Today's press conference

Team news - is Rodrigo still isolating?
The situation with Rodrigo will be evaluated next week.
Llorente and Phillips won’t be available for the game on Saturday.
The rest are in conditions to participate.

To clarify, Raphinha is back?
I haven’t decided just yet. We’re going to wait until tomorrow to see if it is convenient whether we can count on him or not.

We're in a new lockdown - do you feel responsibility to lift spirits?
It’s not my responsibility, it’s my job. If we can help to bring some entertainment or make people feel better, than that would of course be great.I can’t give you a better answer because there are some people for who watching football may not be able to heal their woes.

How important is it that all players adhere to lockdown rules?
The players are also citizens and all citizens should abide by the rule.
Perhaps I’m not the best person to talk as I once went to a supermarket without wearing my mask.

Mourinho and Kane penalty debate - are strikers being clever to win penalties this season?
From my point of view I will simplify the problem: there is the rules, the situation in the game, the referees and the VAR.
There is no aspects of the game where there are no rules for it.
If there were, there would simulation. So I don’t have an opinion on this.

Bamford England talk - is he ready for that step?
It’s an evaluation which does not correspond to myself.
Who’s job it is to evaluate is the person who has to look at all the players for the national team and this requires a certain dedication because you have to look at all of the options and I don’t have all the details that are needed.
Even if I did, I still wouldn't have an opinion because I don’t like to talk about the job of another person.

How disruptive to your preparations has Rodrigo's covid diagnosis been?
For every position on the pitch we have various options. We have some options. In the number nine and ten positions, Rodrigo is an option, but not the only option.
It’s always good to have everyone available but the design of the squad is that we can overcome these problems.
When a player is missing we cannot say he is not missed because that wouldn’t be the case but also because he’s missing it doesn’t mean we can’t resolve his absence. For every game all teams are missing four or five players.

Has there been any extra isolation or have you had to do things in a different way?
He is training individually by himself and at the moment he is the only case that we have in the institution.
Thanks to the medical team, the rules were issued very strictly and this is something I thank the medical team for.

Joe Gelhardt - how pleased with progress and is he a contender for the bench?
Yes, he is a player that is progressing. The evolution of the whole U23s team, we follow it closely.
We analyse every performance of the U23s as if it were the first team and because normally we train with 22 players and when we are missing any of those we sub them with the U23s.
I think that around 50% of the U23s players can apply for a place on our team.

On Palace - what is their greatest strength as a team and how do you rate their start to the season?
They are a team that has four very important players in attack. They are a team who has a stable base.
They have a distinct style of play which they don’t change and they improve and like the majority of the teams in the division they have had some good and some not very good moments. They have experience.

How much do you admire Roy Hodgson as a coach?
I sincerely respect him a lot.
I’m not the best person to have an opinion as I have only been here two years but I have the opinion that he’s a very valued member in the English community.

How have the players responded to the Leicester defeat? Have you learned more about some individuals? Do you learn more from defeats, rather than wins?
The response will be evaluated in the performance of the next game.
What happens during the week we don’t give too much importance to it.

You said Raphinha could be an option as a No10. How long is the process and what does he need to do?
He fundamentally plays on either wing. He is a player who is naturally very attacking with ability to get in behind, with dribbling skills and he likes to get in behind.
Their virtue is to attack and these skills are applicable out wide as well as in the centre.
I won’t say that I won’t use him in another other position, but I see him as a player who can play on either wing. He has played in the centre as a striker and attacking midfielder but he arrived in our team to be an alternative on the wings.

Last year you said every team played the same, to stop Leeds - this isn't the case in the PL, does that change your preparations?
The teams here don’t come to attack us. Some of them attack us but others don’t. The two games we had against Wolves and Leicester were of the same characteristic.
Neither Wolves or Leicester came to attack us. That’s not to say they didn’t attack. In the case of Leicester they didn’t attack a lot, but attacked well whereas Fulham and Man City did come to attack us.
There are different possibilities but what is true is that in the Championship it was more constant.

Is it a compliment to your team that some teams don't come and attack you?
It’s not because of us they don’t come to attack us.
Half of Leicester’s game this season they have played like they did against us. I don’t think it’s a question of respect, it’s strategic decision.

Ten points so far - is this accurate of how you've played and what you deserve?
I think so.