Daniel Farke pre Norwich
All players in contention for the last game are the same for the next game. Some progress with Willy Gnonto. Not joined full training yet but will try to get him back in later today. Been out for 12 days so a question mark for tomorrow night for the bench.
Latest back for Saturday. Some good news with him. Soon back in the squad. No other news. Pascal still out.
Storm issues?
A bit tricky to be accurate in training with your passing in this wind, but no complaints. We wanted to work focused, but no complaints
Joseph's new contract
Congratulations to Mateo. Good news for us. A sign of what we want to build here. Many good years, Last few years were difficult. Long term contracts for young players are a sign of what we want to achieve. Ethan long-term deal, Archie Gray long-ternm, Mateo long-term.
Love to have players in the squad that are yet to peak, but want to work more with players running up the hill rather than down the hill. Want to develop that pote ntia;. Need experienced around them, but high potential players in your squad is crucial. A major role and tied to keeping them here.
Create value for them from business point of view, but from Mateo, he has lots of potential
Gnonto contract
We will speak about business once it's done, but you can be assured we want to keep our big potential players. It's not like we extend 18 or 19yos only. One of our areas, when we are convinced they will help us build, we are motivated to do something.
January business?
Same topic. We speak about busness once it's done. We are not training with too many numbers at the moment, but the advantage of a tight group is everyone is needed. Good for unit. Won't fall asleep. We know there are areas we can improve in.
Has to be the full package. A player with potential and affordable. Theier personality and character has to fit to the group. If we find the whole package we will do something.
Recent form changes transfer policy?
Upturn and downturn in form is quick in this league. We were convinced before we were the best team in November. Lost a few games afterwards does not change our belief or support for the players. What has changed is the full-back positions after Djed and Luke. We let them go. Compared to the first half of the season we are two players short. Topic with Charlie Cresswell and Pascal Struijk right now.
Have to wait what the next days will bring. We were hoping he would return sooner than this. Cannot be naive. Assess this position. We know which areas we have to stay awake on.
Norwich
Always gratefil to this club. Special place in my heart. More emotional last time because it was first return to Carrow Road. This topic is done. This is a home game we have to stretch our unbeaten run with. Nice to see familiar faces. Well run club. Great people at the helm with Delia and Michael.
Offers coming in for key players?
Yes, the football world is crazy. On January 1, agents are over excited and want to send messages and e-mails with their phone. We sent a clear message we want to keep our best players and are not tempted to let our key players go.
Sometimes sending this message once is not enough, but the more often we send someone away, at some point they get the message.
Extra January game?
Once you go into the next round of the cup, it's not easy to find the perfect time for the match. We got the feeling we are used to playing all three days. This turnaround from Sunday to Wednesday is three proper nights, no travelling. Does not affect us. Not like we play with less energy. Best way instead of leaving a game in hand and thinking we have three points in the bag to come. Better to get it played ASAP.
Gnonto and Struijk make it difficult, but only two major injuries is a good situation to be in.
Preston season-defining - this pivotal to the next scale of nailing play-offs?
Same as all games. One or three points. Greedy to win. Don't want to lose it. Highly motivated. Every win important. To finish high next May, you need proper points tally. Our current taslly does not confirm top six.
Predecessor did not
want to hear about contracts - do you like to know?
Managers at this level, if they want control, it makes sense to know about the contract. I am more or less the key to how we build the squad. I would agree, when it comes to who plays or who is on the bench it does not matter.
When it comes to who plays, it's down to training and playing, not your contracts. When it comes to recruitment, characters, you have to know about contracts. I don't need to know about every detail, wages etc.