Sage on Sarr, deadline day and facing Fulham
· Yahoo Sports
Crystal Palace boss Pierre Sage has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against Fulham at Craven Cottage (kick-off 15:00 BST).
Here are the key lines from his news conference:
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- There are injury concerns going into the weekend for Ismala Sarr and Jean-Philippe Mateta, with the Palace boss saying: "Sarr needs time to recover, he is injured at the moment," while Mateta "cannot play". He added: "As I said last time, Mateta is injured now for three weeks. Everyone else [is ok] apart from our long-term injuries - Chadi [Riad] and [JP] Mateta, every other player has recovered well."
- On Sarr being assessed again in January: "I don't think so. It is difficult to move teams when you are in this position. I just want to stay that the club and the people are respectful, we just want the best for our club and our players."
- Asked about the signings of Quinten Timber, Dario Osorio and Ben Chilwell, he explained: "We need this kind of player [Timber] because we have four players in this department, but they are a bit similar." In Osorio, he wanted "a player with speed" and with Chilwell, Sage said he will give Palace "experience and confidence".
- The Eagles boss insisted he was "happy" with Palace's transfer deadline day business, thought they "missed one, but it happens".
- On facing Fulham: "Football has no memory of what happened before, it can always be a challenge. There's a lot of new players and coaches on both sides. I'm really happy to play against them because we need a reference game for the moment."
- Sage said the "the game plan is the most important thing" for Saturday's match, and they "need to come up with the best plan for the team, it's only a plan. We will try to do it. We tried to do it in our two previous games."
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[BBC]