Presser for Forest [A]

Guys

Ange on Injury news:

"The only one is Gio [Lo Celso], he unfortunately got a bit of a niggle at training. He won't be available tomorrow but hopefully it's not too serious.

Yeah look it’s still a challenge. We’ve still got eight out injured from our first-team squad, all of whom have contributed. Apart from maybe Ash Phillips who hasn’t played a lot. The rest have all contributed so it’s still a bit of a challenge for us. It’s not just the games it affects. It affects training. When we had all the guys fit at the start of the year, the level of our training was a lot higher, we could be a lot more intense with what we do. It’s a bit different now.

But yeah like you said it was good to get back [Sarr] and Richy [Richarlison] last week, and that certainly helped us to freshen up the team. Hopefully between now and the new year when we’ll lose players to international commitments, it’s kind of where we’re going to be for the foreseeable future."

Ange on Sunday's defensive performance:

"That was an important part. It is not just about the back four or Vic [Vicario], as a team I thought we were a lot more organised with our press and particularly we knew Newcastle, counter-attacking, they’ve got some real threats up front if you’re not organised. We were a lot better in that sense. Romero makes a big difference to that but I thought Ben Davies was outstanding, he's getting a run of games but we've got to be mindful he's not a centre back.

We’re trying to manufacture something there but he has grown into that role. I thought it was important last week because whilst I said after the game, Newcastle are going through a similar trot to us in terms of a lack of personnel, when you look at their front half of the team, they are still a big threat and we had to be really disciplined and I thought we showed that. Apart from the goal, which got a bit sloppy towards the end, the rest of the game I thought we were pretty good.

Ben's still adapting to it. He's done remarkably well. Centre back is still a position, especially in our structure, where you need outstanding attributes and we've been very fortunate to have him, that he's been able to adapt there. He's great at taking on information. He's been helped by having Romero back and Vic has taken on a leadership role back there as well.

We need to sign another centre back though because at the moment we're on tenterhooks in case something else happens there."

Ange on if no European Football makes it harder to do business in January:

"Yeah to a certain extent but the way we are squad wise at the moment, from that perspective it is probably a blessing for us. We have got a significant injury list at the moment and we will lose three players to international football so we're going to have to work really hard to get through that period with our focus of trying to get back in European football.

Ange on Udogie's new contract:

"Really pleased with Destiny signing obviously. This is the first phase of us trying to build something and the core of the group is fairly young and new to the Premier League. Destiny committing to us is an endorsement of what he sees as a good place for his future. It's his first year in the Premier League, he's adapting to a new role. He understands that, he's a willing worker in trying to improve himself but he's also made an impact, which is the big thing for us.

Great to have him commit to the club long-term. It's something we want to continue to build on and hopefully keep the core of this group together for the coming years to build something special."

Ange on if he knows when Sarr and Bissouma leave for Afcon:

"No, we're still working through that. I'm still focusing on what's ahead between now and then and we'll go through all of those permutations over the next few weeks."

Ange on Romero's tackle on Callum Wilson:

"It's fair to say that the spotlight will be on him for the rest of the year - any challenge he does whether it's something that's pretty clear like the Chelsea game or last week, which I thought it was as much clumsy as anything else. And he knows that, he understands that.

He's just got to make the adjustments that he needs to do during the game. But I don't think it's a subject for long chats. It's pretty evident the impact he has on us when he's playing and when he's not, and we much prefer to have him out there."


Team Prediction:

Vicario
Porro Cuti Davies Udogie
Sarr Biss Deki
Brennan Richy Son