Here are some of the edited highlights from the press conference — you can find the full audio above or in your podcast feed. Martin Drury Less than a week left of the transfer window. How busy do you expect these next few days to be? I think the back end of the transfer window always turns into chaos. What I do think is that the work that has already gone on, right from the owner to Chris [Markham] and everyone at the club, has put us in a position where we do not have to be too chaotic at the back end of the window. We have got some real clarity on what we would like to do at the back end, and if we can do that, then great. But nothing is easy at this stage. There are probably one or two that we would like to do, and we will see what happens in the next few days. What I would say is that if they do not get done, I am sat here already a happy man with what we have got. I think we have got a really good group, a really good core of men. If we can add to it, great. But if not, I am happy with what we have got, and I think we have got some real strengths this season. Is there a chance players could leave as well in this last chunk? Yeah, there is a possibility. We would not rule that out. I think naturally players are probably looking at this stage. I have had a couple of conversations this week around people who are keen to play minutes and keen to be on the pitch. As I have always said, I will be as honest as I can. If there is a little bit of movement, outgoings and incomings, then maybe there will be. But if not, I am not going to be too disappointed. On the back of MK Dons, have you come through that with any fresh concerns? No, no fresh concerns. We are in no different place to what we were seven days ago, so everyone is still the same. Those who were looking for the game are OK, and anyone who was out is still out. Those who are out — Jack Whatmough and Sean Roughan being two of them — what is the latest on their injuries and timescales? Sean is back on the grass running, so he won’t be too far away. But we will look after Sean and make sure he comes back in the best place he possibly can. That is positive. Jack, as I said at the weekend, picked up a [groin] issue last week in training. It is not too big an issue, not something we are majorly concerned about. I think he is only two or three weeks away from where we are right now, if we do it properly and safely. Hopefully he will be back in that timescale. Is Jack a bit of a unique case in how you have to manage him, given last season? Yeah, absolutely. He had some issues last season with injury. He was really unfortunate, and as I said in pre-season, it is not a case of just because it is a new season, you forget what happened last season. Just because he is back fit does not mean it has been plain sailing. This happens when people have had a long period out, come back, and then they get little niggles and little setbacks. The big thing is that it is not a big one, as I said before. We will continue to work with him, and hopefully when he comes back again he will be in a stronger place than he was, and hopefully kick on from there. Herbie Kane and Cam Ashia — how is their progress? Still very similar. Herbie is back on the grass running. Cam is the same, just not quite there yet. We will continue to build them both up, but they are not far off. Herbie is probably a little bit further ahead, but they are not too far away, so both have a chance to get back and play football, for sure. A few days on from MK Dons, how do you reflect on that game and that performance? I thought first half, we were outstanding. I watched the game back. In the game I thought we were good, and I watched it back and thought we were excellent. The things we wanted to try to do and impose on MK Dons, knowing how tough an opponent they are physically in particular, I thought we were excellent with. First half, I thought some of our football at times was really exciting. The chances we created, we attacked in a variety of ways. We created chances when we played back from the goalkeeper, we created chances on the counter-attack, and we created chances from quick play as well as controlled play. That is what we want. In possession, we do not want to be predictable. I thought first half we were excellent. As I said after the game, it was disappointing because, from what I have watched and what I felt in the game, we should have been three or four up at half-time. The game should have been put to bed. We should have been three or four up, and the game might have looked and felt different in the second half. We have to develop a more ruthless edge when we are in the ascendancy like we were. Second half, we were not as good as the first half. Again, I have watched it back, and I would have to disagree if people say the second half was poor. It was not. We still had eight shots in the second half. We had 10 in the first half and eight in the second half, so there is not much difference in how many shots and chances we created across the two halves. But we relinquished a little bit more control in the second half than we did in the first half. Against good teams, as games go on, in the second game of the season, you have to accept some of that. But at the same time, we want to maintain that dominance for longer periods, and I am sure we will do. There are certainly things we need to go after and get better at. Because we were so good first half, the second half felt like a real drop-off. I watched it back and it was not. There are things we need to do better, for sure, but I still believe there were some good things we did in the second half. Based on that, I do not imagine you put the result on this, but Joe Taylor’s ghost goal grabbed headlines and caused attention. Have you had any clarity from PGMOL or the EFL on that decision? Not yet, no. We do a report after the game, and obviously we challenge it and ask the question, but unfortunately it is a bit of a waste of time. It cannot change the result of the game at this point. What I would ask is that those types of things do not happen again — for us, for other teams — because it is not in line with the nature of the game. We score a goal, that is a goal. But because we are relying upon human beings, which is where we are at as a league, some things get missed. I cannot have a go because it will swing the other way at some point in the season, I am sure. At the same time, for us, the way the goal was created, it is not only the strike from Joe. It is a great strike and he has worked his socks off. I wanted Joe to get a second goal because I think he deserves to get more goals for the work he is doing. The way we played to get to that stage, if you look at the start of the attack, is exceptional, and that is credit to the players. Disappointed for Joe, disappointed for the group because of the play we had to create that chance, but at the same time, we have to get on with it. I know you have no choice but to move on, but how easy is that for you and the squad, given the nature of it and how tight football can be sometimes? It hurts. It is annoying. But it is going to happen the other way at some point in the season. We will go to the other end and we will get the rub of the green. It is not right to say that, but that is what happens in football. You cannot dwell on it. It is disappointing. We just have to make sure next time Joe gets it two or three inches further and the ball goes in. What have you made of Joe Taylor’s start to the season? Excellent. Excellent. It was something we did not have last season as a threat. His goal on Saturday, the way we worked the ball as a team to get to that stage — you can rely on patterns of play and team stuff all you want, but when you have someone with raw pace and instinct like Joe, sometimes that just takes over. You cannot put a price on that. Joe has been brilliant. He has been brilliant around the place. I feel like our relationship is in a good place. There has been absolutely no issue whatsoever. He has actually been a really positive influence on the group. We all know the attributes he has got. He has got special talent in his pace, and he is someone who is going to score goals. It is probably a bit of a cliche, but has he almost been like a new signing? He has for me, because I had never worked with him. When he came in the building, he was a new player for me. Everyone else had seen him, but I had not, Jon had not, and the staff had not. So for us, it was like a new signing. Hopefully we will continue that work together, and I do feel that with us he will get a hell of a lot of chances created for him because of the quality we have got around him, and he will score goals. On Ethan Brierley, he is a new face at the club and has not been involved yet. Is it a matter of building him up a little bit? Is it a young player coming to a new club and getting certain things into him before he is ready? With Ethan, we signed him based on a long-term vision, already knowing he is a capable player. He is not inexperienced at this level. He played a lot of minutes last season, so he knows the level. We felt we were getting two things in one there. He has already got experience, but he is also really young. He is an exciting prospect for us, and that is why he signed on a three-year contract. He is not someone I thought would come in straight away and blow everything away. He is one we felt could come in with real strengths and qualities already, and we will work with him. Some games will be right for Ethan, and some games will not be. That is the challenge we have as a group of staff: to pick the right players and the right squads for each game. What I would say about Ethan is that he is working hard every day. He is thirsty to learn, often coming in and watching clips back from training and from the game he played in midweek. He is in a good place. Of course, if you speak to him
