David Wagner press conference ahead of Huddersfield Town | The Pink Un

Norwich City head coach David Wagner addresses the media ahead of the Canaries Championship clash with Huddersfield Town at Carrow Road.

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You got there David yeah what you got there he noral York City of course Very pertinent for this weekend uh seasons greetings um let’s dive in with with sort of squad shape Squad news I’ll throw a few at you de de has he because obviously maed out that bit more precautionary switch but

Hopefully we’ll train this week and be in contention where are we with him yeah Dei isn’t training since the beginning of the week no problems today we had everyone uh on the pitch in training apart from Josh Josh is back in training on Monday his uh program works quite

Well as as well so we had the proper squat out today Johnny roow was Ill at the beginning of the week but he was in training today again so uh good day a lot of players uh outside on the grass obviously one or other has to catch up a

Little bit of Fitness um but good to have them all back the grass so just to clarify I mean that’s everybody on the pitch is gibo Ojo longi and obviously Grant as well y exactly everyone apart from Josh though the whole Squad was today in training uh and um Josh will be on

Monday in terms of Grant gibo ujo and and longi obviously back training is a is a good step but the the next stage when they might be in and around and in your thoughts is it probably a bit too soon this side of Christmas yeah longi

For sure he needs now um yeah a few weeks of proper training some games with under 21 for sure as well I think his last game he had in July so with him we have a lot of uh work to do in training now unfortunately

The next nine days we don’t have a lot of training uh Grant uh is on a good way he will be not in the squad on Saturday maybe against West prom or at the latest against milal he is in my thoughts for sure we target the a cup

Game as his first start and I would love to give him further minutes uh before the start if everything goes to plan uo back in training yesterday if he has no issues tomorrow he for sure will be in the squad he was out for three weeks so this is nothing major and

Gibbo got father at the beginning of the last week uh again of a daughter uh luckily everyone is healthy even if uh it was quite early when she came uh he is back in training as well so we have to look um how he is tomorrow the week

So far was good from him could be an an alternative and uh as I said Josh is back on on Monday in training in team training and with Josh um again very reasonably long period out you know I think it was this reverse fixture wasn’t

It when he did the injury are you going to treat him maybe like you’ve done with Grant and and you just need need to be careful how you are you sort of integrating from here what’s your thought process with him yeah he will need a little bit of time for sure but I

Think there’s obviously a big difference between 8 month and 3 months or three and a half months um and to be fair to Josh he’s a super fit natural guy anyway I think there there would have been a chance to have him in training today or maybe tomorrow at the

End of this week but uh obviously we now don’t have to ex at anything we they he ticked every box everything what he can can do and will have done with the performance Department he will have done it’s more about more the the vision and the and the spaces the bigger spaces uh

With a lot of people around you fitness-wise he will be in a very good shape for sure just um CU I it was really interesting you know last Sunday you said Grant would play 45 but when the team news dropped you know four or five of you senior players I think who

Were on the bench the day before it switched two or three who got on JY Gio andony spring they played as well um why did you decide to go that strong and what does it say you know you know the the culture and the attitude of those

Senior players to you know go up to Manchester and playing that game on on the sun on the Sunday yeah at the end of the day we make the decision because um in the week before we and now in the next days as well we mostly will only

Train on smaller sided uh games and the only chance to give them maybe a proper big sided game would be on on this day and luckily it was on Sunday uh and obviously if there are so many of us then they can really try to play toour pattern and uh this was another

Advantage which we have seen and it gave us uh the possibility and the freedom to give them 90 minutes uh in a bigger side games in their legs and obviously you always feel more secure as a manager if you you know okay they played the last

Game only a week ago when you have to pick them again and this is why we decided we gave them as well like everyone two days off before this very busy period which is now in front of us with so many games uh to clear their

Head as well and to recover proper from this game what they’ve done and um yeah now we’re looking forward to this very busy period you touched on it there you just referenced it again it is a busy period four games in in nine days but you’re obviously no experienc this time

Here in England and and they come thick and fast but at how would it impact you think this sort of selections and managing workloads will you have to to almost map it out in that as a full game cycle or just focus on hfield no the

