00:00Good morning. We will take the usual format today and begin with Paul Gilmore and Sky
00:29Sports News.
00:30Have you got any fresh injury worries, any players returning for the game against West
00:36Ham?
00:37No, they are exactly the same as the last one. Wes is out, Romelu is out, Benoit is
00:44out and we are... they are okay.
00:52First of all, from your perspective, do you need a response after the Man City game?
01:05Oh yeah, we need a response. We need a good performance to try to win the game, but not
01:13because it's after the City game. It's because we try to do always the same and for sure
01:20it could be a good option, a good moment to get three points, especially at home.
01:27With Grimm Potter coming back, did you see much of Chelsea when he was there? Did you
01:33have a bit of sympathy for him? Things seem a lot more settled at the club these days
01:37compared to maybe when he was there.
01:39No idea. No idea because when he was here, I don't know how was the environment, how
01:44was the situation. From my point of view, I can say that since we started, I'm working
01:51happy with the right environment.
01:54Obviously, the day of the game is also deadline day. What impact does that have on you?
02:02Oh, me and... I think it's... I said many times, it's the same situation for all the
02:07clubs, all the managers. I think it's good also because you can work just with the ones
02:13that you are sure they're going to be with you until the end. So it's good for me, but
02:17it's good for all the clubs.
02:19Do you expect a player, at least one player, to come in before the deadline ends?
02:28You can expect players arriving and you can expect players leaving. So it's like this
02:34in this moment. I don't have any idea about the ones that they can leave or the ones that
02:39they can arrive. Anything can happen. We'll see. For me, the main focus is just 48 hours
02:45of the game and it's the main focus and the most important thing.
02:49What impact does the fact that it's on deadline day have on your selection? Because if you
02:54think of Joao Felix, Axel de Sassi, talk of maybe them leaving, maybe Christopher Nkunku
03:00as well. Is that a factor in your team selection for Monday?
03:04No, in this moment we have many noises around the players, but it's not just for us. It's
03:12probably, if you ask Graham, that it's exactly the same. I don't know if they have some noises
03:18about players, but overall I think it's exactly the same situation for all the clubs, all
03:24the managers. The good thing, as you said, is that Monday is the last day.
03:28You said after the City match that when you press high you have to be brave and that sometimes
03:36left your defenders wondering around the parlour but you felt they dealt with it well. What
03:40was the philosophy going into that game, playing a sort of a high line and a mid-block? Because
03:44we've seen City previously being beaten with counter-attacks much easier. What was your
03:48thinking behind that?
03:50No, the plan behind the game, as I said, I think in that kind of games you have to be
03:58brave, you have to asset. You have two ways for me. The one is that you drop and you give
04:03them 80 per cent of possession and you just wait. Sometimes you can be lucky and you can
04:08win the game or you can get the draw. And the other way is to try to be aggressive,
04:13to try to be brave. I think especially in the second half, every time they try to play
04:18short from behind, we recover the ball, I think, 90 per cent. And three times they play
04:23long from Ederson to Haaland, two times they score and one time they almost score with
04:28Marmouche, the shot from outside the box. That's what it is. You have to asset, you
04:32have to think that it can happen. It can happen when they have Ederson that is good in long
04:42range and Haaland that is top in that kind of ball. But as I said, it's a decision that
04:49you have to take before the game and I prefer always to see my team brave, then to sit back
04:54and be there 90 minutes and just wait for something.
04:58And Chelsea are one of the top teams in the league for crosses in the box but the conversion
05:02has been a bit low. Jackson's obviously still improving match by match and when you sub
05:06him it's mainly for Christophe, who you said yourself is not a nine. Do you think Guy is
05:11ready to play and come in in these moments because we've seen he can head the ball and
05:15he presses and has the same work rate off the ball at Jackson?
05:18Yeah, Marc is improving a lot to be honest. He's doing fantastic, he's improving a lot.
05:22I think day after day it's more ready for that kind of game. But sometimes the decision
05:28I take is because I see something and sometimes it's good, sometimes not. But for sure Marc
05:35is, I think day after day, is more ready.
05:39And you know Potter well, he knows some of the players here well. In terms of the London
05:43derby on Monday, we've seen West Ham's potential, some wins under him already, they've changed
05:47their shape, they've pressed in different shapes. What sort of tactical battle do you
05:51expect at Stamford Bridge?
05:52No, they are, as you said, they are very aggressive. I watched the game, the four or five games
05:58with Graham in charge. You can see that they try to be very aggressive, even the last game
06:05against Aston Villa. So it's a game that will be a tough game, like always. And in terms
06:13of tactical, we have tomorrow, we have still two days to prepare the game and we're going
06:18to see.
06:20Have you decided who's going to start on goal on Monday night?
06:29No, not yet. Not yet. The decision we have, as I said, probably two or three days. The
06:35good thing is that any decision I take I feel good because every time Philip played since
06:41we started he has done well. So Philip or Robert we'll see, but any decision will be
06:48OK.
