00:01I think he was tiny and he said he was the height of Tarkovs.
00:04Yeah.
00:05I know him is just voice noting me a question but I haven't listened.
00:09Probably about his height.
00:12How old was he?
00:14Two and a half.
00:15Is it?
00:15He's tiny.
00:16He's small, yeah.
00:17He went to nursery apparently and said,
00:20I'm six foot five.
00:22That's right.
00:27Good afternoon everyone, welcome to our press conference to preview our game against Tottenham.
00:31We'll start off with Anton from Sky.
00:34Hi Anton.
00:35I'm just wondering your assessment of the start of the season I suppose,
00:38because glass half full, you know, it's unbeaten and amazing comebacks,
00:42but glass half empty I suppose you've needed amazing comebacks and drama.
00:46Pleased in some aspects, I think we played quite well in some of the games.
00:53Yeah, I'm not unhappy and I'd like to get another win rather than a draw somewhere along the way,
00:58but nevertheless, the players have done a really good job at the moment and we hope they can continue.
01:05I think it's fair to say, excitement is building around Tyreek George.
01:10Would you urge sort of caution around that for not putting too much pressure and expectation on such a young
01:14player
01:14or are you okay to be excited about the young talent and his potential?
01:17Well I think there's some great young players around the world who are playing,
01:21who are younger than Tyreek and exciting everybody.
01:24I think Tyreek's started well.
01:27I think he's still got a lot to learn and he will in the time he's here.
01:31But he's come into the team, done very well for us and I hope it continues.
01:35Jack Greenish hasn't started again I think since January.
01:38Is he ready to start again?
01:40And what are the risks and considerations that you have to take into mind if you're going to do that
01:45decision?
01:45I think Jack's a special because I think Jack is ready to play, yeah.
01:50I think Jack's probably a boy who needs the football more than he needs the training.
01:54Sometimes I think playing game time helps Jack, but in ways that's him still building up to get to his
02:01best.
02:01But I've got to say he's had a good week's training and beginning to look ready to start.
02:07How exciting is that for you to be able to say that you could have him potentially in the start
02:11of that?
02:12Incredibly exciting if he gives us what he gave us at the start of last season.
02:15If we get that level from him then we'll be thrilled.
02:18I'm just wondering, this is the penultimate game before the international break, the elongated international break.
02:23You've got various players in the squad at various levels of match sharpness.
02:27How difficult is that going to be to manage when some players are going to be away for three weeks
02:31playing four games
02:32and some players are going to be knocking the ball?
02:35I think it is difficult, this window, but I think everybody was fully aware of it because after the World
02:40Cup
02:40we were going to have a, I think we've missed the month, what was it, September probably, in the international
02:47break there.
02:48So it's tightened up more games and the players are, there will be a lot of players who will end
02:54up playing a lot more minutes than others.
02:56So that will be something.
02:58But I'm sure all the clubs will be looking to play, you know, behind closed doors games or games at
03:03the training ground.
03:05Obviously there's a lot of games for the players to get away and obviously injuries could be a problem as
03:10well.
03:11So we've got to hope that our boys who do go away, I want them to play, but maybe not
03:17the four games.
03:18I mean, there's going to be a lot of talk around whether Jarrod Bramford should or shouldn't be in this
03:21England squad.
03:22If he is called up for example, would he be ready to be able to do that after everything that
03:26he's been through the last sort of years?
03:28Well, I think everybody now is looking to manage their players and look after them as best they can.
03:33We certainly are.
03:34And I'm sure if Jarrod was called up by England, England would look after them the best they can as
03:39well.
03:40Cheers.
03:41Thanks Anton, we'll go to Fraser at Premier League Studios.
03:44Hi David, just following on from that, obviously a lot has been made about the size of your squad.
03:49Is there anything you can do or look at or change or are you considering any of those things with
03:54regards to minimising the risk of injury to players?
03:58Well, we can't really do an awful lot to minimise the risk because obviously games, games come and that happens
04:04and players can get injured or players can get injured in training, that's part and parcel of it.
04:08But obviously having a bigger squad then helps, while you've got a smaller squad then you've got a concern if
04:14anything goes wrong.
04:16Obviously you're talking about probably are you looking in the free transfer market, are you looking for players out there?
04:22Of course we're looking to see if there's anything which could be any of use but I think to be
04:28at the level we're at, you know, to get something which would really make a big difference, it's not an
04:31easy thing to pluck from that free transfer group.
04:37And having the smaller squads, there seems to be a real sense of strength and resilience and unity about the
04:43players, are the two interlinked do you think?
04:46Does one come from the other?
04:48I think it is actually interlinked. I think that a small group, you know, together, the tightness which can happen,
04:55as I said, I think I mentioned Leicester City winning the league a few years ago and what it was
04:59like.
