Press news in....

DF: Krul is ready to go tomorrow. It wasn't too serious. Fahrmann is back and available in team training so he'll travel with us. Cantwell is doubtful due to a hamstring problem. We have to wait to see if he's ready, the same goes for Amadou.

DF: Amadou could be available but we'll make a late call on him and Cantwell. Vrancic was ill for 7 days but has been back in training, however this game comes too soon for him. If he can stay training consistently, he could be fit for Watford.

DF: McLean has become a father so missing a training session was acceptable! Hernandez is with his partner in the hospital, so hopefully we have a nice message to give later on, but he'll miss our journey to Brighton. We hope he can travel later, so it's not a perfect situation for our game.

DF: I was tempted to send one of our injured players to the hospital, Zimmermann is a guy you can trust! But we have to accept there are bigger topics than football.

DF: Onel is a key player for us with his pace and bravery. It's been tough for us to play without him. He's still not on a top level in terms of endurance, but he will be back to full fitness after the international break.

DF: Onel didn't sleep much last night and is pretty excited today, but it's good to have him back even if only as a substitute.

DF: It's never easy to go through a tough period. Footballers are sensitive and can struggle with self confidence, but we have many reasons for struggling. We know we'll be in a much better position when our defensive options are fully fit.

DF: Hanley and Zimmermann aren't too far away. I hope they'll be back after the next international break.

DF: We knew there would be tricky situations, now we have to handle the reality. We're not just waiting for players to come back to attack the league. It's even more important to gain a few points now, so we're still greedy and highly motivated.

DF: Losing against United wasn't the end of the world, but I wanted us to be greedy in that game, and it will be the same for Brighton.

DF: Potter's a top class coach and I like his approach. I was a friend of his when he was at Swansea and I like what he's done at Brighton.

DF: It's great when you see on the pitch what the coach wants and you can see Potter's handwriting at Brighton. They dominate the ball and possession and can switch formation within games.

DF: We want to gain points. It will be nice to see Graham because he's a great guy, but we want to win points.

DF: Gaining points and having cake and coffee on the sofa will be a great birthday present for me!

DF: We have to stick together. Our supporters know we face a tough time, but the players try everything.

DF: Against Bournemouth we got our first away point and clean sheet and almost won the game. Even against United, while I wasn't happy with the first half, in general we had chances to get points.

DF: We made several key mistakes but we showed we can be competitive against one of the best sides in the world, as we showed against Man City and Liverpool. We can't doubt ourselves.

DF: We have to be self-critical but believe in our principles.

DF: We had to give Hernandez and Trybull a few minutes before coming back fully and that's the right way to do it. It will be the same with our centre-backs when they come back.

DF: We're not addicted to looking at the table. We want to win games and let it take care of itself. That's the approach we had last season and we had a brilliant finish.

DF: People started playing football to be on the pitch with their mates and prove they are the better side, so that's what we try to do rather than worry about the league table.

DF: Brighton are a well settled Premier League side with top class players. We have to find our way. Graham has a clear idea how he wants them to play.

DF: We can't bring players like Maupay in for millions of pounds, so they're not a role model for us, but we do have to stick to our principles like they do.

DF: Buendia is available. Roberts is back in training too

DF: We should have been 1-0 up against United in the first 20 minutes, or at least not give a naive goal away. We have to be more mature, physical and robust. Our tactical approach was good but to be effective you have to be clinical and robust.

DF: Tettey is our leader so he can say his opinion and criticise the group. It's always important to be honest, but not to accuse each other. I don't care about reputations in the dressing room, I'm brutally honest.

DF: It's nice to get points against the top teams but you can't take it as given. We go into every game as underdogs wherever we go. They're all big chances to get points.

DF: It's important to stay in contention and make sure there's not an unbelievably big gap.

DF: Hopefully we get as many points as our players are having children this week! We can't call the police to bring them to the training pitch. We need to make sure McLean and Hernandez have relaxed journeys if they can.

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That's all from the boss this afternoon!

Posted By: DrDublin, Nov 1, 13:50:24