Pring full of confidence after gaining regular place
It’s the first time in my career I’ve played Saturday - Tuesday - Saturday so it’s good to know and it fills me with a lot of confidence
CAM Pring believes proving people wrong and changing opinions has been a massive driving force to his successful campaign with the left-back establishing himself as a key player in Nigel Pearson’s plans.
The academy product has arguably been one of City’s players of the season after forcing his way into the first-team reckoning back in October. Pring has had to remain patient and battle with self-doubt after he was left out of the matchday squad for four of the first six matches of the campaign.
That came on the back of falling out of first-team contention at the end of last season, which raised questions about his position in the side going forward. However, after making his first start of the campaign at the end of October, Pring has played the full 90 minutes in every league game since.
He’s also proven his versatility by slotting in as a central defender in the absence of Rob Atkinson, Tomas Kalas and Kal Naismith when the trio were out injured, further highlighting his importance in the team. However, it’s not just his consistency of performances that have been so impressive, it’s also been his ability to perform week-in, week-out without suffering injuries.
When asked how big a source of motivation it has been to change people’s opinions, Pring replied: “I think it’s been massive this season.
At the start, in my head, I’m thinking I’ve got a lot of critics to prove wrong and I think every game I’ve seen more and more people liking the way that I play and that fills me with a lot of confidence and it’s made things a bit easier.
“At the start of the season, you try and push and you want to be playing as many games as possible. At the start, it didn’t really go to plan but in the second half, it definitely improved a lot and I’m happy to be playing at the moment.
“I feel at home here, it’s my hometown club. I’ve never seen myself playing anywhere else so obviously it’s nice to be here and cement myself in the squad now.
“It is a tough and hard season to get through when you play that many games in a row. It’s the first time in my career I’ve played Saturday - Tuesday - Saturday so it’s good to know and it fills me with a lot of confidence.
“Obviously, I haven’t always played at left-back where I feel the demand is a little more than at centre-back, but it all comes with different aspects of the game, I suppose.”
Pring touched upon the shift of focus from playing as a makeshift central defender to playing leftback. He started nine consecutive league matches alongside Zak Vyner as a duo before Naismith’s return saw him move back to his favoured role against Rotherham where he produced a brilliant assist for Tommy Conway after just 15 minutes.
Pearson will bolster his defensive ranks in the summer with potentially two new centre-backs which in turn will allow Pring to focus on
developing as a left-back but he admits the experience playing in the middle has made him a better all-around player.
He added: “I think it’s made me concentrate a little bit more. The first couple of times I played there, I got caught on the ball a bit.
“It’s been good having the players around me to get me through those patches - Zak has been unbelievable at talking to me and helping me and I’ve obviously had Jamo and Kingy in front of me which has been really good, both really experienced lads it’s definitely helped a lot.”
Pring’s own goals haven’t altered much over the course of the season. Now he’s proved people wrong at this level, he wants to do it in the Premier League.
“I’d like to play as high as possible, preferably with this football club. I think that’s everyone’s goal,” he added.
“If you asked anyone that question they’d say I want to play as high as possible and then prove people wrong in a higher league.”