“The positive thing is [Solanke] is back on the grass and has been for three or four days. He is progressing forward slowly, but forward. It is too early for tomorrow and Doncaster but the positive thing is that he is on the grass and progressing forward.
“[Takai] is very close to training with the group. I’m pretty sure he’ll train with the group on Monday.”
“I think it’s fair to say that [Lucas] had a good season last year. He played a lot of minutes that laid the foundation for this season, because in the beginning of the season, he came back from the ankle injury last year that he just needed time to go.
“And you can see now he’s literally going from strength to strength and has that extra confidence. You can see there was a situation in the second half [vs. Villarreal] where he got the ball from Mo [Kudus] in and around the box, just took it forward inside the box. That’s the movement you see from a player that has confidence.
“I think the coaches and I have been working with him on a couple of things. He’s got so much energy that sometimes you need to say, pause, stop, don’t run when we have the ball. And find the higher, the more dangerous positions. For example, the deep run where he scored the goal against West Ham was a big thing. The deep run where he was involved in the own goal against Villarreal. So those deep runs and arriving in a higher position up the pitch is key, I think.
“And then he’s learning to be more and more clever in the pressure. We need all his energy and enthusiasm in driving the team, but also how does he need to be goal side when he marks in the man to man and how does he need to close the angles and stuff like that.”