06:49Are you at all concerned about the fans' reaction to Rob Sanchez? And one, would that be a factor
06:59in your decision? And two, would you urge the fans, if he does start on Monday, to get
07:05behind the team that has voiced their disappointment?
07:10The only thing I can say is that we need the fans. We need them. The players need them.
07:19Understanding that sometimes for different reasons they cannot be happy with the players
07:25or with the manager in general. They cannot be happy. But for sure we need their support
07:32because they have to trust our direction. I'm the first one that if I see something
07:38that I don't like, I'm the first one that I don't accept that. They can be happy in
07:47terms of the way they try to work every day, the way they try to embrace all the situations
07:54we have this season. I'm sure that at the end we're going to be there fighting for something.
08:01Last season at Leicester, after dominating for several months, you went on a bit of a
08:11tricky run. What did you learn from that period and is that helping you now in terms of coping
08:17with this difficult run at Chelsea?
08:19It happened exactly the same. That moment, the good thing was that we were dominating
08:29almost all the games, creating chances. But the big difference was inside the box. We
08:35conceded goals that we could do better and we didn't score goals that we had many chances.
08:43More or less here it's happening the same because all the games we had chances to score,
08:50even the last game I think. After ten minutes we can be 0-2 and probably the game is completely
08:55different. So for me the big difference in this moment, I know that we struggled with
09:00the results in this moment in the last six or seven, eight, I don't remember. We struggled
09:04with the results. But the performance is there. Probably in some games the performance has
09:10not been there for 95 minutes, 100 minutes, that you need that. It has been for 60 minutes,
09:1570 minutes, 45 minutes and you need to be there for 100 minutes. For sure it's something
09:20that we need to improve. But for me the big difference in this moment in the last games
09:25has been inside the box. We conceded probably goals that we can avoid and we could score
09:31goals that probably in different moments we scored goals. It's where it is, we need to
09:35continue and try to understand how we can improve these kind of things.
09:40Chelsea were in top, top form when you played Brentford in December. But then maybe there's
09:45a period where agents start to talk to players, they start to maybe have some offers and things
09:50like that. Do you think that's affected the squad because it seems like about 30 per cent
09:54maybe of the players, they have these stories, these transfer rumours about them.
09:59100 per cent.
10:00Has that affected the squad?
10:01100 per cent for me yes. Could affect, but not only us. All the teams because at the
10:06end, I said many times, they are human beings. And even if they say no I'm professional,
10:12I'm focused on this. At the end if they are talking about you, about different clubs,
10:16probably the focus is not 100 per cent. But as I said it's not just for us. This can be
10:23something. The other one I think, I said, probably losing Wes. That for us since we
10:33start has been a key player, has been also some moment. But if you see City or Arsenal
10:38or the other team, happened in all the teams. So the reason why it's different, the good
10:42thing is that we still play a good game, good performance, we still create chances. And
10:47as I said probably in this moment, the big difference for me has been inside the box.
10:52Is there an issue with the subs and players on the sides?
11:10No, it's always. Probably if you go back, we won some games where I did, I changed players
11:16in the last five minutes. Because we won, no one realised that the change was in the
11:20last minutes. Then when you don't win and you don't make change, for sure you are asking
11:25why you don't make change. It's just the game plan, it's just the game that requires some
11:29changes. But as he said, probably the good thing is that Monday everything finishes.
11:37Is there a benefit sometimes to take in a player that's struggling out of the first
11:43team for a bit like Robin Sanchez? You've always been very forthright, he's your number
11:48one, you've always defended him publicly. But sometimes is it what a player needs when
11:54they're struggling just to take the spotlight off them, just to sit out for a bit?
11:57Yes, sometimes it can happen. It's not only a Robert case, I think it's happened already
12:04this season, I think with Alisson, that he was okay but he was on the bench for some
12:09games. The other day I was reading about Donnarumma, that this season with PSG he was playing always,
12:17but for some games Luis Enrique left him out. Now he's playing every game, he's doing well.
12:23So sometimes yes, for sure, it can be a solution. But that means that this is a Robert case.
12:30Is there a fear that with Philip Jorgensen, it's clearly a bit of a problem in that position
12:36at the moment, the longer that he doesn't get the nod, the longer that he goes sitting
12:40on the bench watching this, that could become a problem for his confidence development?
12:46I don't think so because the first time I spoke with Philip in June or July, I don't
12:53remember, I have been clear that the number one choice was Robert. So you cannot come
12:58here and expect, for sure, if the number one is Robert, and then because we have two
13:05good keepers, we can make some different decisions, for sure can happen. So that means that Robert
13:12can mistake every game and he's always going to play. No, but the number one choice was
13:18Robert. Then we'll see during the season and we'll see on Sunday.
13:22And we'll finish this section with Marty.
13:25Just for clarification, I read in the criticism of Robert that OCAFA could be recalled. One,
13:32is it possible to recall them because of the terms of the loan? And two, have you thought
13:37about doing that?
13:38No, absolutely not. No, no, absolutely not.
13:42Okay, cameras off please.
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