00:22okay good afternoon and thank you for joining us and we will take questions from the floor for a
00:28live section and we'll begin with James Savundra and Sky Sports News away you go James
00:32Charlie good to see you preseason is nearly over how ready do you feel for Monday night yeah good
00:39afternoon everyone we feel ready we've prepared the whole preseason these six weeks with some
00:47coming some players from the first day other ones coming later but but the desire the ambition the
00:54hunger to start the Premier League is already in the building in each training and looking forward
01:00to it Joao Pedro is set to sign a new contract he's got the number nine shirt now as well
01:06just how
01:06important is he for you yeah we talk a lot with Joao because he's not just a great player he
01:17has a great
01:17personality and I think that his development as a as a great player and as a leader is is very
01:27noticeable in every day in each game so he has this focus and this desire to have a great season
01:38scoring goals but helping the team and I'm very happy I'm very impressed with his personality as
01:43well and and now we need to to help him reaching his goals you've made a number of signings this
01:52summer already are you happy with the squad you have or do you think there could be more additions
01:57no I'm really happy I think that we have made many right choices very good balance in terms of quality
02:05in terms of personality maturity different stages of of the career with good good momentum and we are
02:12we are in a good position I would say there's been a lot of speculation as you know about Enzo
02:18Fernandes
02:18in this transfer window will we still be a Chelsea player on deadline day Enzo is Chelsea player he's a
02:28top top player he's training really really well since he started 10 days ago with the team very
02:34integrated and and we we are happy with him and he's getting ready for for Monday has he told you
02:40that
02:40he wants to stay at Chelsea no he's training really well and I see him really with good attitude and
02:45that's that what we want that everyone is he's trying his best and to prepare for for the kickoff of
02:52the Premier League there are around 40 senior players at the club right now can you talk us through the
02:58thinking between splitting the players into different groups and what that means for the players that
03:02aren't involved in the main group no we have a good managing world with group dynamics with that
03:14whenever we need we have different groups so it's not been an issue at the moment and finally Danny
03:19Werbeck was training on his own today what's the latest with him could he be involved on Monday he can
03:24be involved he just needed a couple of days not training that much because of a little thing but we
03:31are
03:31expecting to be back on on Saturday we need to go day by day but that's that's the plan at
03:36the moment
03:37thanks Kevin thanks James John
03:42how big a challenge is this for you personally and how different a challenge is it to what you've faced
03:46so far
03:47in your managerial career well it's a challenge for everyone we are all together in this in this new
03:54start of the season but the main the main thing for me is the the targets and the goals that
03:59we share
04:00all together and we we have the ambition to to have a great year and we don't need to think
04:07about
04:07what's gonna happen late in the season what we can control is what we do how we start the season
04:13how
04:13we prepare for for the games and for sure now the only focus at the moment is is Fulham but
04:19for sure
04:20primarily it's challenging each game is it's gonna be challenging we are gonna be improving game by game
04:27I'm sure that the the team that started primarily and the one that's in in December even in November
04:36will be better because everything takes time it's a process but we feel that we can have a good start
04:42and that's so important
04:43players who've been in the World Cup players like Morgan Rodgers will they need a bit longer to get up
04:48to speed
04:48are they ready to go flat out from the start
04:51let's see we will check we will assess but for sure because of the World Cup they came a little
04:58bit later
04:58and they will need maybe a little bit more of time but they are for sure selectable for for the
05:07line-up
05:07you talk about time today is top four a must for a club like Chelsea this season
05:13ambition and to be as high as possible let's see where we are in May but it's still a long
05:19way to go
05:20there so for that you need to earn points and to win from early days and that's our goal and
05:26then
05:26will tell that for sure the hunger to have success the ambition to the world to create good energy good
05:33spirit in there in within the team that's that's the first goal because that helps you be more
05:40competitive and win more games incredibly your first game is against I think a good friend of yours is that
05:46right
05:46I mean do you speak with him regularly what's the relationship like what's it going to be like
