Press news in...

Dean Smith's pre-Manchester City press conference will begin at 9.30am. Updates to follow...
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DS: Josh Sargent is available for the weekend, however Ozan Kabak and Andrew Omobamidele are both unavailable.

DS: Omobamidele is going to see the consultant again over his back issue. We are hoping it's nothing serious.

DS: Mathias (Normann) has been out for a while. He's getting back to the fitness that's required, this game may be too soon for a start. Lukas (Rupp) trained all week, but felt something prior to Palace. We didn't want to risk him.

DS: They (Man City) are a very good team, I won't anger Pep (Guardiola) by saying they're the best team in the world! But they're a very, very good team.

DS: There has to be a belief that you can compete and get something. 11v11 human beings. Humans make mistakes. We have to find weaknesses to put problems on them.

DS: They (Man City) are a very good team, I won't anger Pep (Guardiola) by saying they're the best team in the world! But they're a very, very good team.

DS: We need to put in hard work, be effective on the ball and the vast majority playing at 8/9 out of 10. We need improvement in out possession stats and use of the ball.

DS: Without the ball in the last couple of games, we've looked really good. We restricted Wolves and Palace to few chances. But we know we need to improve what we do in possession.

DS: A mentality of being beaten before a ball is kicked won't be in the dressing room before this game. My players have earned the right to compete in this fixture.

DS: (on Teemu) There is nobody I would rather want the chances to fall to.

DS: (regarding the Everton match) Has said Everton's goal was offside and he received an apology from the officials on the day in their post-match report.

DS: We might have to suffer, but we can control the areas that they have the ball. We're looking forward to the game. It is a challenge but we have no fear.

DS: We have to work the other side hard. We're focused on the weekend, not any further than that. We're looking forward to the game, it's going to be a challenge.

DS: People speak about this game as a free hit. It isn't a free hit. We can compete against them.

DS: This is a group that was used to getting told about patterns of play and being spoken to rather than with.
It wasn't the most vocal group when I arrived but we're getting to a place where I'm being asked questions.

DS: I'll be even happier with Idah if he brings in some cakes for his 21st birthday today.

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That's all from the boss, lovely old jarb.

Posted By: DrDublin, Feb 11, 10:12:24