05:01It looked like a small, small group of players who've done that. It's probably less and less likely because of
05:06the amount of games, the extra Champions League games there is, the extra, you know, international games we've just talked
05:12about makes it that you really need the extra players in your squad.
05:17So, we've not got European football this year so maybe, maybe we can find a way of getting through with
05:22what we've got at the moment.
05:24Thanks Fraser, we'll go to Julia at Radio Merse.
05:26Hi David.
05:27When you're talking about that squad, so 21 players in your squad, Illermann and I left, I was looking at
05:34the comparisons to your season where you finished fourth, your highest finish with Everton.
05:40It was a squad of 21, Rooney had left in the summer.
05:43What did you learn then that you might be able to use now about having that type of squad?
05:49Well, I think probably between then and now is it's probably the change of games and the amount of games
05:54which is more.
05:55Not necessarily for us, but I think if you look at all the squads, I think there's more substitutes on
05:59the bench than probably at that time.
06:03When you talk about 21 players we have at the moment, three of them are goalkeepers.
06:07So that's where you in some ways separate your goalkeepers from your outfield players, which takes it down to 18.
06:15But I do think that sometimes having a tight group can work.
06:18I'm not saying it will.
06:20I think if I had my choice I would have rather had more numbers, obviously.
06:23But I certainly wasn't somebody who needed 24 players or outfield players or 25 outfield players.
06:28It wasn't that I was looking for.
06:30I've tried to work mainly with 21 outfield players.
06:34That's the number I've tried to have.
06:36And sometimes you can maybe have 22, it can be a bit bigger, but around that number would have been
06:40my choice.
06:43But I think more just because of the way the Premier League has gone, the changes you need.
06:48We are seeing more managers now making five substitutes in lots of games than what we've done in the past.
06:58And I think that's the reason why the squads are much bigger.
07:03When you are looking at this squad, there are sort of areas, up front we spoke about it last week,
07:09that you're lacking in numbers there.
07:11But your midfield, you've got Harrison Armstrong, James Garner, Merlin Roll of course is a midfielder as well, Hayden Hackney.
07:17With that choice now, how do you set about selecting who plays there?
07:22Because that is where you've got that choice and how are you keeping them all happy?
07:25Well that's good, part of the job to have decisions to make and we've got some decisions to make.
07:32Hayden started well for us, Jimmy's just come back.
07:36I thought Jimmy was much better against Manchester United than he was against Bournemouth, you could see.
07:41But of all the players who get back from injury, Jimmy got himself back as quick as MD and tried
07:49to be ready to play.
07:50He was tremendous in getting himself back.
07:52And we had to use him, partly for different reasons as well in the game against Bournemouth, a bit sooner.
08:01But yeah, you're right, it's good.
08:02Ciaran Dewsbury Hall as well, we've got one or two.
08:04So we've got some competition there, but we're going to need it because we've just been talking about international games
08:11and the amount of football that a lot of the players might have to play.
08:14When you talk about the 18 outfield players, it's been 17 because Norgaard's been injured.
08:19So can I get a check on the current injuries and is he still unavailable?
08:23He's still unavailable.
08:26We're hoping we'd get him back maybe somewhere after the international break.
08:29That would be what we would hope.
08:31Was that always the case when you signed him?
08:34No, I don't think we thought we expected it to be as long as this.
08:37And look, he's hugely important for us.
08:41It was someone who we were looking forward to gaining his experience, his nose and getting to know him.
08:48And at the moment, no, we've not had him on the grass yet.
08:50So that's that's been the disappointing thing.
08:52But hopefully it won't be too long.
08:54I know we've spoken before about it took you a while in the summer to get over the end of
08:59last season.
09:00Obviously, it ended with with the game at Spurs.
09:03Yeah.
09:03When you look back now, obviously, they had so much rising on that game.
09:08And how do you assess that now?
09:09And how do you think it will differ from from this weekend?
09:13Well, I think assessing that one game on its own wouldn't be what I would think would be the right
09:17thing to do.
09:18When you think of what the crowd was like, the ferocity to get a result on the day.
09:23I think it was a different Spurs on that last day than maybe it is at the moment.
09:29But since then, Spurs have gone on and spent lots of money and brought in players to try and make
09:35sure they're not they're not in that position again.
09:38On that, I know I've just seen a quote today from somebody saying it's like a final for them.
09:41Do you expect that kind of atmosphere because they haven't scored a goal and and haven't won?
09:47Well, look, it wasn't too long ago at this club that we were in those sort of situations regular trying
09:51to to win games and and been put in a position of cup final,
09:56if you want to call it that. We can only look after ourselves.
10:00I'm not too sure about Spurs. We'll try and do the best we can.
10:04We didn't quite make it there a couple of months ago. Hopefully we can do it this time.
10:08Thank you. Good luck. Thank you.
10:10Thanks, Julia. Any further questions in the open section before we move on?
10:15No? OK. Thanks.
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