Mark Hughes assessed yesterday's narrow 1-0 defeat to Rochdale at the Crown Oil Arena and insisted his Bantams have a "big week" ahead of them, before the 2023/24 Sky Bet League Two season gets underway.
The City boss was disappointed with the performance against recently-relegated Dale, and admitted his side have to be more clinical in front of goal, as a final 'bounce' friendly awaits the Bantams on Tuesday ahead of next weekend's trip to Crawley Town.
“We have a big week ahead of us,” he said.
“It was not the result we wanted, but at the end of the day, the result is not the main thing - it is about the performance.
“In the first-half, we kept our width well.
"Daniel Oyegoke did well on the right-hand side, he was a problem for them and we used that well.
“We have to be sharper and create more chances and in the first-half I thought we did well, but we failed to capitalise on that pressure.”
The Welshman says that he pleased to "have more of an understanding" of his starting eleven ahead of the season restart next Saturday, and is also encouraged by the tactical improvements over pre-season.
He reaffirmed that there is still work to do before the trip to Crawley Town, and hopes to put some more minutes into the rest of the squad in Tuesday's behind-closed-doors friendly.
“We have an understanding of the starting eleven,” Hughes added.
“We need to be better as a team understanding the situations we are in, the more games we play, the better we will get.
“Some lads have not had as many minutes. We are trying to get everyone ready for selection - Tuesday's game will help that.
“We have that game in midweek which will help us top everything up.
“I am looking forward to correcting things on Tuesday and we should be ready for next weekend (away to Crawley).”