Hurzeler's best bits ahead of Wolves tie

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The head coach looks ahead to our game against Wolves in the Carabao Cup.

Charlie Hanson

2024-09-18T06:00+01:00

Fabian Hurzeler's team will be looking to secure their place in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

Fabian Hurzeler discussed his team selection and his thoughts on the Carabao Cup in his press conference ahead of Wednesday's third-round tie with Wolves.

Does Wednesday’s game give players on the fringes the opportunity to impress you?

“It's not important that the players have the feeling they have to impress me. It's important that they prove to themselves that they belong to the squad. I'm completely convinced of all of my players who are in my squad and I completely trust and believe in them that they can help us on the pitch.

“At the moment, there are some players who haven’t played so many minutes. But on the other side, we also use a lot of substitutions during a game. We always try to give the players time to play because, in the end, we know the player only develops if he trains good, but the other side is that he needs to have game time.

Adam Webster and Igor Julio celebrate the former's goal against Crawley. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

“He needs to have this competition. And we saw it against the Crawley in the first round that it was tough for them to get into this rhythm. I think now they had one game, for example, Igor [Julio] and Adam [Webster], they've got more feeling of having competition and now there will be the next opportunity for some of them.”

What are your thoughts on the League Cup?

“In Germany you only have the DFB Cup and for me cup competitions are always seen as ones where you can win a title. In the end I want to win titles, the club wants to win titles, the players want to win titles and therefore it's a chance for us.

“I know that three days later we have an important Premier League game, but I take this game [against Wolves] very seriously, and I also will relay this message to my team. The Carabao Cup is a chance to win a title.

“We prepare this match like a Premier League game and hopefully we have a chance to win this game.”

Does Matt O’Riley’s injury in the previous round impact which players you select for this game?

Matt O'Riley picked up an injury against Crawley Town in our Carabao Cup second round fixture. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

“I don't think about it like this. Injuries in football, they can happen. Injuries like this should not happen but it is part of the game.

“Some injuries you can avoid, by regulating the players and trying to prepare them well for the games and by looking at their statistics but some injuries you can't avoid.

“This one to Matt was one that you can't avoid, it was a bad moment and a bad tackle. But I cannot think about this for my starting 11.”