“Marc has been good for us,” he said in his pre-match press conference. “Of course, we will have different options because Chris [Richards] is back in training and has been doing really well.
“We have [James] Tomkins as well. We have to think about what will be the best options for us. Of course Marc will be a miss because he has been doing really well.
“[Tomkins’] mind is open to different tactics and different approaches to the game. He has really good experience of playing years and years in the Premier League. If he has to play, I don’t have any doubt that he will do really well for us.
“As a manager, to have those kinds of players who you can move from one position to the other is really important. They are willing to do it for the sake of the team.
“Even if I know that the best is to have the player at their position to perform at their best, we have players at the back who are capable of performing in different positions and that will allow us to cover Marc’s absence.
“It is good to have [Richards] back because he has been unlucky with injuries that he had. Now he is fully fit and I expect him to challenge the players we have at the back and to take part in what we try to do, and to help the team be more strong.
“He has had a really good couple of weeks, played a couple of games and been doing really well in training.”