05:50on on Monday well it's of course you can have a relation but once on the pitch no friends no
05:56past
05:57it's just the 90 minutes that we are playing fighting for for each club and after is everything but
06:06there's no European football for you this season so does that give you quite a significant advantage
06:11would you say against all your rivals who are playing European football
06:16we'll have more time to prepare each game that's for sure that's a fact after we need to prove that
06:21we use the the time in a right way that we have enough players in good momentum to approach this
06:30game and I'm for sure we'll have wanted but it is what it is and we we need to use
06:35the time properly
06:35thanks John Saraya
06:38Bruce James is entering his eighth season as a first team player we've seen him play as a right
06:43back a midfielder a center back a wing back a wing back where do you see him in your side
06:50primarily
06:50he's flexible in his game but he needs to feel important I think that's the main thing not just
06:59because of the role he has a captain but as well because of the the quality he gives to the
07:05next
07:05thing wherever he plays as a right back or as a midfielder normally he makes the next thing better
07:13because of his quality because of his game intelligence his experience his composure with
07:18the ball so it's good that we have players that can play in different positions not just him other
07:24players as well and I'm I see him in a good in a good mood in a good mindset for
07:32sure the the club
07:34means so much to him and we want to have a good start fresh start with with good good momentum
07:43and
07:44and that's why the start is so important on Monday
07:46lots of the boys have highlighted your skill in the training sessions they say you can make the
07:51starting lineup for Chelsea today they enjoy actually playing with the manager in training
07:56and it helps them get better how important is that for you to actually play football first no chance for
08:01the lineup and well it is how I feel it I like to be close to the players I like
08:07to be involved in
08:09the trainings I think that you need to be authentic and that's something that for me to have this close
08:15relation to be to have this close impact with with the players is so important because I think that
08:20my main goal is to help them to help them understand to help them know what to do after they
08:27need to be
08:28on the on the on the on the pitch on the game day they they have control they need to
08:34decide they need
08:34to do their thing but for that we can prepare and for that preparation this is where I have my
08:40goal
08:47I don't know which ones were last season but but yes we have a we have our decisions
08:54you don't want to say no no sorry not too early hopefully we have a penalty and you can see
09:02that on Monday
09:03yeah just wanted to what your first game in charge it's a West London derby against another Spanish manager in
09:08the league
09:08how is it preparing for an away game that's also a derby it's a good mentality well football is about
09:17mentality is about competitiveness is about going through good moments in a game rough and tough moments
09:25in a game to deal with different momentum is so important and and each each game starting on Monday
09:32it's going to be a nice battle thank you time for two more in this section Liam and then Rob
09:39hi Xavi another positional question I wanted to ask about Marco Palestra seems like a really unusual
09:46player in a good way in terms of how comfortable he is with both feet you've used him on both
09:50sides
09:51more recently on the left in preseason and is that where you see him kind of starting the season
09:56I would say it's probably unusual in England because in in Italy for example it's quite common
10:03and he has had this toxic education in in the Italian football to play both profiles it doesn't
10:10matter if you are right footed or left footed that you are versatile so where he is as this this
10:15option
10:16this this energy he's had a great impact as well with him with in the in the children with his
10:23integrated really well he's a great guy and this freshness that he has brought apart from his
10:29football qualities it's a it's a very great addition to the to the club but yes he's he's something
10:37different maybe not that I'm not that common here but in Italy it's quite common finish with Rob
10:56yeah I would say so I would say that having a proper position help has helped him in a in
11:03his uh in
11:05taking the right steps in the right moment not trying to to rush it too too quick because because of
11:10the
11:11what he had last last last year it was even last year he finished playing in a good way and
11:19now after
11:21precision we are expecting that and that he feels well and that he's with confidence and with the
11:26fitness to to have him in the best level because if he's feeling okay he's for me one of the
11:32best
11:32center backs in the world because of his uh composure because of his presence so complete so dominant and
11:41and Levi is going to be a key player for us
