Hiddink on Pato, Terry’s fitness, Falcao and Baba

Guus Hiddink was asked about a number of issues at Friday’s news conference ahead of the game against Southampton. Here’s a round-up of what the Chelsea interim boss had to say.

On reports Antonio Conte is set to take over
“My job is to do the next game. I’m not involved in this. This club is searching now. They like experienced managers and there are a lot. It’s up to them to make up their mind and make their decisions.”

On the challenges Italy boss Conte may face in the Premier League
“When you are in a club you have a daily influence as a manager on the way of playing, on the behaviour on the pitch and on the behaviour outside the pitch. So you have a lot of influence as a club manager on a daily basis.

“When you are a national manager you have, every now and then, your players for three or four days. So that’s more difficult to get it as you wish. The only exception is when you are going into a tournament, then you have three weeks, more or less, to prepare the team as a club team. That’s the big difference.”

On whether any announcement on Chelsea’s next manager would be a distraction
“I’m in favour, but it’s a personal opinion, when things are done, you make it transparent.”

On John Terry
“He will not be fit [for the Southampton game]. He was in treatment and is still in treatment, every now and then. He’s doing his exercise in the gym, he’s doing his exercise on the pitch.

“We want to be careful with him and with this kind of injury. When you have something in a tendon or in a hamstring, then sometimes you think as a player, or as a manager, ‘ah he appears to be good’ but you must be careful with those type of injuries.

“And I’m in favour – when everyone is saying he’s okay, including the player himself – to wait two or three days more because it’s not good to go in a setback situation as we have experienced with other players.

“We have Norwich on Tuesday and we’ll see whether he will be available and playing fit for Stoke next weekend.”

On Radamel Falcao 
“He was on the pitch in recent days. He’s jogging around with the physios. I don’t know [if he will play], it’s difficult for me to say. There’s still a long way to go until the end of the season. We’ll see what will happen in the upcoming time. I cannot give any guarantees.”

On Southampton boss Ronald Koeman
“It’s easy to say now but I don’t have any doubt. In ‘86 we tried to establish a team of personalities because I am always of the opinion that a manager, once the game is going on, has a limited power. I was looking always to a spine in the team which can control the execution of your plan. And he was one of those guys in the spine who was one of the leaders.

“I don’t know exactly how old he was at the time – let’s say mid-20s – but you could talk with him about what has to be executed on the pitch. So you could notice already at that young age that he would have the possibility to go into the management business.

“He has been around in Holland, he has been in the south of Europe [with Benfica and Valencia]. He is showing [signs of] being a very good and very stable manager. He has the age, so you never know how a career can go.”

On Koeman’s record
“Last year he did a terrific job. This year they started well, they had a little setback, but they regained their confidence in the recent games. They have clean sheets in six games so it’s up to us to try to annoy them. It will be a very difficult game, getting them out of their comfort zone regarding their clean sheets.”

On Southampton’s strengths
“The way they can maintain their clean sheet, but also the way they can play and surprise an opponent. They have a mix of young players but they have also some players who know the game and that makes them very dangerous. It will be, for Chelsea, a big test.”

On Alexandre Pato
“Pato has now to get the sharpness to be competitive. Now we have three strikers available, plus Falcao, who is injured. Diego [Costa] is doing his job very well.

“We are looking on the training pitch as well as in the games and I am rather satisfied, although being a youngster with no big international name, with Bertrand Traore. They have to compete for a position there, including Traore as well.”

On Branislav Ivanovic’s performances while Terry has been injured
“John Terry has proven it already many, many years. I must say Branislav Ivanovic is doing the same, already many years in this club – and also a leader.

On Baba Rahman
“I’ve seen him in training before we made the reshuffle in defence. You can see that he has quality – he knows how to play when he is on the ball. We are working also to get him even more competitive in the position. But he did so far okay.

“Will he return to the bench when Terry is fit? We’ll see. We need a lot of players, including him, including John, when we are going into three days [between] games.”