Coleman: No more excuses; Coleman braced for Bristol battle.

Byline: Andy Turner 

CHRIS COLEMAN is backing his players to bounce back to winning ways when they take on bogey side Bristol City at the Ricoh Arena tomorrow.

But the Coventry City boss has warned that he will not tolerate slackers in his side from those returning from international duty and admits that he is ready to make changes from the line-up that lost 3-0 to Blackpool in the last ga me.

One forced change will be at left-back, where Chelsea loan signing Patrick van Aanholt is out for up to a month with a groin strain, leaving the returning Marcus Hall and rookie full-back Jordan Clarke vying to fill the position.

"Unfortunately for us, we are not going to have Patrick who is going to be out for three to four weeks with a groin problem that has been getting steadily worse," said Coleman. "But we have got Jordan back from England Under-19 duty and Marcus has trained all week following his injury, so we have got one or two options.

"One thing I know is that not one of our players from the last couple of games can complain if I leave them out and there will be one or two changes."

Tiredness could be a factor for Sammy Clingan who wasn't due back from Northern Ireland until last night, while off-colour Aron Gunnarsson's place also appears to be under threat.

"We have to make sure that the lads who have been on international duty are mentally right up for whatever game they play for us," said the City manager.

"I am not interested in anyone coming back and thinking they can breeze into the domestic game, because any game in our league is a tough one.

"So the ones who have come back have got to be right at it because the ones who have been here have trained hard and they are ready for it, so we don't want any slackers.

"Sammy didn't come back until last night and I will know by today and tomorrow who is ready for it.

"But I have no doubts about my players' mental attitude whatsoever, or in terms of their commitment to the team and the club, and I am very, very confi-dent that they will go into the game on Saturday in a good frame of mind. If we lose it won't be because we have thrown the towel in.

"It is good that the international boys have been away but now they are back they have to do the business for Coventry City.

"We have got today's session to prepare the lads the best we can and what we can't do is use it as an excuse. We are looking forward to the game, which is an opportunity to stop the two defeats on the bounce. "We were too open against Blackpool and we got punished for that, but you get it wrong from time to time. It is not the first time I have got it wrong and it won't be the last, I don't suppose. "This is a good game for us. Bristol are hard to play against.

They are very aggressive in their approach to games and they get the ball forward quickly to the two strikers, who work very hard, so it will be a tough game for us but a good one to get back on track. "They are in form, they have got 10 points and we have got tomatch them - it is as simple as that. "I watched them against Middlesbrough and it was a really hard-fought gamewith incredible pace and lots of tackles and breaking up of play for 90 minutes. "There was a persistence about Bristol City that got them the result and maybe that's what we have got to do aswell, so it may not be a pretty

CAPTION(S):

OUT OF SORTS... Aron Gunnarsson's place is under threat.