Paul Heckingbottom press conference (16/10/2025)

Watch Paul Heckingbottom press conference (16/10/2025) - Lancashire Post on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00Is Valentin in the not fit category, is he?

00:02Not fit, yeah, not fit, yeah.

00:04Thompson, getting better?

00:05Yeah, so Jordan we've had in and around the squad,

00:08just doing all the non-contact stuff, the warm-ups, passing drills,

00:16maybe on the outside in possession, things like that,

00:18just to get him functionally moving.

00:21He's missed a lot of football and then obviously with having to have the operation,

00:25we wanted him and he would have been back a long time ago.

00:30So I think the longer a player is out, the more of that they need.

00:34So, yeah, it's a big step forward though and one you enjoy more as a player

00:39when you're rehabbing to being around the players and be actually kicking a football

00:42and joining in with as much stuff as you can.

00:44But he'll continue down that path, I think, for a little while longer.

00:48Did you catch any of McCann in action?

00:50The second game I saw, yeah, the second game.

00:52It looks like a good team to be involved in that likeable Northern Ireland team.

00:55Yeah, funny, we were chatting about it afterwards and he was speaking about

00:58the energy they've got, how hard they work for each other.

01:00Yeah, and I actually felt in that Germany game,

01:04Germany were wary of that and a bit unsettled by it,

01:06where maybe German teams in the past wouldn't have been phased by that.

01:09I felt, you know, that goal that was disallowed early on as well,

01:13the physicality, directness, come on then, deal with this, defend this.

01:17Yeah, it would have been interesting to see if that one had been given

01:20and would have been onside.

01:22Yeah, Thierry, does everyone win from him being involved in that squad?

01:25You know, the players he's brushing shoulders with, Preston, Thierry.

01:29Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:30Listen, my aim is to try and get Alfie in that as well this season.

01:33I'd love to get Alfie in that.

01:35I think it's great, great recognition.

01:37And it's one that Thierry can be proud of, but it's a stepping stone, isn't it?

01:45You can't be satisfied with that as a stepping stone.

01:47And yeah, it's good, it's good.

01:50He went away in the first one.

01:51The feedback was good, but he didn't get minutes, but called him up again.

01:55So, you know, then the feedback was truthful and happy with him.

01:58And then he gets some minutes in the first game, which is great.

02:01So his job is to try and stay in that.