Nigel Pearson says he won't get carried away over Bristol City's league form and claims his side remains "a long way off the Premier League" after their impressive start to the season.
The Robins stretched their unbeaten run to eight matches in all competitions with a victory over Blackburn Rovers last Saturday. They sit fourth in the Championship while only Manchester City can better the 16 goals they have scored across the 92 clubs in England's top four tiers.
Their attacking force is widely gaining plaudits from pundits across the country but it's been a long and difficult journey for the manager who has had to oversee a raft of changes both on and off the pitch in regard to personnel.
Pearson has reiterated the need to change the culture to help them progress on the pitch. Four new arrivals in the summer and departures including the likes of Tyreeq Bakinson and Kasey Palmer have helped contribute to that.
City also brought in the highly-respected Jason Euell as first team coach this summer and Pearson says the current league table is clear evidence of the progress being made in comparison to 12 months ago when the Robins were forced to wait until October 30 for their first home win of the season.
He said: "I think we're seeing signs of what we're trying to do, it's never a finished article. Teams continue to evolve and hopefully, we'll continue to evolve and develop in a way which is positive.
"It's about the people involved in it really. You can talk about the technical side of football but actually the partnerships and relationships within an organisation, it doesn't matter if it's football or anything else.
"If you go to work and enjoy working with the people you're working with and you've got respect and it's driven with good work ethic too, you've got a much better chance of developing a project which is half decent.
"I don't know where we are in the overall development of where we're trying to get to. We're trying to get to the Premier League but we're a long way off that at the moment.
"We're doing okay and maybe because we've played good football too, it gives people optimism but I don't really give it too much thought."
Pearson is certainly not getting carried away with City's position in the league. He's a realist and while he knows the players are enjoying a purple patch, there will be times during the campaign when he'll have to deal with other hurdles.
There's a concern over the lack of squad depth, particularly in central defence with Pearson unable to bring in another new face over the lack of finances. Considering last season's goals against record in which they conceded 77, there's also understandable concerns that improvements this time around are paramount.
Three consecutive home clean sheets remain encouraging signs but three goals conceded to Sunderland and Blackpool and two against Blackburn and Hull prove that there is work to be done.
He added: "I'm more likely to start being suspicious of the situation when everybody all of a sudden starts thinking it's all going well because there's always something that crops up which is the next potential hurdle to get over or problem or whatever it is.
"Sorry but I'm okay with where we are at the moment, we're doing well but it's still early days and we've got a long way to go before... there's never a time where we can relax anyway but we've got to be aware what the situation is.
"It only takes a bad result here and there to shift how people think about it or perceive it so I don't get too down when everybody is moaning and I won't get carried away when we've won a couple of games.
"We're playing well but we still need to keep more clean sheets. We still need to be more efficient from time to time but I think the players are performing well and they are also driving it themselves which is really pleasing to see.
"Some are doing better than others but I think you'd expect that."
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