ποΈPhilippe Clement will hold his pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday's game at 13:30pm this afternoon.
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Kovasevic - he is back in GK training, close to fitness. He can be available or we wait a few days - will decide Friday afternoon.
No new injuries. Forson back in training with the group... need to make him more robust. That is the goal for weeks to come. Need a bit longer with him.
On-loan Sam Field is eligible - rule change there.
Makama - he has had surgery, everything went well. Small screw in his foot to let it heal the right way. Surgeon is the son of the former Brugge president, who PC knows. PC told him the day before to sleep well!
Sargent. No change.
PC on Mohamed Toure - I don't think I need to manage him a lot. He is really humble, quite introvert. The day before the Oxford game new players have to sing a song, as is tradition. "He wasn't up to it" so a good job his performance at Oxford was good.
Back to the singing - PC wasn't asked. "It is totally not my talent" but will sing if they win something
Toure - you can't expect three goals every game. The better we will play the better the life of our strikers will be.
Selection ... it is nothing to do with the competition, it is about what the team needs. We have to make these decision every three days because players can't play every game. We need to manage the loads of the players and in our situation we don't have a squad where we have 22 players who can play all 90m.
Medic back injury two days ago but not sure if he is ready for the game - decision on him tomorrow.
PC - the team has been in a situation where there was a lot of negativity. Now they get a lot of praise, can have a lot of ambition - let's keep it that way. It is about teamwork.
PC on Paris Maghoma - he is comfy on the ball. Pleased what he did at Oxford. There were moments when he could have made better decisions. I had a meeting with him this week about those details and he understood... but really pleased with him in training. "A really good player for the future of the club".
PC on WBA - the 5-0 win there has no bearing. Totally different game. They have changed things, had longer with the new manager so will be more into his direction. It was a really good result there but they had spells where they hurt us. We need to show good quality.
People in the past have said the FA Cup is not important - I don't want to hear that or see that tomorrow. "We are going to go full to qualify."
Close to sell-out - lot of first time fans will be there. PC - there is a real buzz, you can feel that. I have been 'outside' a few times and people have come up to me and said 'our club is back'. I am full of hunger and desire to make it better and better.
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That's all from PC.
Posted By: DrDublin, Feb 13, 13:45:55
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