Nigel Pearson is grateful to the international football federations for protecting his players during the break as Bristol City prepare for a hectic run of games.
Tommy Conway, Andi Weimann, Alex Scott and Antoine Semenyo were the first-team players who represented their countries over the international break with a double-header of fixtures. Max O'Leary was also called up by the Republic of Ireland but didn't feature and Zac Bell played 90 minutes for Wales Under-19.
Conway started both matches for Scotland U21s in their fixtures against Northern Ireland while Scott also started for England Under-20s in their victory over Australia on Tuesday evening. Weimann had an injury scare representing Austria after being forced off in the 50th minute of their defeat to France with a leg injury.
The 31-year-old was pictured with strapping around his left knee but was then an unused substitute in their contest with Croatia. Bristol Live then confirmed he missed out as a precaution and is expected to return to full training this week.
Although the biggest concern surrounded the fitness of Semenyo. The striker has yet to start a game for City this season after recovering from a shin injury picked up while playing for Ghana over the summer.
Before the break, Pearson asked for sympathy from the Ghanaian FA over his game time for the recent games against Brazil and Nicaragua and his comments were taken on board with Semenyo featuring for just 22 minutes over the two matches.
Speaking to Robins TV, he said: "I'm very pleased about that because the conversations we had with the international federations before the players went away, thankfully those federations have been cooperative with our recommendations for the amount of time the players get on the pitch.
"That's a real positive because sometimes we have very important players go away, play every minute, come back and are exhausted.
"So I think for all those players - Andi played 60/70 minutes of the first game and didn't play in the second one. Antoine's had two substitute appearances and I think for him and his preparation for the World Cup on an international level is good for him."
Semenyo has made five substitute appearances in the Championship and one in the Carabao Cup. The prolific form of Nahki Wells and Conway has provided Pearson with the option to be cautious with his comeback having scored four times in his 172 minutes of action.
Pearson now admits Semenyo is ready to start from the off which only adds to the options and quality in attack. He added: "For us, he's getting exposure which helps him to come back from an injury which is not straightforward.
"He looks incredible when he goes on and he's probably about ready to start now which is very good for us," he added. "It's also good for him with how he sees the future with the Ghanaian national side. For once, those factors have come together and it's pretty positive."
City's game against Queens Park Rangers on Saturday is their first of eight matches in October with 12 games in total before the World Cup following the Watford fixture on November 12.
They head into the game one point adrift of their opponents following defeats against Norwich and Burnley despite positive performances and Pearson is keen to get back to winning ways.
He said: "We are as good as our last game and we've lost our last two games so we need to get back to winning ways. We've had a reasonable start to the season and our levels of performance are more consistent that was one of the things we talked about last year is that our consistency was frustratingly elusive.
"There are reasons to be optimistic and I think these next block of games will give us a better idea of where we currently sit in terms of our long-term developments.
"We are trying to push the club forward and want to be involved in the promotion race. It's quite simple."
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