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Daniel Farke is about to hold his pre-Bolton Wanderers press conference from the north west. Live updates to follow...

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DF: It is lots of load when you have three games in six days so we travelled with the whole group.
We have to change Alex Tettey. During the game he got a knock but played further on in the second half. He has a ligament injury in his ankle and is back at Norwich for a scan. Emi Buendia and Marco Stiepermann also picked up muscle injuries, so we will make a late decision with them. It could be they are not fully fit.

DF: Mortiz [Leitner] was a topic for the Bristol game but he is here with us and has been able to train. We have to wait to see what happens with Emi and Marco, but I am thinking about having Moritz in the squad. We do have a few other options.

DF: Timm [Klose] has been training with us since last Sunday, but he is also in my thoughts for tomorrow. He will not be in the starting line-up but could be an option for 10 or 15 minutes.

DF: There was a tackle on Alex in the first half and he went down. I sent two players to warm up but Alex is a fighter and he played further on. Even after the game he wasn't complaining too much but in the night it was swollen. We are concerned it might be a bigger ligament injury but I hope not, but for that he had to return to Norwich.

DF: Things look good for Carlton Morris and Louis Thompson. The plan is for Louis to join us in team training in March, but a bit later for Carlton. The rehab for Louis seems to be ok so he might return sooner than expected. He is working hard at Norwich this week.

DF: Kenny [McLean] is prepared to be there in the starting line-up and gave a good performance when I brought him on and in training.

DF: The spirit and the mood in the group is good. It was important to calm down after Preston and the next day watch the game in a calmed down mood. My feeling was that we lost this game in the first 20 minutes. When you judge what happened after 25 minutes, we scored one goal, missed a penalty and had 22 shots. Our reaction during the game was good and for 65 minutes we played with intensity.

DF: We spoke about the fact we didn't start on the front foot and that was the problem. Sometimes when you have so much load there is a game when you start not on the highest intensity level and Preston was able to use this. On a normal day you would be able to turn the game completely but it was not a normal day as they scored in a strike out of 40 yards and we missed a penalty.
We know tomorrow we need to start on the front foot and with a higher intensity level. Bolton is in good shape and we have to be prepared from the first second.

DF: It is a side which is not that aggressive in their offensive pressing, but after an away win they will want to take this confidence and press, but Bolton is a side that sits a bit deeper and goes on the counter. I expect a different game to Preston.

DF: They know they have to fight against relegation and they know what they have to do. They proved they are capable of doing this at Birmingham.
They know that we have one day less to recover than them and they will be highly motivated. We have to be at our best to win points.

DF: They won't get nervous even if there is a set-back for them and they will have the whole support of the stadium. So it's a bit more of a difficult task when you are in the position we are, but we want to be in this position and we have to handle it.

DF: We are really good in possesion in our build-up and we want to bring the ball into the opponents' half with low balls. They will try to make us kick long in goal kicks and it is difficult to find solutions then to play the ball out, but it is up to us to find solutions to handle this and we are use to it.

DF: We trained so much in the recent weeks in penalties and Marco Stiepermann was there with 25 goals in a row. But I have decided not to train it anymore as you can't train this moment in a game. We have to find someone who doesn't think about it too much, but it's a big topic for us.

DF: In this situation I could lean back and tell them to find a solution but I have to take responsibility on who takes it and how they take it. I want a proper strike, not a height that is easy for the goalkeeper. I will tell them they have my trust to take it and it is up to me to decide this.

DF: This week with three games in six days there is just one focus to win as many points as possible and there is no time for me to speak about my contract. I don't want to speak in this week because I want to be focussed on what we are doing here, but maybe after this week. But no one has to be concerned.

DF: Teemu [Pukki] is not selfish and it's outstanding for a striker. When Jordan [Rhodes] is together with him on the pitch he always tries to find the pass for him. I trust Teemu that he is able to score with penalties because he is so cool in his finish, but he realised the last 25 Marco had taken he was able to score so he said 100% Marco it's up to you to take this one. But right now I will take responsibility.

DF: In the last 10 games it starts to increase [mentally] and you start thinking about what opponents are doing with their results. At the end of the season you are able to watch what the opponent is doing because it becomes more crucial. To be there with a big mental strength will be important and I hope we are also in good shape from that point of view.

DF: We can play in this situation because it's not like we have spent £1m to force promotion so we can play with a smile on our face and with less pressure. But you have to react with the gut feeling because all players react in difference ways so sometimes you have to calm it down and speak to players a bit different. It's important that in terms of man management I help them a bit because they are still young, but this group sticks together so well.

DF: We spoke about our body language needing to be a bit more calmed down in this situation [at Ipswich] but we are not robots and it can be hard. We spoke about this but I was not too concerned. We all understand it was emotional in this special game.

DF: I am really thankful that nothing worse has happened in the nasty foul on Nelson Oliveira and thank god he is still able to play. It's important for him to add some more goals and good for us as a Club. I wish him all the best.

DF: We trained today at AFC Fylde and it was good facilities and not too far to travel. We are thankful for them letting us use their facilities. It was just a short session today

DF: I wish Remi Matthews all the best [Bolton Wanderers] but I hope it's not another Man of the Match situation!

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That's all folks. Wibble.

Posted By: DrDublin, Feb 15, 14:50:48

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