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00:00Hi everyone, if you have a question, raise your hand and we'll come to you.
00:20A beautiful moment to see how much our people love, respect and admire Bukayo. He's not
00:39a surprise to any of us and I think the best example is his reaction. Immediately after
00:44scoring a goal, what does he do? He goes and says thank you for all the hard work that
00:49all the sports science guys, physios and everybody involved in the recovery has done for him
00:54to be able to be in the condition that he is. I think he lifted the stadium, the energy
00:59and I'm great to have him back.
01:02How was he feeling afterwards?
01:04He was very positive. The first one is always the one, how am I going to feel? Because now
01:10I have different opposition in front of me, different demands and pressure and he dealt
01:16with it really well. As you said, the downside to that is Gabi and Jurgen. We don't know
01:21how they're going to be. We'll be assessing them tomorrow and understand better how we
01:26are with those two.
01:28What are your impressions of Gabi?
01:35With both of them, because there are two players in this team that never want to come off.
01:41Gabi felt something in his hamstring. We don't know how big that is and with Jurgen as well.
01:46He was already struggling very early in the game. He managed to continue and at some point
01:52he couldn't. That's the downside to it.
01:55So Jurgen was it?
01:57No, Jurgen was the knee.
02:00They've been so important for you defensively, haven't they? Clearly, we could ask you about
02:05a week to round with it.
02:10The good thing is that it's been like this the whole season. You see Martinelli today
02:15and say we missed him three months. You see Bukayo four months, Kai four months, Jesus
02:21almost the whole season. How we have managed to be where we are with all those injuries.
02:26Ben White hasn't participated at all this season. It's what it is. We want it so much
02:32that we're going to give it a real go and we are very excited for the next week.
02:36You just touched on the issues of the attack at the end of the pitch and now having the
02:42selection issues in defence. How much of a worry is that with the game so close?
02:49You can imagine we lost four players in the defensive line in one week. So Calafioli,
02:54Ben White, Jurgen and Magallanes. We have still another four that are so bloody willing
03:03that they will do the job.
03:05You mentioned right at the start that Bukayo went to all the fitness guys and on the camera
03:12we could see him hugging Sam Wilson. I was wondering if you could talk about how important
03:17Sam and people like Sam as well are in those kind of weeks coming up to players coming
03:22back to fitness?
03:23Listen, as a manager I think and being part of the staff we all love this kind of recognition
03:30and gestures because it goes beyond the professional side of it. There is a connection there that
03:36is so necessary and for people to appreciate as well. The amount of work and stress as
03:42well and responsibility that they have to go through because they will be like this.
03:46I hope everything goes well and the work that we've done is going to work. So I was very
03:51pleased with that.
03:52I take it there's probably a lot of times where it's just those two alone at the training
03:56ground together when maybe he's getting back on the grass and kind of getting back closer
04:02to fitness.
04:03Yeah and that's why the emotional part is so important because you can do all the physical
04:06work and all the conditioning but you need to leave the players. Four months is a long
04:11time and there are moments that we travel and we go to play Champions League and you
04:15are there for two days, you are on your own in the training ground and it's not easy.
04:20I think they could get swallowed up in Saka and the injuries but Nick Amorino scored I
04:26think his fifth goal in eight games playing at centre forward. That must really please
04:30you knowing that he's playing out of position.
04:32He does yeah but he's got that capacity to score goals, to send the danger and to move
04:38in the right moments into the right spaces. Today was a different goal but then you ask
04:43him to play as an eight and he does it perfectly and understands the timing, the position,
04:47the run, so good. It's a joy to have players like this. I saw Ethan as well, he had some
04:53really good moments. Martinelli I think was superb as well. You see how much we missed
04:58him, that threat, that attacking purpose that he has every time he's on the ball. Some good
05:03performances.
05:06You mentioned you've had to deal with injuries all season. Have you ever noticed anything
05:11like this?
05:13No, especially because there have been some big, big players in very, very critical positions
05:20and affecting a whole line. We have a lot of good news as well. Look at Miles, look
05:27at Ethan, look at other players doing other stuff. That's it.
05:31How hard has it been to plan and strategise when you lose players like that?
05:37It's scratching your head. I'm having the next few games the same. At the same time
05:44it's been a great learning experience for us and all the coaches and staff to manage
05:49that situation. At the end the players are going to react to how we react to it. If you
05:54start to feel sorry for yourself and say it's impossible how we're going to do this, it
05:57will be impossible. These boys don't give you the reason to act like that and look where
06:04we are. And we are in April.
06:08This could now be a really massive week for Jakub Kubiak. He hasn't played much football
06:13but how confident are you that you can throw him in against the likes of Everton or Real Madrid?
06:19The good thing with Jakub is that he's been very reliable. Every time we need him he's
06:22always there, he's available. He does his job. We ask him to play as a left centre-back,
06:27as a right centre-back, as a left full-back. He's ready. He was with a smile on his face.
06:32It's sad for Gabi but he really wanted to play as well and he will be fine.
06:38Jakub will be up for the challenge of coming up against some of the best clubs in the world?
06:43If you ask the dressing room how much they want to play the next two games and the Real
06:47Madrid game, believe me, everybody wants to be on that pitch.