City hope to play trump card

City's play-off quest resumes on Saturday at Carrow Road against the second-placed Blades needing to pick up the pace after two points from the last nine.

Since a Stoke stalemate the likes of Angus Gunn, Grant Hanley and Kenny McLean were part of a dream Scotland camp that included a landmark Euro2024 win over Spain.

City's entire international contingent trained for the first time on Friday at Colney, since starring for their countries, and Wagner aims to tap into the positive vibes.

"Absolutely. I think everybody can tap into that. I feel everybody has really come back with a chest out," he said. "I saw the whole 90 minutes of the Scotland game against Spain. I haven't seen all the games, I have seen most of the highlights, and I know exactly how many minutes all the boys played.

"Christos (Tzolis) scored, Nacho (Marcelino Nunez) got an assist. Adam (Idah) played, Andrew (Omobamidele) played. We really enjoyed what the Scottish guys did. Dimi (Giannoulis) played as well.

So everybody got minutes, international minutes, and were able to represent their countries. It's always great. It's always a great feeling and all came back very healthy as well. A great break for them and for us. Now we are focused on Sheffield United."

Wagner used his international break to run a closer eye over the club's best academy talent.

"We had seven, eight of the under 21 players as part of our training regime for a few days and I was able to get a better picture on them," he said. "That is one of the advantages in this period. Obviously it is different if you only have seven or eight first team players.

"We understand our job is to improve players day to day, on the training pitch, in the gym, in the video meeting room, and what is true is that in the international break everything is a little bit calmer when the focus is not game related. It is a different atmosphere in the building during the international break."