Mark Robins provided an update on the latest fitness to several members of his squad ahead of Monday’s clash with Huddersfield Town.
Robins confirmed that Milan van Ewijk has suffered a significant tear, whilst also reacted to Jamie Allen’s return to the side on Tuesday night against Cardiff and how Callum O’Hare is fairing in his recovery.
There was also a look back at the start to the season and Monday night’s opponents, Huddersfield Town and the arrival of their manager, Darren Moore.
Start to the season…
“We’ve got to be better with conceding goals because that's seven goals in the last few games.
“So that's the disappointment because you score two goals away from home anywhere and you expect to do something, you expect to get something from that game.
“But, listen the challenge is there and that hasn't changed and we’ve just got to be clear. They’re good players we just need to have have clarity and that’s what we always do and will always work through.
“It is always going to be like this, unfortunately and you say unfortunately, because, on the back of that last season, people decide that, okay, so the next step is to go one further, but it's not always the case, it takes time.
“The time that it takes depends on how quickly we can all function and the players need to bond, they've still got to bond in the right way and they’re a quiet group.
“I think that's generally across the board now, not just here. But that's the work that goes on over time.
“Never make excuses. I'm always giving you reasons for the performances or maybe the manner of the performance or, how things are functioning why things are working in a certain way.”
Darren Moore arriving at Huddersfield…
“It makes things slightly different. I think they had a good performance actually on Wednesday evening, and took the lead, then came back from behind, scored pretty quickly after they conceded the goals.
“It was sort of an open game. I think Stoke had the ball in the net four times over the night, with a couple of disallowed goals.
“It's another game where that you've got a side that will fight and they've got some power in the side as has every team at this level now.
“We've just got to go into that and try and get that next win, which will obviously give them some confidence and a little bit of a left, but there's no reason to feel anything other than an optimism because they’re good players, really good players, it's just that little bit of time we need.”
Milan van Ewijk update…
"It's not looking good. He has a significant tear in his quad.
"We don't know how long he is going to be out for and he is not showing many symptoms, but the scan suggests he has a significant tear in his quad.
"We are still waiting for that report to be read by the radiologist but it does not look good."
Luis Binks and his reaction to Liam Kitching’s arrival…
“Some players will maybe sit and dwell on the luck or lack of it. And Luis wasn't one of those.
“We obviously brought Liam in and Luis hadn't played to that point but his response was positive really positive.
“He came in I thought he did really well against Hull and then obviously the other night there were just elements to the to the game, not just from Luis but from the rest of the team, that weren't quite right, which we'll look to address today and obviously moving forward.”
Jamie Allen returning against Cardiff…
“It was important that he gets some game time and obviously it's really difficult to give him any at the moment, just because of the way that the games are structured and the timing of things but he's got those minutes now.
“He's only trained a few days and he'll train for the next few days. So that will give him a more robust level of fitness but like I say, he will be pushing to make the starting lineup as soon as he possibly can.”
Update on Callum O’Hare…
“Callum’s recovery is a different kettle of fish.
“You'll just have to bear with us on it. I'm not going to put a timeframe on him. He has to come back when he's comfortable. There's a lot of elements that needs to come together with Callum.
“Once he's ticked all the boxes then it is about just his confidence sort of in games and he's getting hit and getting whacked in training.
“I think the first training session he's got a dead leg and he's been training with a dead leg ever since but that can only be a good thing in terms of his psychological side of it.
“He’s a brilliant lad. And you can see and hear that he's getting close. He's getting louder, which is great. So great to hear.”