GAFFER PRE CHELSEA

Football scientist, Regis Le Bris, has previewed his team's tough fixture against Chelsea on Saturday...

FRESH INJURIES

“The only one is Omar (Alderete). He is under concussion protocol with daily assessments, so we will keep monitoring his progress until the end of this week and into next week, to see if he will be available for Everton. For now, it is too early to tell.”

CONSISTENCY IS KEY

“It is important to build consistency, especially in this league. If you are solid and don’t concede many goals, I think it is better to build confidence and to be able to be competitive.”

RECRUITING ROEFS

“We defined early the profiles we needed and the alignment was good from the owner to the recruitment staff, the Sporting Director, the Head of Football and me. After that, we worked hard and I think the identity of the club is totally open with young profiles. For the balance of the squad we need more experienced players as well but it is not a problem to play and develop young players. For Robin, it is a good example.”

WINGERS

“It is part of the process. Especially the wingers, this position is really hard to play because you have to defend and also attack, you have to sprint, have to counter-press, have to be efficient in both boxes. It is really demanding especially in our game model and the way we play, so it just takes time. We need to support and challenge our players but we trust them. At the minute, it’s fair to say that this part of the pitch needs development, but we believe that those players are able to play and compete at that level, so I repeat, it is a question of time. They need support and they need challenges because the league is demanding,  but I repeat - we trust them.”

LEVEL WITH CHELSEA

“It’s been a good start to the season and it shows that we were consistent and flexible to be able to win four games from eight. Chelsea are a really strong side, it’s a top four team in the Premier League. Clearly they can play sixty games per season, they have depth and a young and dynamic squad, so it’s a good example for us. We aim to become, not this kind of team exactly but one with the same identity, with young players and a strategy about development. They are good in possession, excellent on the counter attack, impressive on set pieces, well-coached and above all they have individuals who can change the course of the game. It is a big test and a strong opportunity to develop our identity and if we can win something we will do it.”

HIGH PROFILE SIGNINGS & BARGAINS

“You can’t solve everything with money. I think you need money to be competitive in the market but after that, you have to develop your own expertise according to the profile you need, the identity you have as a club and I think the recruitment structure worked really well to find these profiles. The connection early in the season went really well and we felt that the personalities and profiles fit really well with what we wanted.”

ESTABLISHED TEAMS ARE STRUGGLING

“I think every season you can struggle and face different challenges so it’s probably to early to say that these teams will struggle the whole season. We still have thirty games to play, so it’s a long way, we’ll see.”

HOME VS AWAY

“It’s a bit strange because in every league in the world its always something which is accepted, you’ll be stronger at home rather than away. But it is still football, it’s still eleven against eleven, and we don’t know exactly what is behind the scenes to explain this idea. So, it is obvious to say that the energy of the crowd helps the squad through different moments. When we are strong, it was the case in the first half against Wolves for example, we felt this extra drive. We won’t have this same level of support away but I think its important to keep the mindset of proactivity, so we’ll try to be stronger away. We have won once, which for a promoted side is not too bad, and we drew once as well. Now, we have a tough challenge at Chelsea so it’s more about the opponent now and it will be a good test.”