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Norwich City vs Wycombe Wanderers on 24 Oct 20
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DF: Christoph Zimmermann is still out. Wycombe Wanderers is too soon for him, but he could be back for Birmingham. He does not feel a 100 per cent right so he is not available. There was a few questions about Teemu Pukki after the Birmingham game but he is available for tomorrow.

DF: I have mentioned before. Performance-wise we can be quite happy in a really difficult period. We are the best possesion side, best passing accuracy and best low entries into the final third. I was quite happy with a clean sheet against Birmingham in terms of controlling the counters better than we did against Rotherham. We are in a good place.

DF: (on Todd Cantwell) I am pretty pleased. He is in a much better mindset. I was never too concerned because he was a young lad and it was the first time he needed to find his balance. It is always important to develop and grow and I got a feeling a lot about himself and I am pretty pleased with how he kept going in training over the last two weeks. I think (against Birmingham) it was an outstanding performance. He was in many dangerous positions and in many positions to play a dangerous pass.

DF (on Wycombe): Sometimes a newly-promoted side has a surprise start and win many points and some times they have a difficult start. I am sure Wycombe will win many points. Reading have had a good start and they were lucky win against Wycombe. The Championship season is very long and after five games it is too early to judge. So we have to be focused and switched on. If you go with two or three per cent off you can lose the game. There is no easy game at this level.

DF (on Adebayo Akinfenwa) He is able to keep the ball and win headers with his back to the goal. He is difficult to defend against. If you under-estimate then he is always a threat.

DF: I am not here to win the Mr Nice Guy contest or the noble peace prize. Sometimes it is necessary to criticise your players in public to provoke a reaction.

DF: The best players in the world - even not on the best days - they are solid. They will be outstanding some days with their games but on their bad days they have to be solid and this is what the young players need to learn. This is the mentaility I want to bring into the squad and at the moment I think they are on the right track.

DF: I want our values and our principals on the pitch but I am not addicted to base formation. Our structure with the ball and against the ball is not reliable on base formation. I think there will be games when we have two strikers on the pitch, there will be games when we have three strikers on the pitch and there will be games when we just have one central striker. However, when we have two strikers we need out wingers to play like No. 10s.

DF: I am pretty happy that we have many options. It should be good that the opponent has problems in how to prepare for us because we have options and we are flexible.

DF: (on Lukas Rupp) I know when I judge a player, I can judge it in a proper way. In Germany he played at the top level at top clubs. Of course, it was a difficult start for him playing in a struggling Premier League side and not in his usual position. I am delighted for Lukas that he has proved some of his doubters wrong. However, I am not criticising (the critics) too much because if you are not working with the player every day then it is difficult to judge.

DF: (on Gareth Ainsworth) To be there for such a long time says a lot about his class as a person, as a character and as a manager. To win promotion is difficult, to win the crucial games when it counts. He has done a fantastic job. He is a great guy.

DF: (on Oliver Skipp) Compared to many young players who have made their way for us, it is the most difficult situation for Ollie. We have brought a lot of young players through our acadmy but the expectation was not that high. There were expectations from fans, but there we not expecting them to be outstanding. Oliver Skipp comes and the expectation is that he will be a future captain for Spurs and he is in a side when the expectation is high. I have to give many compliments to Ollie for how he has handled that. I am pretty happy with him. He has had some outstanding performances and some solid performances and he has not been there yet with a poor performance.

DF: (Mario Vrancic) Mario knows that I totally trust him and we have a great relationship. It is not important to be on the pitch each and every minute. I love his attitude and he knows I trust him in each and every moment. He is important for us. It doesn't matter is he his starting the game or coming on as a substitute. He can change the game. In his first season with us he had 30 starts and it was not the best season for us and also for him. However, the second season he had just 12 starts but it was a season when we won the league and a really good season for him when he could shine. It is sometimes like playing poker and not showing your best card too early.

DF: (following a question on Joe Jacobson's delivery from set-pieces and scoring direct from corner) It seems like you joined our meeting from Wycombe. We know his delivery is first class and it is important we don't give away too many set-pieces but when we do we are focused and switched on.

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That is all from the boss for this afternoon's press conference. Thanks for joining us and don't forget to tune into tomorrow for the game.

Posted By: DrDublin on October 23rd 2020 at 14:05:09

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