Steve Bruce provides injury update and discusses status of Blackpool's current transfer plans

Blackpool Gazette

Blackpool boss Steve Bruce provides an injury update ahead of the Seasiders' game away to Bolton Wanderers, as well as looking ahead to the January transfer window.

Transcript

00:00How important has Kyle been to the way you want to play this season? How big a blow would it be if he's not back at it?

00:04Kyle, CJ, Don Ballard, Rob Apter, they were and then the stability of Norburn and Evans behind them.

00:14Norburn gets injured straight away after a game. Big player, big occasion man.

00:19He'll come into the equation tomorrow and I'm sure will make us better in that area.

00:24We can't keep making excuses for it. We can't feel sorry for ourselves.

00:32At the wrong time we've been hit with injuries to all of our front four at the same place and that's unfortunately disrupted us.

00:40You said Kyle will give it a go today. Has he done much else throughout the week?

00:43No, he's just tried to rest it. He's done a bit in the gym yesterday.

00:47Kyle will give it his best shot. I've only got to know him over the last two months.

00:52If anybody wants to try and get out there, it'll be him.

00:55So whether he can manage the pain, he's still obviously in a bit of pain.

00:59But there's no real, real damage with the x-rays and scans.

01:02It's just a really, really bad knock that he's got and badly bruised.

01:07We hope he can be okay. We'll soon see in the next couple of hours.

01:12You mentioned Ollie Norburn. Got some minutes last weekend. Has he had a good week of training?

01:16Yep, trained all week. But we have to be also respectful that he's basically missed two months, which is a long, long time.

01:25But he's a naturally fit boy. Another one who wants to be involved.

01:30So we welcome him back because he can only be a good thing for us.

01:34You've got him back. Ryan Finnegan's played well recently and you mentioned Ollie Norburn's getting closer.

01:38Is that going to be a nice headache for you?

01:40Well, a great headache. That's always the headache you want.

01:44All of them have been playing in the team and played very, very well.

01:48Norburn came out. Albie Morgan came in and did fantastically well.

01:52And then all of a sudden, his life has changed upside down.

01:56So we have to be mindful of the fact that he's had a big change in his lifestyle, what he eats.

02:03All of this now is all new to us both, all of us, but especially for Albie.

02:09So it'll be nice to see him, see if he can put a week's training together and make sure his blood sugars are right

02:16and all the rest of it, that goes with the problem he's got.

02:19Is it one step at a time with him? Planning ahead for games or anything like that?

02:22No, no, we've just one step in how he manages himself and how we can help him manage what he eats.

02:28As you imagine, it's very, very difficult when that comes upon you at his age.

02:32Asher Fletcher missed last week for illness. Is he okay now?

02:35Yeah, he's available. He's available too.

02:38So that's another one who's available.

02:42Are there any new injury concerns? Is everyone from last week okay?

02:45No, everybody else apart from what we'll know about Kyle in the next couple of hours, as I said.

02:53Don Ballard was away with England. Is he back with you now?

02:55Yeah, he's back with us today. He's back with us today.

02:57We haven't seen him for the best part of two weeks, but scored for England in midweek,

03:01which will give him a little bit of a boost as well.

03:04So we'll welcome him back and see how he is.

03:06He's been halfway around Europe and back, so we'll see how he is.

03:10He hasn't lost his goal. Very good footwork, very good finish.

03:13How much is that going to help his confidence?

03:15Well, all strikers get on confidence and the one thing about Dom,

03:19he's got into positions and not really taken the chance that's come to him.

03:23He's got to learn how to cope with that if you're going to be a striker,

03:26because that's what you're there for. Keep making the chances, getting there.

03:31Great little bit of footwork there was and a good finish for him,

03:34so I'm sure he'll be delighted. He's just scored for England and the one he's drawn, Poland.

03:39Great for him.

03:40I know from a selfish point of view, you won't want to lose him for two weeks,

03:42but the fact that he's gone away to a different change of scenery, how much could that help him?

03:45Yeah, well, it could help him enormously. We hope so.

03:49We hope so. As I said, he's only a young player, learning his trade.

03:53He's only under the age of 20, so he's got all that experience of what's just happened this week

03:59and only doing the world of good.

04:01Just asking about transfer as well. Have you got a clear idea in your mind of what you will need in January?

04:06I haven't yet, because I haven't really analysed it.

04:12We will do, I'm sure, in the next week or so, but the club, David and Dino,

04:19will be looking at that for sure, because that's the way they are

04:25and we'll be having that conversation, I would think, in the next two or three weeks of,

04:30is there anybody out there who can make us better?

04:34But I think that's normal for every club.

04:37You came into the club a few days after the last transfer window.

04:40At the time, did you make any promises of what you would be able to do in January?

04:43No, I didn't speak about that at all.

04:46I looked at the balance of the squad when I came in and thought, if everybody's all right,

04:51then we've got a decent enough looking squad that we can compete with where we want to get to.

04:56Look, there's been times over the last five, six weeks where we've lost four or five of the first team,

05:04which is difficult, so we have to get them back fit and up and running again.

05:09If everybody's okay, then the club's okay and the team's okay.

05:14It's when we've had four or five, but that would go for most, I have to tell you.

05:19Maybe only Birmingham in this league could lose four or five of their first team and cope.

05:25It's pretty obvious that we haven't been able to cope with the amount of injuries that we've had.

05:30Simple as.

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