Steven Gerrard was in front of the media on Friday morning as he conducted his pre-match press conference ahead of this weekend’s game against Crystal Palace.
The Aston Villa head coach was quizzed on a number of topics as he continues to settle into the role before his second match in charge.
Here’s what he had to say…
On team news…
“It’s positive for us. In terms of the longer term injuries, Trezeguet is training well and he’s completed his first full week of training. The idea with him will be to complete a second week and then look to get him some game minutes in an under-23 fixture. He’s progressing well.
“Bertrand Traoré is still going to be some weeks away, so we need to be patient on that one.
“Sanson has trained fully. He’ll travel with us and be part of the squad. Douglas Luiz will come into the squad as well, so positive news from an injury point of view.”
On getting his philosophy across to the squad…
"It's been a really positive week, in terms of the work we've got into the players. We've had a real strong week in terms of load, but we've also had the opportunity to put more information into the players and I must say that the application has been fantastic.
"The win has certainly lifted the place; a lot of smiling going on, a lot of people enjoying their work, which is great to see. Now we've got to go and back that up and try and build on it going into the next fixture."
He added: "We've come in at a time where we haven't had the luxury of a pre-season and five or six weeks to build your identity and the way you want it to look.
"So we're trying to cut as many corners as we can to get the identity and standards across to the players that we expect as a group of staff."
On facing Patrick Vieira's Crystal Palace...
"I've faced him before in a pre-season friendly when he was manager at Nice and I was up at Rangers. He's a man I've got a lot of admiration and respect for, first and foremost as a player.
"I had many battles against Patrick - some highs, some lows, but he was certainly a player you could go and compete against. You could kick him, you could fight him, you could compete against him and he'd shake your hand after the game.
"He was a top, top footballer and one of the toughest battles I ever faced. I expect the same to be the case on the sideline. I know he's a winner, he's a competitor.
"He's started the job off at Crystal Palace really, really well. He's changed the style. Roy Hodgson did a fantastic job prior, but he seems to have built on all that good work.
"He's got his team flying high, so it's going to be a tough test. We've got a lot of respect for the fixture ahead, but we've got to try and build on our good week last weekend."
On Ollie Watkins...
"He hasn't surprised me - I was a huge fan from afar. I've followed his career as it's progressed and it was no surprise to me that he got a big move to a club the size of Aston Villa.
"He's performed ever so well. The move's been good for him, but he's also been good for this club. In the ten days or so that we've worked together, his standards and application have been top - real high level in terms of his quality and professionalism.
"He's asking questions, which I like because he wants more information and he wants to know that he's doing the right things. I'm really looking forward to working with Ollie, he's a top player."
On the Rainbow Laces campaign...
"I think the message is very important. The club works extremely hard in the background to support a lot of campaigns, and rightly so.
"I know they work very closely with Villa & Proud. We'll give it all the support that it needs - me, from a personal point of view, but also the club.
"I know that the club do fantastic work and in the coming weeks and months I'm going to be sitting down with a lot of people and educating myself on all the good work that goes on here. Any support I can give from a personal point of view, I'll certainly be there."
