Steven Gerrard sat down to face the media on Friday afternoon and preview Aston Villa’s Premier League encounter against Leeds United.
The head coach discussed a host of topics including Villa's latest team news, the timing of the international break, what he expects from Leeds at Elland Road on Sunday and much more.
Here’s what he had to say…
On team news…
“It’s not ideal, we’ve had better days on the injury front.
“Bouba will be missing until after the World Cup unfortunately so that’s a huge blow, and obviously Diego Carlos, two of our signature signings if you like, who are going to be missing for a large part of the season.
“Lucas Digne is a unique situation, he has a heel problem and it’s one we’re going to have to monitor as we go along, so it’s very difficult to put a timescale on Lucas but he’ll certainly be missing in the coming weeks.
“We’re due to assess that situation again in just over two weeks to see whether his heel has healed enough for us to progress, but that’s quite a frustrating one again, another big player missing for us.
“But it obviously gives opportunities for other people to step forward and step up.
“On the Matty Cash front, it’s positive news, he should join the group on Monday back into full training, he did part of the session today for the first time. So we’ll welcome him back.
“Cameron Archer will come back in the squad as well, he’s had a bit of a niggle in his adductor but we’re on top of that for the time being. He’ll join the squad.
“So, mixed news at best, if you like.”
On it presenting an opportunity for those in the squad...
“I always have faith and confidence, that’s the reason why you build a squad and I’m always eager to get two good players in every position because you try and plan for the what ifs.
“You know you’re going to have stages of the season where you get an injury or a couple at the same time.
“We’ve tried to build a squad to be prepared for these situations.
“But, for me, I get a lot of people knocking on my door, at times they’re frustrated, at times they don’t see that they’re very close to an opportunity.
“And now, it’s like, ‘go on then, here’s your time, here’s your moment, back up what you’ve said when you’ve knocked on my door’.
“So there will be opportunities for those players and I’m looking forward to seeing how they play.”
On the international break coming at the wrong time…
“It did. You’re obviously well aware of when the breaks are going to come. It is what it is, you’re not going to be able to change the schedule.
“But, from a selfish point of view, we took four points from six against City and Southampton and we seemed to have turned a corner. Our form has improved in certain parts of our play.
“We would have liked to have carried on, we didn’t want the Leicester game cancelled either but, obviously, with the Queen passing, we totally respected that situation and it is what it is.
“We need to roll forward, we’ve got a lot of games from now until the World Cup, an opportunity for us to pick up more points and that’s the plan.”
On our games against Leeds last season…
“We should have won both games last season, had we defended better in the home game then we would have won both games.
“I thought we caused Leeds endless problems going forward, so from an attacking point of view, we know if we attack well then we can cause this team problems.
“The key for us is, can we be defensively solid? Can we build on our last couple of performances against City, one of the best teams in the world, we limited them to one goal and managed to take a draw out of the game
“We backed that up with a performance that was full of grit, resilience and steel.
“From now, moving forwards, we need to maintain that and try to build on those solid performances, and when our opportunities come in the game to hurt Leeds, we have to be ready for that.”
On what he expects this weekend…
“I think Leeds have improved from last season.
“Jesse (Marsch, Leeds head coach) came in and his back was against the wall to try and keep them in the league. He managed to do that.
“But he’s recruited well, used his pre-season really well, you can see they’re well-drilled, better organised.
“They’ve got a higher-level of player, in my opinion, due to their recruitment.
“So, I think we’re going to face a better Leeds team, a team who are more confident and have more belief in themselves.
“And we know we’re going into a really hostile environment, so the challenge is big.
“It’s going to be a tough game, but we’re in a good place ourselves on the back of a couple of positive results and we want to go there with confidence and belief.
“We want to go there and be really tough to beat and, as I say, we’ve got enough quality in our team to hurt Leeds at the right times as well.”