00:00 [inaudible]
00:06 Hi mate, you all right?
00:26 Sean, was that a missed opportunity or was that a really useful point?
00:30 It's a useful point in the sense we played well again, scored two goals which obviously
00:37 have been question marks about making chances, not taking them. Frustration when you let
00:43 two soft goals go in, more of a team thing, not individuals, the team shape defensively.
00:49 Another good performance, you know, a performance on the road as well. So, yeah, frustrated
00:54 but pleased overall with the actual performance levels.
00:56 I had a few difficult times on the road already this season. Heads could easily have dropped.
01:00 There's only one.
01:01 Well, I'd say the first half against Doncaster was also difficult as well.
01:06 I didn't know that was in the Premier League to be fair.
01:08 Well, I'm talking about everything, including the Carabao Cup as well.
01:12 I'm only joshing, it's all right.
01:13 I understand.
01:14 A bit flustered.
01:15 I understand.
01:16 I'm only joshing.
01:17 The point I'm trying to get to is the fact that heads could easily have dropped given
01:21 the manner of that second goal and how it went in off Pickford. After they came out
01:26 after the break, they really showed some intent and came out really well. I was wondering
01:29 what you said to them at half-time and how pleased you were with that reaction.
01:33 Just reminded them of the performance levels of the first half. We only came away from
01:36 it. It was looked at 1-0, we were on the front foot and we just came away a little bit and
01:40 just got a bit sloppy with it and a bit kind of waiting for things to happen, which we
01:44 hadn't done for the first half an hour or so. I'm reminded of that, you know, about
01:49 taking the game on again, taking it by the scruff of the neck, which we did do. You know,
01:52 second half again, I was really pleased with the start, the energy, the quality. I think
01:57 we kept it up more or less through the whole half, to be honest. You know, the way we were
02:00 dealing with it defensively, shifting the ball, getting into key areas. Arguably, you
02:06 want to score more because of the quality in the areas we had and the bits of play in
02:11 the box, how many entries in the box and quality entries. On the other hand, the madness of
02:16 football, you can end up losing it. Jordan makes a brilliant double save at the end and
02:20 you think, well, how mad is football? But that's how football can be. It would have
02:24 been an injustice, I feel, but it can go against you and it didn't. So, a point on the road
02:29 and another good performance. So, we've got to keep believing in that and keep building
02:32 on it and get players fit as they go into it.
02:34 In terms of the absence of Slash, is there any update on Lewis Dobbin and Michael Keane
02:38 and why they weren't involved in the squad?
02:39 Yeah, they got knocked in the week, so unfortunately didn't make it. I'm hopeful they'll both be
02:43 fit after the international break. Obviously, we'll have Dom likely to be fit. We'll have
02:48 Dwight still today because he's had three days training. I don't normally do that, but
02:52 as you can see, we're stretched. So, we thought it was important to get him involved. So,
02:56 he'll benefit from the next couple of weeks. Demi Graal will benefit from the next couple
02:59 of weeks. Shames will get a bit closer. Jack Harrison will get a bit closer. So, you know,
03:03 there's a lot of signs that remind you there still is a squad here. We were hoping to do
03:08 more in the market, but obviously we all know about the situation now. We're having to try
03:13 and construct deals. We didn't get what we want. Alex Lefters, which is a shame, because
03:17 I think he's a top player. We wish him well beyond our situation. But anyway, with all
03:22 that being considered, when everyone's back fit, I think you'll see a group that are competitive
03:26 again.
03:27 Are you likely to play any behind closed doors friendlies over the next four nights?
03:32 Maybe. We're trying to plan one maybe on the second week, so not the first week.
03:36 And just on Damari Gray, obviously he's still with the club. I appreciate the Saudi Arabian
03:40 transfer window is still open. Where was he today? Is it fitness?
03:45 It's a bit of everything with his fitness. His fitness to play in the side, the situation
03:50 around him and all the noise. But hopefully over the next couple of weeks, that will become
03:54 clearer and he'll get himself fit as a start point.
03:56 Do you anticipate him staying with the squad now?
03:58 I do at this time.
03:59 OK, thank you. Thank you very much.
04:02 Sean, do you think that Olly McBurnie header was in at the end?
04:07 Which one? I don't know what you mean.
04:10 The save from John?
04:11 No, no, because he saved it.
04:12 Yeah, but do you think he was heading in?
04:15 No, no, he saved it. So no, I didn't know.
04:20 What do you think of the save? How good was it?
04:22 Yeah, really good.
04:23 Yeah, and it just shows why he's number one for club and country.
04:27 Yeah, I think like everyone, you had some question marks recently because the team were
04:32 conceding big moments, but I think it shows again what a top keeper he is. I thought his
04:38 all-round performance was very good today. Very unlucky with their second, quite obviously.
04:43 And makes two fantastic saves at the end of the game, when it's really important to do
04:47 so as well, by the way. If that goes against you, everyone's once again scratching their
04:50 heads. But he made sure that didn't happen.
04:53 A lot of the talk you know is about the team having not scored for the first three games,
04:58 but does it take away from how good Jordan is at the other end?
05:02 No, I don't think so. I think the focus is rightly so, and the fact that we've created
05:05 lots of chances and scored goals. We want the team to be doing that, well, scoring of
05:09 course. We want the team to be creating lots of chances, getting into key areas. That's
05:13 just part of the challenge. Once you get there, go and score a goal. It's the hardest bit
05:16 of all. That's why strikers cost so much money. But I think the team are creating and I think
05:21 we carry on doing that. We get players fit, we can add competitive element and I think
05:25 we're in a good place.
