Press news in...

The boss set to arrive any minute now for the pre-Stoke press conference. Updates to follow soon.
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DF: The injury news is getting worse and worse, if I am honest. Todd Cantwell has a muscle strain in the hip flexor and will be out for three weeks. Jordan Hugill has interupted ligament in the shoulder and two partially interupted ligaments in the shoulder. He will definitely be out for three weeks. Kenny McLean will also be out. He had a scan this morning on his knee. We have to wait until it settles down a bit and then he will see a specialist. In general it is not getting better.

DF: Now it is allowed for five substitutions, but it is 11 or 12 games to late. We have players playing international friendlies as well and it is hard to accept. To be able to train with the whole team has not been possible since the first international break because we are playing every three days. I will stop moaning about the schedule as soon as we lose a game because it looks like excuses, but at the moment I will complain about it. We are playing in the toughest league in the world in the Championship and it is a game for human beings, not for robots.

DF: It is important, to use five substitutions, because you have to share the load. You still need one or two substitutes for the last few minutes because of injuries and players who cannot last the 90 minutes because they are too exhausted. Thankfully, now we are able to react and change things a little bit early but it should have been this way from the start (of the season).

DF: It is not that I think just about the success. I think about the human beings and the safety of the players. I want to get this message across.

DF: They (Stoke) have quality players and are a side that will challenge for the top six. It is the second away travel for us in three days so it is tricky for us, but we travel with belief.

DF: Twenty four points after 12 games, is fantastic. We have many clean sheets and we are solid. The win at Middlesbrough brings us to the top of the table, but I like even more our points total.

DF: The season is not done, and it is important where we are after 46 games not 12 games.

DF: We have to rotate a bit more in these times, without having a summer break and not having pre-season. We have to stick together in these difficult times and that is what we are trying to do. We have to rely on the players that are coming in and they step in and step up and that is what they are doing at the moment.

DF: (on Xavi). He is also out. It is difficult to judge at the moment, because the scans are fine but he is still symptomatic. We have not found the solution. I can't give you any good news, because all the scans are fine but we are struggling to find the right solution. It is a big blow for him and a big blow for us.

DF: (On adding crowd noise into a stadium). I don't believe too much on an artificial atmosphere. Nobody can replace the supporters and it would just not feel real. We are also top of the league, so I don't think there is too much neccessary to change things at the moment.

DF: I think it was a mix of reasons. The first games after relegation are always difficult for each and every player. It is also difficult with not having a summer break or a pre-season to handle this situation. Of course many of our young players, because they did well last season, that they were subject to a lot of transfer rumours. It was a mix of reasons. I knew the first five games we would have to grind a few results and then we would get into the season. I am pleased we did this pretty quickly and I must praise the mentality of our dressing room. We have some fantastic characters and it is a joy to work with them every day.

DF: (Kenny McLean). We hope it is just six weeks. However, he is a strong character. It is a big blow for us that he is not available, but the most important thing is that he comes back as quickly as possible and it is just six weeks.

DF: Sometimes you have to find some creative options and that is what we are trying to do at the moment. It is strange times at the moment and I hope to have all (the injured players) of them back a soon as possible but at the moment we might have to find some creative solutions.

DF: It says a lot about how far we have come that we are not over excited about being top. Two seasons ago when we went top it was a massive surprise but now it is the attitude that it is expected and that is a good winning mentality to have.

DF: He (Xavi) is complaining about his hip flexor, but we have scanned him and again and we couldn't see anything. He is still symptomatic and if you know how he is he is very greedy to play football. Now we have to find solutions. So perhaps it makes sense to his motherhood club and it makes sense to do that because he belongs to them still. So it might make sense to send him to Villareal and he speaks to the doctors there who speak his motherhood language and know him well. I don't mind who find the solutions but it important we get Xavi back as quick as possible.

DF: We have young players and they have to develop but I can't remember the last time we had a full team training session. In the long term picture for football this is not a healthy picture. We can handle it over a few weeks, this situation, but now it has been for seven or eight weeks. It is tricky to say that we are heaing in the right direction (within football) for this and we have to find solutions for this and take one step back in terms of the load. I understand that it is money and it is a business, but you can't forget that you are working with human beings.

DF: The good thing is that we are top of the league and we have had many good results. We are in a good position. We want to improve on this situation and we are highly motivated to do this against Stoke.

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That is it from the boss. All the pre-match build-up to come at canaries.co.uk.

Posted By: DrDublin on November 23rd 2020 at 14:19:28

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