00:03okay good afternoon and thank you for joining us we shall take the usual format today beginning
00:10with a live broadcast section and we'll begin with Gary Cottrell and Sky Sports News off you
00:16go Gary yeah we've got so Reese's back in training Levi's back in training both looking good a little
00:36bit a little bit away to the game so we'll see how they do day by day but both are
00:40looking promising
00:46to be involved or not was one ahead of the other no not really we're just we're we're taking it
00:51day
00:51by day obviously um Levi's had a long injury um Reese had a really good run and has been injured
00:57again
00:57and there's a there's a lot of games still to play so we don't want to push too much but
01:01we're just
01:01taking it day by day and see hopefully they come through that's clearly great news um you're not
01:09ruling out either of them though they could be involved even on the squad maybe yeah potentially
01:27yeah Reese has been brilliant from the day I stepped up in January to be honest um this time
01:33around he's injured so it's a little bit of a different role like you said um even though
01:37he's still young he's he's massively experienced he's won major tournaments um he loves the club
01:42he cares about the club so he's driving and pushing standards every day um we have a leadership
01:47group here that he's a massive part of and he's been a massive support to me and all the staff
01:51involved on an interim basis well that's great news about the about those two what's it been like
01:56around the place obviously you've had some time around here having reached at the cup final has that
02:01just lifted the mood a little bit after a difficult time yeah it's always difficult when when you're not
02:06performing and not getting the results that you you feel like you need and and you want to push
02:11towards and it's amazing how a win can change the feel and the atmosphere and the momentum with
02:16the group so they've been in a really good place the last they've trained the last two days and
02:20they've been in a really good place as as the staff and Cobham as a whole so hopefully we can
02:25continue
02:25that we gave the the lads three days off um and i actually thought it was i think it says
02:44a lot
02:45about the group that they go away together um i love the fact that they spend time together and
02:49they they've gone to madrid to watch tennis so um yeah i don't i don't see an issue with it
02:54in
02:54honesty because apparently he went to the same tournament last year exactly yeah he was there
02:59last year um with his teammates again um the last time they had a break they spent time together as
03:04well so i think it's a positive sign for the for the unity within the group for your first time
03:10in the
03:11dugout in charge at stanford bridge in charge of the first team anyway how much are you looking
03:15forward to yeah really looking forward to it got a really tough game not on the forest are a really
03:19good side um we'll be well prepared for it but yeah it'll be a great honor uh to lead a
03:23game at
03:24stanford bridge obviously i've been uh involved in games at stanford bridges uh assistant or support
03:29staff um might have a bit of a different feel leading the team and it'll be a great honor in
03:33front of
03:33the chelsea fans i'm really looking forward to it and hoping we can put in a similar level of
03:38performance as we did at wemberley sun's out uh you're in a cup final there's still be the
03:44celebratory movement i'm sure from from last weekend how important is the crowd going to be
03:48to getting behind the team after your best basic core running the premier yeah we need the fans we
03:53need the the crowd to to bring a positive energy and the right energy and get behind the team we
03:59all
03:59want to we all want to do well for this club we know that we know that there's still a
04:02lot to play
04:03for like you said a cup final we can still get in the champions league um we want to win
04:07every
04:07single game and we've got two more games at stanford bridge i think that's correct yeah two more games
04:12at stanford bridge so we want to win as many games as possible and we'll need them
04:16is the champions league still realistic obviously it's still open how many places there are going to be
04:21depends on how bill are doing europe league blah blah but if if liverpool and bill are winning before
04:27you even played then you can't reach top five anymore mathematically but is that something you have to put out
04:32of your mind
04:32yeah i think you're right when you say that like we we just have to win our games and not
04:37not worry about anything else and i think even even further to that we have to make sure
04:41our performance levels are right um and the results will come so we have to just focus on
04:46ourselves and the next game in the next day in the next training session
04:50you've been around the training ground now for a while been in the hot seat a couple of times
04:54there's a lot of talk of course about what's going to happen in the summer
04:58would the manager like to come here and be in charge of chelsea
05:02what would you say to any prospective manager is chelsea an attractive club to manage
05:08i don't think i have to sell that in honesty
05:10um it's a one of the biggest clubs in the world uh great history of winning we've got some
05:16unbelievable players um some of the best players in the world here great training facilities you've
05:21got everything you could want so i don't think i need to sell that in honesty but yeah
05:25thank you thanks gary alex hi how are you very well you yeah we're good thank you
05:31season almost over i know you have a lot of work to do what is the priority what is the