05:26 Is there any promising signs from Beto on his league debut?
05:29 Yeah, he's raw but he wants to do it. He's got a demand on himself. He'll get fitter,
05:33 he'll get sharper in the sense of the Premier League because obviously European leagues
05:36 are all different. No, he's come with a smile on his face and he wants to work and I thought
05:41 he's done well again today.
05:42 Hiya Sean. It looked like there might have been a couple of refereeing decisions in the
05:48 second half. Jean Douma, the pullback, which James Tascoff looked insistent it was a penalty.
05:55 And the West Fadringham incident as well, he's handled it, was it inside, was it out?
06:00 I just wondered if you had a view on either of those?
06:03 The view on the penalty was from my angle. I thought it might have been but then when
06:07 I saw it back it's not. So you take that and the players don't know obviously when it's
06:09 live so that's one of them things. Possibly they talk about an orange card because it's
06:15 a close one whether he's thrown goal. I thought the referee today, I was surprised at the
06:20 amount of physicality in the game. I'm a fan of it but we all know you can't do it anymore.
06:25 I thought Beto got dragged all over the place and hardly got a foul against him. But that's
06:29 one of them things, different day, different side. You play the top six, you touch them
06:33 and they get three kicks given and yet today Beto got hardly anything. Not just Beto but
06:37 a number of people. But like I said I don't think it massively influenced the game. Maybe
06:43 you could argue, I certainly argue, whether the extra time comes allowing them to put
06:47 a corner in and then the whistle mysteriously blows one second, a millisecond after the
06:51 corner is saved. Always frustrates me that one. Time's up, time's up, blow the whistle,
06:55 end of.
06:56 You mentioned as well, you suggested that one of the areas you were looking to strengthen
07:03 was in the wide areas. Can I ask how close you were to Wilfredo Nonto?
07:08 We weren't close enough to any situation. The truth is that certain parameters and guidelines
07:13 we're now at, the club's not in the spot it was two or three years ago. I think that's
07:17 become apparent. I've always thought manage what you can manage, manage the realities.
07:21 They're the realities. On the other side of that, don't forget, because you know the transfer
07:25 win, you know it makes news and all that. When everyone's fit and you look at our group
07:29 and they go right, there's still some very, very good players here and a number of them.
07:33 So sometimes that gets overlooked. I believe in what's here, I believe in the players here
07:37 and so far this season I think we've delivered way better than what we've got back. But you
07:41 can't rely on that, we've got to keep delivering big performances.
07:43 What's Jordan Pickford like to work with?
07:55 He's working all the time. He's a top keeper, he works with Billy Mercer at the moment,
08:00 Alan Kelly being off with a major operation. I think it's something different for him and
08:05 it's something different for us. He knows his way around the Premier League and he knows
08:09 his way around the international scene. So he's a very good keeper as we all know.
08:12 Jordan Pickford, 29 with 54 caps, are his best years still ahead of him?
08:17 Keepers. I think keepers and centre-halves are often the ones who mature the latest in
08:21 football. I think they get better and better. You learn the game, you learn to read the
08:25 game, you learn about your professional, you learn about all the standards, you learn about
08:28 your training, all of that stuff. Particularly in my opinion, centre-halves and keepers.
08:31 I think the longer you play and the longer you go, the more wise you get for what the
08:36 game is about.
08:38 Sean, from time to time you read and hear people questioning whether Jordan's still
08:43 England's best goalkeeper. When you see him play like that, that seems farcical. Does
08:47 that seem crazy to you?
08:48 No, I think every player should be questioned because that's the world we live in. Every
08:52 top player gets questioned. Every player gets questioned. No, I think that's part and parcel
08:57 of being a top professional. It's a stimulus for you, if anything. That's what my belief
09:02 would be. I wasn't a top player but I was stimulated enough from that kind of noise.
09:06 If you weren't going well or you were going well even, stay on it. Stay on your professionalism,
09:10 stay on what you do. Stay on it at all times. It's harder I think nowadays for players.
09:14 I've mentioned it many times. They get bombarded with media and social media and everything
09:18 else. Some choose to do it, some don't. I think it's more and more difficult for players
09:23 to see through all that and get on with what they do. Some are their fault because they're
09:27 bringing it on, some are not. Often it's not. They just get bombarded with all sorts of
09:30 opinions from everyone and seemingly every opinion is from a specialist.
09:33 You were named seven subs today, is that purely just a lack of bodies?
09:38 Yes, and partly what I normally do is get the young kids involved. But they've been
09:41 missing out because they've been transitioning over to us for training, they've been transitioning
09:45 over to us to be on the bench, not getting on. They're actually missing out on their
09:48 own game programme. So we had to make a call and go, "Right, they need to game some of
09:51 these young lads who have been with us." So it's more about, "Right, we can't stop their
09:54 development, we've got to keep aiding their development." Part of it is getting with us,
09:57 of course, even if you don't get on. The experience, the feel, even travelling with the team and
10:01 all that sort of stuff. But the time they were playing yesterday, we thought, "No, they've
10:04 got to have a game." So there's no other angle than just they needed a game. They have to
10:09 be playing. So they did that and then we worked with as many as we could.
10:14 Any further questions, guys? No? OK. Cheers. Thank you.
10:20 Thanks, everyone. Cheers.
10:28 Cheers, pal.
10:30 Cheers.
10:32 Cheers.
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