Focus is uh first and foremost only on hfield and uh to be totally honest I think the first two is nothing extraordinary to play this two games in four days you don’t have to make your head around too much but obviously then they follow to further games and um we

Are only focused on hutsfield and um this is the most important thing to to make sure we go into this uh very intense period on a high with a with a success with a win especially at home against the opponent which is difficult to break down we’ve seen this uh when

You’ve seen their recent result they were always tight they only lost one in in in the last games but obviously our aim is to win this game with our supporters uh on on on our back with the support of our supporters because to go in this period with a win

Is crucial accelerates everything and helps and we all together have to be hon it we on the grass for sure will be and everyone understands as well yeah I mean as you say does it feel because you’re coming into this now off the back of not

Just dip switch but one thefe in seven that that you’ve really got this momentum moving but a good performance and a result on Saturday going into this festive period almost accelerates that feeling that you you’re on the right path yes plus the players back even if

They maybe can only help in the first game for 20 minutes or 15 minutes yeah we we have we have a lot of things now in place uh and now it’s make sure you deliver and this is uh what we ask ourselves so we have to be there from the first

Second uh with all the energy which we have uh on the front foot very intense uh really to yeah to to to be brave with everything what we are doing because we know how important this first game of this um period is luckily we play it at home uh and luckily

With a big Squad available for everything what follows after but our our only focus should be harfield that was a very impressive result and performance at hfield in the season but of course they have made a change terms of managing NE moving on and Daren moring

Is there too much changed in terms of how how he wants to set up and how they’re going about the task from from when you played him early the Seas yeah his his idea is different to the idea which uh Neil waro had um we know what

What their idea is uh to be totally honest um we have a lot of people with good connections uh which they had in hfield which they which they had with with Mo as well so we know everything what we will face hopefully we we are able to explore some some areas where

They are wonderful and um the most important thing is that we have a proper aggressive mindset in our head that we play with full intensity I wanted to ask you about bit of a milestone for Kenny mlan 200 appearances for the club um I think it switch just quantify that achievement

Because it is increasingly rare now in the modern game to have one player who plays that amount of games and I think I know I mean how key has it been for you since you arrived there in the building we know you know in recent games that

You know you switched his position and he’s look very comfortable in there but just over the 12 months and what that achievement signifies about him and his professionalism and his impact yeah how important he is for for me and how high I rate him I I think you can read it

When you see his appearances uh uh and starts which he had since I’m arrived um he is the top professional sets the standards push everyone quite emotional uh in the one or other situation U it helps him to calm a little bit down as well during games but

He is working on this uh and he likes to win he he likes to win football matches and uh it’s great to have uh a character like him in the dressing room and um hopefully he continues doing what he has done so far in different positions um he

Is a real team player uh as as well and on that point about the different positions now it it feels like Grant Ben Gibson aren’t that far away because you said after the Bristol game look he can play this role he can play it moving forward is that still

Your mindset or is it when you start to get some of your Center back back you might maybe look to put it back in the center M but where’s your head with that yeah the truth is I think at the latest now everybody should have seen that we

Have a top alternative for the center back position so he played against the physical side played against the side which scored the most goal in the division so far he played against the side which set deep uh as a center back and um he always delivered uh a top

Sometimes a a super top performance uh gave assists from this positions as well so there is proper competition uh on the center back position he is a further player who has everything to play there and in the Midfield as well so uh you are always

A lucky manager if you have a player who is so good on on different positions uh always in both positions maybe a player who should be the first on the team sheet so this means um we can make our head around against which opponent we need him maybe more uh in the center

Back position maybe more in Midfield we can see who is available for uh certain games and uh then we can decide uh which will be best for the team uh um where Kenny should be a couple more if I can um going ask about January but not ends

Because I know you don’t really want to get into that too much at this stage but it’s clear today you know you’ve listed the extra players who are going to come back over the next week or two Ally to what you already had of course there’ll be injuries you’ll pick up between here

And there but is maybe part of what you need to do in janary is look at the the squad size and maybe thin it out a little bit because it would feel that you would have quite a lot of options now when all the players are available

Yeah to be fair py I know know where you come from and and what I can say we already received the one or other offer for a loan for for the one or other of our player but four games in nine days in N days maybe we sit together and we have a

