Press news in...

Dean Smith's pre-Everton press conference will begin at 9am. Updates to follow
--------------------------------------------------------------

DS: “Max wants to get better and to improve. He’s a good lad and a good player. It’s some achievement to get to 150 games at the age of 22.”

DS: “Lukas is back from Germany, I’m guessing two or three weeks for him to be available. Andrew is progressing and we’re hoping to step up his rehab. We’re looking at Wolves and the Premier League game after that.”

DS: "Todd Cantwell is back training. He's trained Wednesday and Thursday. Beyond that, nobody has returned or is out from Wednesday's squad."

DS: "The challenge for Todd at the moment is getting his performances back to a decent level."

DS: "If we had a bid for Todd, then we would have to decide what to do with that. It hasn't happened yet."

DS: "I've advised Todd Cantwell to restrict his social media use."

DS: "We need to give the fans something to cheer about on Saturday."

DS: "Me and Craig Shakespeare are really happy with the squad. It's really hard to bring anyone in when the squad is so big. Everybody knows how this club is run."

DS: "We more than competed against West Ham but we didn't create very good chances."

DS: "We need to be pulling in the same direction, if our performance isn't good enough then let us know at the end. I'm a big boy and I can take it. The backing we got in the first three games drove the players on".

DS: "Billy Gilmour has an ankle sprain and is expected to remain at Chelsea for the rest of the week, will return on next week. Josh Sargent back in the squad."

DS: "We understand with the results that we're going to get criticism. We've spoken in the dressing room about having a siege mentality. I'm not bothered by people's opinions. We know the restrictions we've been under with players injured and ill."

DS: "Grant Hanley is currently having injections to play but he is feeling better than expected and it will continue to heal as the matches go on."

DS: "We have lost numbers in midfield. We wanted one of our strikers to drop deep and get involved in the play."

DS: "We've been putting a leadership group together over the last week. Players have been voting for it and will announce the results to the group."

DS: "I've been completely transparent with Todd. He had a knee injury and he was ill. He travelled with us to West Ham and was sent home."

DS: "We know how big the next two games are. The only disappointment is Everton's game got called off, through no fault of their own, so they have had a longer time to recover than us."

-----------------------------------------------------------

That's all from the boss.

Posted By: DrDublin, Jan 14, 10:06:01