Conor McManus: Overcoming injury and hopes for the new season
For McManus, it's been a slow journey back to full fitness across the summer and early part of pre-season as he returns from a quad injury.
'I'm getting there slowly but surely, still kind of getting back into match fitness and trying to get the 11-v-11 exposure back into the legs. I feel really good, really fit and really strong,' he explained.
'We have a great group this year and a lot of good characters. It's been really good getting back in and involved. This year, like last year, I think we have a special group that can go far.
'It [Wales] will probably be a tough one, lots of double sessions, but the facilities are excellent there, so hopefully I can use that week to build up and get the body ready for Cheltenham and then go from there.
'Personally, I'm taking it a day at a time, building up and making sure my body's feeling right going into every day.'
'Personally, I'm taking it a day at a time, building up and making sure my body's feeling right going into every day'
McManus' 2024/25 season was interrupted by two separate quad injuries.
It ultimately meant he missed out on the Premier League Cup final and Professional Development League national final, however the defender played a pivotal role in both competitions.
'I think high highs and low lows kind of summarises it a bit," he reflected. "Obviously, we had an unbelievable year and I think all the lads and myself should be so proud of all the work we put in.
'On a personal note, it was probably not the best with injuries and I was kind of unlucky in that sense where I had a really good pre-season, I felt I was coming into the season very sharp and then I got injured.
'I felt a bit deflated after that. I did the whole rehab and came back firing again and then I felt I had a really good three, four months where we were playing some really good football.
'For the injury to happen again was a bit of a mood killer, but it is what it is. Hopefully, touch wood, this is the end of it. Going into this season, I'm just really excited to kick on, try and stay fit and healthy, and help the boys as much as I can.'
Speaking on his rehabilitation, McManus said he continued to drive forward positively with the goal of coming back better than ever.
'Like everything, I think it's a bit of an up and down thing, trying to stay positive, trying to work as hard as I can because at the end of the day my end goal is to be out on the pitch as soon as I can be,' he said.
'I'm surrounded by unbelievable staff and they did their all to get me back out on the pitch and get me stronger and get me fitter.
'In my head, I have a goal to come back better than ever and I think that's more than achievable.'
This time last season, McManus was plying his trade with the first team, training consistently and featuring in a pre-season clash against Benfica while on tour with the Bees in Portugal.
He said he is confident of getting back to that level, however is aware of what he needs to do at B team level in order to get there.
'I have full confidence in myself that no matter what happens, I'm going to work my hardest to get to the position that I was, if not an even better position,' explained McManus.
'I know how much I've come on as a player ever since I've moved to Brentford so I think I'm kind of riding off that confidence. Half of it is just mindset.
'That is of course the goal for every B-team player to get in and around the first team, but I think that comes with you doing your job for the B team first.
'If you neglect that and your only goal is to just go up with the first team, it's not going to work out. In my head, it's small steps towards a bigger goal.'
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Five tactical themes that defined Women's Euro 2025: More systemised, less individualistic
Euro 2025 was, put simply, a very good tournament. There were no goalless draws nor genuinely bad games. Every side scored — in fact, every side scored in the final round of group matches alone. A paucity of draws in the group stage, which suggested a clear difference in quality between sides, gave way to a knockout stage where five of the seven matches were all-square after 90 minutes, bringing tension and drama to proceedings. But on a deeper tactical level, what was the tournament all about? The main theme is an extension of the one from the 2023 World Cup: the women's game is becoming more systemised and less individualistic with each passing tournament. In 2023, Aitana Bonmati was the rightful winner of the tournament's player of the year award, even though she'd actually been marked out of a couple of knockout matches, and her contributions had been modest. 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