Totally different scenario and uh this is why the truth is I’m only focused on now this four games transfer window in and outs is irrelevant for me it’s all about uh haresfield uh not one percentage not 0.1 percentage of my energy of my thoughts to be fair of no

One’s thoughts um is on on the transfer window okay understood I will follow with one question about because he’s aad who’s linked this week again and it’s it’s inevitable now with what he’s doing Johnny row you know there’ll be reports Premier League clubs looking at him why

Wouldn’t they be because of the numbers he’s producing I’m just really interested in terms of what you’ve said after the switch game look he’s a special player you said but he’s a very young player he’s still got so much to learn we will help him to learn does

That fly off the pitch as well as on it cuz this is probably going to be the first window where he’s had that and he’s had to deal with that noise in the background I mean how do you feel he he’ll deal with that in terms of his

Character or is it something you need to just sitting down say look forget about that focus on what you’re doing which is performing on the pitch the rest will take care of yourself yeah listen um obviously he has done great so far yeah but it’s only half of the Season U

Hopefully fingers cross he does exactly the same the second part of the Season uh the truth is uh Ben is in conversation uh with his parties the truers as well he is happy with his contract we are happy with his performance and we agreed because he has

2 and a half years left and we are in total control we agreed to sit together at the end of the season let’s try to perform the second part of the Season like the first part of the Season let’s be only focused on this uh then everyone

Will be very very happy at the end of the season and then uh it makes sense to to speak about anything else uh what what means contracts I think anything um else is not the right thing to do because Johnny should do what he has done so far be focused uh on the

Pitch and on his performances and we try everything to support him as best as we can and this is what I said after the EP switch game that he consistently can do what he has done so far and uh yes he he scored a lot of goals um yes um he is

Very young but at the end of the day and this is is very very good he’s very clever in his head he knows exactly that some of the recent performances were not uh on his on his level he is better than what he has shown and this is uh what we

Have to make sure that he performs consistently on his highest level because he he is a player who who can who can be very very important without ball possession as well because he is football intelligent and obviously in ball possession with his attacking threats uh he is always is dangerous for

Goals and uh we have to make sure that Johnny stays healthy and that he can perform on on this very high level consistently and then goals for him will come because he’s natural goal scorer and quite calm in front of the goal so I mean that’s great news from nor fans

Perspective just take a clarify whatever the noise is in terms of outside the camp all the parties involved in matter here are very happy just to par that deal with it at the end of the season yeah for me always you know how I am for

Me the most important thing is that uh everyone is in conversation with everybody and then it’s it’s it’s important that you have a clear picture how you like to progress and we said clear we progress at the end of the season uh till then be focused on your

Performance um do what you’ve done in the first half of the season and the second half of the Season as I said we have full control he has two and a half years left uh and this is exactly I think uh the right thing to do and this

Is what uh Ben agreed with Johnny’s party and final one again really interested on your take on this because we’re seeing it again this week you know Plymouth and Stoke changes in terms of the management I think we’re getting on for like half the division now since September have changed um we know

Because you know you had to you had to go through that you said it yourself every week it felt there was a period where you Haven to ask or be asked questions about your future does that underline a you need that support above you in the football club and be maybe as

Long the volatility in terms of what you chaps do for a living it’s as bad as ever in the championship cuz to to have 11 changes in 24 clubs since September if you’re a head coach going in it’s very difficult to feel you’re going to

Get the time to you know really put your thoughts and processes in when you you know it’s such short short-term thinking across the division how do you deal with that as a as a coach yeah to be fair I I I don’t really like to moan about it

Because everyone who works in this business is aware about this uh I think I don’t know how is the average uh manager Sur lives 13 months 14 months I don’t know maybe even less uh so it’s not a surprise even if I haven’t thought about it the numbers which you told me

And the strange thing is everybody knows consistently guarantees you a higher percentage of success in the medium and long term everybody knows this uh but I’m not the decision maker in the board or as the owner uh this is up to them so everybody knows what on a higher

Percentage delivers you medium long-term success and this is consistently but um owners or boards react like they Rea I’m very very lucky uh to to work here at noch City Football Club and to have a board um yeah who who is like it is and I’m very happy with this good luck thank

You cheers