Can you explain Patrick Vieira’s absence?
Patrick was in as normal this morning, preparing for training. Unfortunately, he received a phone call and he had to leave immediately to attend to an urgent family matter.
Do you have any idea when you expect him to return? Do you think you’ll be here for the United game at the weekend?
Yeah, I hope so. We’ve obviously just finished training, just come off the pitch. So I haven’t spoken to him since training. But I will be speaking to him this afternoon. And I would expect that normal service will resume tomorrow.
How do you prepare to take on Manchester United, when there’s so much change going on at the club?
Of course, when a new manager comes in there’s obviously the potential for some changes, even in the short period that he will have been with a team. So we’ll have to wait and see on that. But really, you know, we’ll just focus on what we normally do. That’s what we’ve been doing today. And that’s what we’ll do tomorrow. And we’ll focus on our own performance. And try and make sure that we give a performance that is going to get something out of the game.
What’s it like being in front of the media?
Obviously, my thoughts are, first of all, with Patrick and the family. I’m here just trying to make sure collectively as staff – we have great staff here – that we’ve rallied around to make sure the transition has been seamless. The players as usual have been professional in the way they’ve applied themselves and we had a good session this morning. Everything has been seamless today. But we’ll obviously speak to to Patrick this afternoon and make sure. All the plans are in place in terms of what we do. It’s never on a daily basis. We know what we’re doing to some extent. But obviously we’ll hope that Patrick is back with us. later on today or tomorrow morning, for sure.
Does it disrupt the preparation at all?
It makes a big difference when Patrick is not here. He’s our leader, the manager, and you always want him at the helm leading matters. We have a responsibility in this unfortunate circumstance we do everything correctly – to make sure that everything goes as seamless as possible, as smooth as possible until he’s back with us.
What’s it been like working with Patrick since joining?
It’s been a joy. I’ve really enjoyed every minute of working alongside Patrick with the other staff members. We built a team behind the team over the last few weeks as well as building a team on the field. So it’s been an interesting process. Patrick, I’ve known for a long time but not worked together on a daily basis. When he invited me to come in I had no second thoughts – he’s a person I respect greatly. So far it’s gone well, the team behind the team has gelled. Everyone working closely and hard to make sure we prep the team as best we can for each game..
How frustrating was it conceding a late goal at Leeds?
Obviously, we have to talk about things, we certainly don’t ignore these matters, we try to deal with them. What we’re doing training, what we talk about in terms of concentration levels, for example. We’re aware, of course, that we’ve conceded too many from set pieces, collectively, it’s not one individual, it’s, it’s a collective area of the game that we have to improve. But it’s the same for all aspects of the game, you know. We feel that in all areas of the game that we can improve. So this morning, we would have worked on certain things to make sure that we improve in open play and in set-pieces. Our answer is always to confront, and accept that are areas of the game that we can be better at. And that’s for the players and for the staff. We keep trying to be more demanding of each other to make sure that we reach the objectives that we want to this season. We’ll keep working hard on all those aspects. And hopefully, sooner or later, we’ll get rewards for that.
Do you know enough about Ralf Rangnick to be able to prepare for the game or not?
First of all, he’s a highly respected coach and he’s got a group of players that are highly talented at the club and the options that he’ll have I’m sure are numerous. We will still be about our principles of play the way that we want to play with and without the ball. And if that’s right, then more often than not it’s going to hold us in good stead in terms of the performance that we can bring. We were disappointed with our last home game, we wanted the reaction against Leeds, we felt we got that. We felt we deserved something from the game but we also know that that’s football. So we have to continue to just focus on improving our performances. And as long as we do that, then I feel that we can be a team that can be a match for anybody in the league.
How is Conor Gallagher after the incident vs Leeds?
I haven’t spoken directly to Conor about it. I wasn’t aware of it during the game. But the one thing that’s clear for all of us, I think, is that homophobic chants aren’t acceptable in any form of society – football games or elsewhere. I understand that Leeds have taken care of the matter, as I’m sure they would do as the classy club that they are. And as far as we’re concerned, we move on.
Team news?
Joachim has been reacting well to treatments. It’s still a little bit too early to assess obviously after today and going into tomorrow. So it’s day by day at the moment. It’s one that we’ll have to wait and see.
James McArthur update?
James is looking good in training, but at the moment this game is too early for him. We’re still going week to week with James’s situation, but he’s looking much better. Everybody else is was out training this morning. So we’re, we’re fine at the moment. But as I say, you know, we got a couple of days to go. And we’ve got to make sure our preparation is right and and then Patrick will, of course, take a look at it, take a view on it before selecting the team.
When you’re preparing for the game how much extra time do you have to put in when there’s a new manager?
When you’re preying the opposition, obviously, you want to see some trends that have occurred over a matter of weeks. But of course, when this happens, it’s not the first time for as the season as it happens, then you have to adapt to that. And you’ve got less, perhaps concrete knowledge at your disposal. But it doesn’t change anything for us because, you know our way of playing – our identity – they’re principles that never change. So we’ll, as always, focus on ourselves. And if we do that right, then hopefully we can get a good performance on Sunday.
