Press news in...

Daniel Farke addresses the media ahead of Reading v Norwich City. Updates to come from 1.30pm.
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DF: The injuries have eased up a bit. Kieran Dowell will be a realible options soon. Tim Krul and Lukas Rupp will be not be back.

DF: I think overall (Michael McGovern) he has been fantastic. I can always trust Micky. His his confidence has grown from game to game.

DF: In our promotion season he (Emi Buendia) was there with many goals and many assists. You need this at this level to create goals and to get assists. His mindset is totally right. It is the same for Teemu (Pukki). His workload was fantastic. Emi was there in a shooting position and Teemu was in the right position. When you are willing to work for the team, your ability shines through. It is no coincidence for Teemu and Emi.

DF: (Reading) You have to say they have done a fantastic job. It is 18 games so it is not like you can say it is early doors. They are in a good position and they are one of the best teams in the league. They are good in position and they have may talented attacking and defensive players. We are also in good shape. We are there in a good position and it will be a game when small margins will decide it.

DF: I think so (the quality across the league is suffering because of the short amount of rest between games). It is one of the toughest league in the world and to play every three days is incredible difficult for the lads. So for that, this league is relentless anyway, but this season it is even more. You have to go into the games and grind out results and I am pleased with that at the moment.

DF: In these league there are fine margins. It is very tight. With three of four defeats you are in a bad position and with three of four wins you are in a good position.

DF: The head is very important within football. I got the feeling in pre-season that mentally we were in good shape and that we could win tight games and be there late in games and score two goals after the 80th minute. You always have to work hard and stay very, veyr focused because as soon as you go into a game with one or two percent less focus you stand no chance.

DF: We always want to go into every game, wanting to win this game. However, you need to have the mentality that when, for several reasons, there is not the chance to win it, it is important not to lose it. However, we go into every game wanting to win the game. This is in our DNA.

DF: (Onel Hernandez and Xavi Quintilla). Xavi is doing some individual stuff. He is not too far away from being involved. He is still self isolating. He can return to team training tomorrow but that will still not be possible. Onel will return to team training in January.

DF: (Christoph Zimmermann) I have to say I am pretty pleased with Christoph. In our promotion season he was almost untouchable. We missed him a lot last season because, even when he was available, he was not in his top rhythm. I was never concerned when I had to throw him in. It is is good for his confidence and good for his rhythm. I think the centre backs are doing a fantastic job. It was not perfect. It would be perfect if we could return to the dressing room with clean sheets, but I am pretty pleased with Grant's shape, Ben's shape and Christoph's shape.

DF: (on turning things around). I am convinced it is difficult to play the season after relegation. This has also been shown in the past. The big advantage for the team that have been relegated is that for Watford and Bournemouth they were in the Premier League for many, many years. They have more than 1,000 games of Premier League experience. We were slightly different. However, we still had our philosophy to fall back on. It was not a case that the manager, or the sporting director had gone. We stick to our beliefs and the way we want to play. We had these values. We knew how we wanted to work and that is crucial. We have our conerstones and our values we can lean on.

DF: (Reading) I think once I came here they were one of the favourites and very possession based. Jaap Stam was in charge. However, you could go through every club with this. Lots of teams have changed manager. I think I am one of the longest serving managers and it is incredibly when you think of that. I feel honoured and priviledged to work for a club like this. I think it is always good to be level. Not to be over the moon after a few wins, or too critical after two or three loses.

DF: Always in this business you have pressure. Whether you are fighting for the league or fighting against relegation. There is always pressure on each and every player, each and every sporting director and each and every head coach. There are not many coaches who have this priviledge (not be sacked). Not Jurgen Klopp and not Pep Guardiola and I am priviledge to be in this position.

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That is all from today's press call. Keep an eye on Canaries.co.uk for all the latest build up to tomorrow's match.

Posted By: DrDublin, Dec 15, 14:24:05