05:37focus
05:39getting tomorrow's training session right getting the next training session right
05:43getting the next game right um taking it day by day and making sure that we're
05:48um preparing at an elite level and making sure that we can perform
05:53in some massive games that are coming up against really high quality opposition so
05:57trying to get every day right
05:59nottingham boris the first premier league game since leon left i know you had a good relationship
06:04with him did you have a chat with him and did he give you any advice
06:08yeah i had a conversation like i'd said previously with liam um the day that he left um i'd like
06:13to keep that private if possible um but uh it was a good conversation i've got a lot of respect
06:18for liam a lot of time for him it didn't work out here and he'll go on to have a
06:23top career
06:24in coaching it's just sometimes it just doesn't work out at clubs
06:26i'm sure you watched nottingham boris last night what do you make of them and how will they be dangerous
06:32at the bridge yeah i watched them last night um i've watched many of their games they're a really
06:37really good side in a really good bit of form um some top quality players some real threats that
06:41we have to be aware of um so yeah another massive game another big challenge like every game in the
06:47premier league is but um we'll be ready we'll be prepared for that game
06:50and after that fda cup win some days off what is the mood like around here at the moment
06:57yeah really positive um if football is a results business and when you're losing everything's
07:04the worst thing in the world and when you win it feels amazing so
07:08um the mood has lifted definitely after uh breaking the recent run of losses and i thought
07:14we performed really well in the game at times so that's another positive and we showed lots of
07:18different different elements to our game that we were really happy with so we just need to try and
07:23continue that and stick to our processes that that got that performance and and carry on
07:27just finally are you enjoying it yeah it's it's i definitely am enjoying it it's it's you can never
07:34be prepared for the the intensity and the demand but um i'm enjoying it i'm enjoying the challenge
07:39i'm enjoying the pressure i enjoyed wembley so hopefully if you keep winning you enjoy it
07:45thank you thank you thanks alex nizar
07:47hi calen it follows on quite nicely from what you're just saying but it feels strange to ask you
07:52after such a good result but i wanted to ask you about some of the criticism you've had of like
07:56lack of experience as an interim or under 21s coach i wondered if you could answer that and
08:01uh you know it's no doubt influenced by your lack of a pro license
08:06i haven't heard any criticism so i don't i don't know where that's come from but uh i just focus
08:11on doing my job day to day um enjoying it like like you said before and giving the giving the
08:18players what they need from a preparation standpoint
08:20has it changed much like your life um you know you're more visible now you're on the sidelines i saw
08:26reese was pushing you towards the fans and stuff has that sort of changed because you can go under
08:30the radar a bit as a youth coach or an assistant hasn't had time to change to be honest it's
08:35just
08:35we're in here so much and then any free time i get i spend at home with my family and
08:40my young
08:40son so i haven't been out and about to see if it has changed or not but it has it
08:44doesn't feel
08:44any different so nobody's stopping for selfies or uh yeah asking you you're gonna play at the
08:49weekend no no thankfully not thanks nizar simon
09:05yeah everyone was really pleased all the all the staff at the game uh like you said uh directors
09:11that everyone was really happy with the performance um especially the first half and the second half
09:16i thought the group showed character so um at the end of the day you just want to get through
09:20to a
09:21final of fa cup when you're in the semi-final so yeah everyone was pleased
09:35no i don't yeah of course that that adds a little bit extra maybe to it but we know that
09:40we're a massive
09:41club um and we want to be in the champions league we want to be in europe we want to
09:46push we want to
09:47uh rectify the form that we had previously so um i don't i don't feel that it adds any extra
09:53incentive
09:53um i think we need to go and attack every game as we did and try and win every single
09:58game of
09:58football and see where that gets us at the end of the year and obviously when you're in a cup
10:02final
10:02you want to win that so that's that should come naturally thanks on
10:05and then just a quick one sorry um a bit of a tangent here as ex-english
10:10under 21's coach are there any players that you could you think you're perhaps in the final few games
10:16and particularly shimafika is that someone that could get a chance underneath as you've got the
10:22power selection yeah good question there's a lot there's a lot of young talent in cobham um i've had
10:27the pleasure of working with them for six months um so i know i know them really well they're training
10:31with us all the time they've got a massive game tonight in the in the quarter final against
10:36tottenham i'll be at that game watching that game um and i wish them the best of luck and they
10:40can go
10:40and uh they've already won the league but this is the playoff format now so they can go and get
10:44two
10:45trophies this year so i'll be watching um and there's a lot of talent in there that could definitely
10:49make a step up okay thank you everyone cameras off please thank you thank you and
Comments