What would you assess is the physical and mental exertion on those that have been to the World Cup?
Yeah it's a bit of a mix in terms of when they got knocked out and how much gametime they have played. It's a real mix across the 12 but they've dropped back in according to their own circumstance. They've come back in a really good way. We're still waiting on Hakim [Ziyech] and Mateo [Kovacic]. Obviously they went the distance to the third and fourth place and played the games as well. Big demand for those two, important to give them time, they won't be available for the game as a consequence. Everybody else has been back, we've got a few days training with all of them, so, it is what it is. We have to deal with it and it's been good.
Ziyech impressed at the World Cup, but you've not used much so far, have you changed your mind about Ziyech?
He played against Man City, came on against Newcastle. Where he was at when we first came, he was a little bit away from the first XI. He's been involved in the games and came on in the first game as a sub. We know his qualities, we like him as a player, he plays between the lines with fantastic quality as we saw in the World Cup. At Chelsea there are always good players who aren't in the starting XI and have to be patient. Delighted for him, kept in touch with him over the World Cup. Delighted for him that he got the gametime, delighted for him that he helped his team, he's a good guy and he's got quality.
READ MORE: Graham Potter confirms six Chelsea absentees for Bournemouth and gives N'Golo Kante return date
Injury news?
Wesley [Fofana] just had a little setback which can sometimes happen at the very last stage of the rehab. It will be a couple of weeks so he won't be available for the game. Obviously, Armando [Broja] is a big loss in terms of the time he is out. Reece [James] is back in and completed 65 minutes in the week, still without Ruben [Loftus-Cheek], still without Ben Chilwell, obviously [N'Golo] Kante. [Edouard] Mendy has had a couple of days training with us.
How far away is Kante?
He's a while. He'll be end of February, start of March.
First transfer window as Chelsea boss, Christopher Vivell has joined. Your reaction to the appointment?
My reaction is positive, I've met him a few times and have a good feeling. I think he is going to be a real asset to the football club. I think his role is to connect the football club in terms of the different departments. My normal relationship with technical directors is a supportive one. We'll try to help each other so that's how we're going to work. I'm looking forward to our journey together.
Suggestion Edouard Mendy is not happy with terms on offer for new contract?
It's not my place to speak publicly about players' contract situations. That's between them and the club. He's been top with us, with me, great guy, happy around the place. In terms of his contract it's not for me to comment.
Three defeats before the break, how badly do you need a win?
Well, it's always nice to win that's for sure. We know the situation, we know how important it is. We want to try our best.
How beneficial was the break, do you see the squad in a better place?
I think you have to go through moments. We were suffering a bit before the break in terms of results that weren't what we wanted nd performances weren't so good either. Sometimes as a team you go through these periods. We went through one there and I could offer lots of explanations as to why. You just have to accept sometimes they happen and you have to get through them and a break can help whether it's an international break or different competition.
We had the break, some guys went away to the World Cup, everyone can come back and reset. All of the learning that has happened in that really intense period you can consolidate and say 'okay, how do we go forward?' and that has been beneficial.
Gary O'Neil speaks highly of you, what do you make of his impact?
You can see. Results-wise it's a significant improvement and I would say performance as well is strong. I think he's been able to put his ideas onto the team. Very clear, my kind of play. They build up, they can use the longer ball forward but they don't just do that. They can play through the back, defensively sound as well. He's done a really good job.
On Kante, is that the same timescale?
It's a surgery so it was a minimum period of four months pretty much.
How does that impact his future? Does a decision need to be made before he returns?
My focus is just to help him get back fit as soon as possible. Everyone knows the quality he has so that's not in question. It's more just helping him get fit, helping him get on the pitch, doing it the right way and looking forward to seeing him play football.
You didn't have a pre-season, so have you been able to take advantage of the break?
We've used the time as best we can. The first first days we had four players to work with. It would have been ideal to play Bournemouth at five-a-side, that would be good, but we can't. We used the young players, we upped the ideas, tried to consolidate the learning and make more connections with people at the club. You forget you have this intense period and you're still getting to know everyone around the building. We could do that, we had a really good period together so that helped that. The feeling is positive so we're looking forward to the game
Most interesting thing tactically in the World Cup?
The thing that stood out was the defensive strategies of the team. It was mostly relatively passive. So, there wasn't too much pressing or pressing high, it was more of a drop off. That was the thing tactically.
Is that due to the heat or more underlying of a trend?
I'm not sure, good question. It could be a bit of everything. The heat plays a part. If you're going to co-ordinate any pressing you're going to need some time to work on that. Obviously with the lack of time that the international team had, you've got to select what you need to work with and what the priority is. Dropping off is an easier way to do it, because you haven't got time to make it more progressive.
Difficult to manage the Christmas period anyway, how different is it due to the World Cup?
What we've done is given all of the guys at the World Cup some time off, a bit of a break, a bit of a holiday, a bit of time with their families. Obviously it's difficult to get the balance right. We're all learning because it's never happened before. We don't know how that's going to go, we've got to constantly evaluate the players and assess because you might get two or three months down the line and think 'hang on a minute, we need to do something here to refresh' because we don't know how that's going to look like in the future.
When you're watching it, you realise how big it is. We all know that, but we were speaking before it and because you're in the middle of a Premier League season it's like... Then you watch the World Cup final you think 'this is a massive event'. You don't know how it's going to play out. That's a constant assessment and evaluation. Now, we're confident that the guys are where we are and we can prepare normally for the games.
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