If you’ve never listened to a Philippe Clement pre-match presser, you really should. In there own way, they’re a work of art.
Paddy (Davitt) and Connor (Southwell), both fine Pink Un journos, are regularly challenged by our favourite Belgian, who flits seamlessly between, in the words of Dan Brigham, benevolent monk and trained killer.
A description so apt, it will never be bettered, but I’d also add ‘comforting therapist’ to that list of key Clement traits. He has this uncanny knack of, even when delivering bad news (like the latest season-ending injury), turning it into a positive.
All of which has come in extremely handy after inheriting a sh*t show that was destined for League One. Luckily for us all, especially the Carrow Road powerbrokers, his CV also includes the lines, man-manager extraordinaire and tactical genius.
And he was at it again yesterday in the pre-Sheffield Wednesday presser, in conversation with Connor… this time with some actual good news.
On Amankwah Forson…
“I think a few players are training back, like Forson. He is training back with the group.”
Which is good news all round, albeit Clement has spoken recently of building him up and making him more robust physically to better cope with the stresses and strains of the Championship on the body. He intends for part of that rehabilitation and strengthening to happen during game time.
“It needs to be the right time and the right minutes, and he first needs to be strong enough now and robust enough to take those minutes. So, yeah, it’s a work in progress, and it will take some time.”
The current injury crisis, of which Forson has been part, has clearly impacted squad depth, and has, in turn, led to some difficult decisions for him and his coaching team – like having to save Mo Toure’s legs in the latter stages of the Birmingham defeat when chasing an equaliser.
Clement agreed that it’s a tricky trade-off.
On the need to save bodies…
“Yes, that’s normal. Also, about how much to play and then to take off even when they’re playing well, you need to think about the next game because, yeah, you don’t have any room anymore if one of them falls out.
“So no, of course it’s affecting (us) for the moment a lot; your starting XI, your changes, you need to think much more than when you have a full fit group. But it is what it is.
“It’s something that started at the beginning of the season, and we’re now, like, running behind in that situation, and we need to look forward … it will be better next season for sure because a lot of players are out until the end of the season. So for those positions, it will not change fast, but others are coming back.”
Clement’s happy knack of turning everything to a positive is one of many endearing qualities, and he had more good news for City fans:
On Pelle…
“I have (more) positive news. This week, one moment we were training, and suddenly I heard everybody shouting ‘Pelle … Pelle … Pelle’. So it was the first time that Pelle (Mattsson) came outside to run with one of the physios. So that’s a positive. It doesn’t mean that he’s going to be training with the group next week. So it will take sometime but that’s another positive.”
Also not lost on Clement was the fact that everybody in the group waslauding the Dane’s return, even those who could potentially replace when he is fit.
“It’s not that they are not thinking about the squad, or it’s just about his personality and how good he is in the group, clearly, because it was without exception.
“So all the players, also players who are playing in the same position as him, who could think, ‘oh, it’s maybe better that this guy stays out a little bit longer’. No. Everybody was really happy that he was back on the grass to run.”
Canary therapy
It was, as ever, a therapeutic session for Canary fans. Adversity has struck, in terms of injuries, but the excuses are non-existent, and the mindset nothing but positive.
It was only a 16-minute snapshot of Clement-world, but it was enough to show why City fans feel like they’re finally in safe hands.
Now just the not insignificant banana skin of Sheffield Wednesday to negotiate, and then maybe we can start contemplating a top-half finish.
OTBC.
