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We have arrived a Colney Training Centre where Daniel Farke will soon be speaking to the media ahead of City's final game before Christmas away against Blackburn Rovers.

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DF: It was a much better week, so no flu or colds this week. It was good to have a proper training week and many lads on the pitch. It was good to have one week more for Grant Hanley and Mo Leitner in training. Timm Klose was back in training Wednesday but we don't want to take any risks in this period. We will have to travel without him but I'm sure he will be fully fit for Nottingham Forest.

DF: We won't take any risks because he [Timm] is too important to us to risk a bigger injury. He is still not 100% comfortable in his movement.

DF: After a big injury it's not like after 20 minutes with the first team you are back in business and back in shape. Grant [Hanley] was not only out for more than three months but also pre-season. He has had several games with the Under-23s and 25 minutes with the First Team when he looked pretty sharp. We decided to give him another game with the Under-23s which was good for him to help him get back in shape.

DF: Kenny [McLean] was out for such a long period, he is just back in team training for eight or nine days. He has had two appearances for the Under-23s but he needs a bit more. We will perhaps see him in the New Year, but it's not planned yet.

DF: It's always good to have competition and this week the topic was you have to perform on the training pitch to be involved in the travelling squad and in the starting line-up.

DF: They are full of confidence [Blackburn] and they are greedy and aggressive. They are capable of scoring goals and it's a sign of quality. I think they still have a good chance to make a push to the play-off ranks. It is a tough task, especially away, but we are awake and we know we have to be there with a really good performance to try to be competitive.

DF: I loved him as a player [Harrison Reed] but he was also a great guy to have around the training ground and I was sad when he went. He plays in more of an offensive role than he did for us and has been there with some assists.

DF: I got the feeling that last season we had some problems at the beginning of the season but then we were defensively solid. There were one or two games where we had poor defensive behaviour but now we are there with more consistency, but I still think we can improve the number of conceded goals. We spoke about a 3-2 win, a 2-1 win, and I am happy we won the games and we have kept some clean sheets, but I think in our defensive behaviour we can be there with less conceded goals.

DF: When you are the league leaders or second, each and every team is more focussed and they are greedy to be the first team which wins against us. They are awake to how we play and looking more at where the chances are to beat us. But it's also a chance for us because sometimes they lose the way they want to play and are too focussed on us.

DF: Many opponents are concentrated on being solid in defending so we have to be prepared to find solutions against a deep sitting opponent but also ready to control the counters.

DF: As a Head Coach you have to always learn from some lessons and try to take the best out of each and every period. It's a bit special because it's the Christmas period but it's not unusual to have this many games this close together in the Championship. We can't compare to last Christmas because we are in a different position. We are in the top positions in the league, we are full of confidence and we've got some key players coming back like Grant and Timm.

DF: We want to be careful with Matt's [Jarvis] rehab and not put too much load on him. There is no new injury.

DF: It was nice [last night's Academy Christmas dinner]. I wasn't sure how they would do, but I was pretty calm once I knew Delia was there. It was good for the togetherness and shows how strong the bond is within the Club. I think some of the lads were a bit nervous when they served but they could handle it.

DF: It's important that we had the success with several young players [from the Academy] so they know they are not too far away and there is a path to the First Team. We take them to the door, but they have to make the step through the door and it will always depend on the performance, we don't give out any gifts.

This mentality and atmoshpere is important to the Club and it motivates the Academy players to work harder.

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That's all from Daniel, there will be more news throughout the day at canaries.co.uk

Posted By: DrDublin, Dec 21, 13:28:41