On a 'statement win' against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup semi-final, first leg on Wednesday evening...
"I think reward is important. I don't think one win changes anything, but we've been through a pretty tough time and as I said all along, not through the want of trying and I mean I can't commend the players highly enough in terms of their efforts. They've been giving their maximum every week, but obviously without the ultimate reward, and I said after the game, the players, the staff who are doing everything in their power to change our fortunes and our supporters have obviously had to ride through that as well. So, just that feeling you get after a win and a significant win against a top team and in a pretty pivotal game for us in terms of keeping our hopes alive of making a cup final. It was important and that kind of stuff sort of fuels hopefully what's ahead."
On the contrast of facing Liverpool and then Tamworth in the FA Cup on Sunday...
"Absolutely. I've got no doubt on the attitude of the players and I think all along the boys have a great understanding of every game's importance and we certainly will go into Sunday's game with the same sort of mindset of making sure that we do things we can control, play our football, put a real big emphasis on the things that we do really well. That's because there's always challenges out there. I get that there's a fair difference in terms of the levels of football we're playing at, but I'm sure Tamworth see this as a great opportunity for themselves and we've got to be ready for that."
On preparing to play on Tamworth's artificial pitch...
"We'll train on an artificial one tomorrow, on one of ours. I've done that consistently throughout my career, I've kind of experienced a few times in different leagues, even up in Scotland, where you're playing on artificial pitches and it always sort of served a good purpose just to give the players an understanding... they're never always identical, but just what they're going to face on Sunday."
On the neutrals wanting Tamworth to cause a surprise, a 'no-win situation' and what we can get out of Sunday...
"You say there is nothing for us to win, there is something for us to win and that’s to get into the next round of the FA Cup. There is a prize there. We may not get the plaudits, but we do get the opportunity to go into the next round. We won’t go into this game with any other mindset than preparing as we always do for a game of football. We will respect the opponent, because you always need to respect the opponent. I have enough experience in my life of being the underdog and I know you are kind of almost hoping the team you play underestimate you - but we won’t.”
On the 'shock' Tamworth's facilities may provide for our 'multi-million dollar' players...
"They are actually not multi-million dollar players, they are human beings. They are very understanding, they are good people so they would never go to a place like that and disrespect it. Most have come from places like that. Some worse, let me tell you. So, I know people want to tag them as 'multi-million dollar players' but they are human beings and good people. They will go there and respect the fact that Tamworth will build it to be the biggest game of probably their lives and I am sure they will do their best to create an environment where they are proud of their ground, proud of their facilities, because that is what they work with and that’s how we’ll treat it on the day. I don’t think that is an issue for us. What’s important is to prepare ourselves for a cup game."
On the tie giving an opportunity to field some of our younger players like Alfie Dorrington, Will Lankshear or Mikey Moore...
"No, it gives me an opportunity to put a team out that I think will to win a game of football. The ones who play will be the ones who I think will do that. It's good to get Mikey back, and it's important we'll give him some game time at the weekend, aside from that, it will be a team that most importantly we think will get us through to the next round."
On Alfie Dorrington...
"Alfie is training with us, he's been around the first-team squad and part of the first-team squad. He had a pretty significant injury which kept him out of football for quite a while, but he is part of the squad and he probably needs to get some game time so we will look for a loan for him."
On being conscious of needing to rest the likes of Kulusevski, Solanke and Porro...
"Yes, to a certain extent, but we have to be mindful that we don't want to turn into a tricky game for us, we want to make sure we play our best. If we can give some rest to those guys you said... having Mikey back helps in that front third, for sure, getting Pape and Madders back helps us in the midfield area, but we're still pretty restricted defensively, at least Sergio Reguilon has had some games recently, so that gives us a chance, but in terms of centre-halves and right-back, we're still pretty limited in what we can do there in terms of rotation, but hopefully we can rest at least a couple of players from a full 90 minutes of football."
On Radu Dragusin...
"I have said all along that some of our players, at times, are getting unfairly judged at the moment because of the situation we are in. It’s not just that Radu is only 22 and still getting to grips with the Premier League. He would be okay if he was surrounded by players who are playing regularly but he has got an 18-year-old who is not a centre-back next to him, three different goalkeepers, probably up to four, since he has been in the team, different full-backs... I just think Radu and Archie have been unbelievable for us considering the circumstances and we will get growth from that. I really believe that. Radu was great the other night. He was really focused and disciplined in his organisation and along with Toni (goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky) making his debut and that is as solid as we have been as a back four/back five. The midfield did a great job of working really hard against Liverpool. There won’t be many games where Liverpool create as little as they did the other night and I think that was a real strong collective effort. We are happy with Radu and the way he is developing. He has had to battle. He had an illness last week and he was nowhere near 100 percent. He is probably one who does need a bit of a rest but we have no options there. Every week he gets on with it."
On the excitement of the FA Cup...
"It’s hugely important. Last year we didn’t progress in it. We got through the third round and then dropped out. We want to stay in it. At some point in the next few weeks, we will get players back as well and, even though it’s going to mean a congested fixture schedule for us, if we get the players back, we will be well placed. We want to stay in the competition and once we get to that moment where we have the squad we need hopefully we can make an impact in it."