Sage on Fulham and possible returning player
Pierre Sage has offered some positive early team news ahead of Wednesday’s Carabao Cup fourth-round tie away at Fulham.
Pierre Sage has offered some positive early team news ahead of Wednesday’s Carabao Cup fourth-round tie away at Fulham.
The Manager – delivering his preview on Sunday afternoon following the match against Newcastle – offered a positive prognosis on the availability of captain Dean Henderson.
Sage said of the goalkeeper: “I think he will play on Wednesday.”
Regarding further team news, Sage added: “We will see on Wednesday for [Jørgen] Strand Larsen, because he received, as you saw, a tackle [against Beșiktaș], and his ankle twisted.
“For Ismaïla Sarr [who did not feature in the squad against Newcastle], it's difficult, because his groin is really making him struggle.
“He was able to play 15-30 minutes. We tried to push more in Lyon. He played 60, but it's really difficult for him. And I think you saw in his performance, he ran less, especially with high-speed runs.
“We spoke together yesterday, and we took the decision to leave him out, because he needs treatment to come and help the team with 100 percent of his capacity.”
Questioned on whether he would look to rotate his side amidst a busy run of matches, the Manager replied: “We have to deal with that, because we need to do some rotations. A lot of players play a lot of minutes in a row, and now we have to let them recover.
“But you know, in a week, with a game on Sunday, a game on Saturday, and with a game on Wednesday… it’s a big session.
“And I had the experience [when managing] Lyon, especially when we play in the Europa League, when you let too many players recover on the game during the week, they lose their rhythm.
“That's why, for some of them, they need recovery, but others need to play to have the rhythm for Saturday in Tottenham. It depends on their profile.”
Following Sunday’s defeat to Newcastle, the Eagles Manager noted he had seen improvements from the previous Premier League outing at Brighton – but his team were still lacking in consistency across 90 minutes.
“[Against Newcastle] I can say 15 minutes [were far from his vision],” Sage added. “But last Sunday, I can say 90 minutes.
“Because what is difficult to deal with is when you are in our situation, the things are not stable, and sometimes you see what you want – the players are able to do it – and in the same half-time, sometimes you have the inverse.
“That's why we have to build the conditions of the consistency. It's about creating the habits between the players, creating the convictions to do it, the condition of the motivation, the concentration to keep in mind what we have to do in each moment of the play. At the moment, it's not stable. That's why sometimes we are close and sometimes we are far.
“The first leader is me. I have to show, I have to create, these conditions. And I choose the players with this kind of criteria too.”
Fulham v Crystal Palace
We have to build the conditions of the consistency
—Pierre Sage