.

"It's a tough one," the 39-year-old told Bristol Live in his pre-match press conference. "I understand lower down the pyramid the impact that replays can have on some clubs financially. I totally get that side of it as well. Where we're at, it was obviously a big thing for us last year but at the same point, the players are stretched to the max anyway in terms of the volume of games they're playing.

"For me, it's contradictory feelings on it but hey, we've not made the decision so what we will do is be prepared for the weekend to play as long as need to."

Although Wolves head into this weekend's clash level on points with Ipswich Town who occupy the final place in the Premier League relegation zone, they have impressed since Vitor Pereira took over from former City midfielder Gary O'Neil.

The Portuguese boss has guided his side to wins over Leicester City and Manchester United while also picking up an important draw against Tottenham. His only defeat came last time out against Nottingham Forest at Molineux when goals from Morgan Gibbs-White, Chris Wood and Taiwo Awoniyi helped Nuno Espirito Santo's side claim all three points.

O'Neil was in charge when the initial cup draw was made and since then there has been plenty of change at Wolves. Although the recent change in the opposition dugout changes the challenge slightly for Manning and his coaching staff, the City head coach believes his side is capable of adapting on the field.

"You look for trends but mainly since he's been in place," Manning replied whether or not his preparation would include analysing O'Neil's spell. "Even then it's unpredictable and you don't know.

"You can do all the work you want to on the opposition but ultimately up to kick-off on Saturday we can get their team sheet and predict what they'll do, but you never know. We obviously had it recently away to Plymouth with the changes they'd made and what were they going to do that day.

"The way we work and what we try to do is to get players who can think, use their brains and understand they're the ones who have to drive it and implement the plan, adapt and problem-solve. We have a lot of confidence and trust in the players that when the game starts, they'll do that."

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