Graham Potter Brighton
How is Ben Chilwell doing in the dressing room, it looked like a bad injury?
“Not great. Obviously, when he pulls up like that it’s a concern. Obviously, we need to scan it but it’s not positive at the moment.”
How much of a blow is that and how sorry do you feel for him with the World Cup coming up?
“It’s a blow for us on an otherwise positive evening. To see him pull up like that, it’s not a great sight. So fingers crossed when we get it scanned it isn’t too bad. It can be not as severe but we have to cross our fingers at the moment. But clearly, we’re disappointed.”
How have you found the differences between managing in the Champions League and the Europa League?
“The quality of the opponent I would say – and the quality of the team we have. We are Chelsea so the quality of players is incredibly high. At Ostersunds, we were the underdog in every game, so it was slightly different. But I would say it was the level of the team and opponent and individual player.”
Does the World Cup become a concern given we’re so close to it now?
“I think you’d have to say so, yes. I don’t want to add any more than that but when a player pulls up like he did after he felt it, it’s never positive.”
And did Denis Zakaria go off with an injury?
“He just got a kick. Just the contact. He was fine. No problems with him.”
What did you ask of Denis tonight and what did you make of his performance?
“Always to be himself and I thought he did that well. He showed his quality, won the ball back, helped with our attacking play, and obviously to score is fantastic. You can see the quality he has and we’ve seen it in training as well. He can strike a good ball so I think it was a nice goal for him and the team. It was an important goal for us so I’m happy he contributed to the team performance and for him to score was nice.”
Have you been able to Ben at all?
“I spoke to him briefly. He just felt something as he was setting off. He is disappointed and upset.”
Did Zakaria surprise you at all because he looked so ready and fresh?
“He’s been, as you can imagine, frustrated and disappointed when he doesn’t play. That’s the life of a player but he’s handled himself really well. He’s kept himself fit, he’s trained really hard, supported the team and his teammates in a really good way. When you do that, you give yourself a chance to perform when your opportunity comes. So credit to him. Everyone was so happy for him and it was a great story for the whole group I think.”
Raheem Sterling was back to something near his best tonight, does that convince you he needs to play further forward more?
“Well, we’ve tried to play him as high and wide as we can. I know there is a lot of talk about him being a wing-back, but I played as a wing-back and I can assure you that Raheem has never played as a wing-back! He has never been asked to play and defend in a back five or back four even. His responsibility has always been against the full-back. With the back four behind him tonight probably helped, he was a little bit higher and a little bit wider. It was nice for him to score because he has been working hard for the team. As I said before, the team has to function well for the individuals to do well. So I’m really pleased he got his goal today.”
Do you think playing Raheem as a wing-back has made it harder for him to hit top form going into the World Cup?
“We’ve had an incredibly challenging October. We came in and faced one point in two matches in the Champions League, were in a situation where we had to get results, lost key players in Wesley Fofana and Reece James, and there is always a little bit of stability that is affected when that happens. With a game every two or three days, it’s not straightforward to find the right solutions. In the end, we’ve had one defeat in eleven. Yesterday, we talked about pressure and that’s the life we have. Everyone has to try their best and I am happy for Raheem that he scored. No-one is doubting his quality here, that is for sure.”
You’ve been careful with how you’ve managed Ben, does that make it even more frustrating and was there any doubt that he wouldn’t play?
“Because he didn’t play at the weekend, there was a thought he could play tonight and have enough time to recover for the weekend. So we’ve tried to manage him, but he’s never played three games in a week. He’s had to have a build-up that I think has been good for him. That’s why it’s very frustrating. It’s a blow for us and a blow for him. Sadly, he won’t be the only one that is affected in this period because October was incredibly challenging in terms of the games we had to play. But it is what it is.”
