The youngster spent the 2018 pre-season with Nuno’s squad and impressed on loan at Shrewsbury Town during the first half of the campaign, so returns in a good position to kick-on. While admitting losing Vinagre is a “big blow”, Nuno has faith in Giles, heading into Saturday’s Premier League clash at Southampton.
On Giles’ recall
“It has to do with, unfortunately, the injury of Vinagre. It’s a massive blow for us, he’s so important. Vinagre is very special for us because he gives things that we need, but he’s going to be away now, so that’s why we recalled Giles.
“He’s been with us before, he did a pre-season before. The process is the same, it’s how we operate. When we need to, we look at our back-ups and if we have them, we recall them because we trust them. That’s the case of Giles.
“First of all, we have to thank him because he comes to help. Hopefully he’ll improve and can help during the competition. He was with us, he went to Shrewsbury and did well, now he’s here. He still has a lot of things to improve. The talent is there.”
On Vinagre’s injury
“He’s going to have an MRI this afternoon to see the real extent of the injury, but for sure he’s going to take some time. He felt it in the game, in the last moment, 70 metres running high-speed and he felt something in his hamstring.
“Every time we have a player out, the way we work it’s important. He gives a lot of things for us to change and operate inside the squad. It’s a big blow.”
On recent performances
“We had good performances and bad performances. I think Watford was not good, Liverpool was a good performance. It’s how we perform, how we want to do things, and we must realise what’s happening.
“Everybody knows how we play and teams are trying to find new things, and we have to raise our standards, be able to sustain it, take advantage of the things that we have and this is the process we have – try new solutions inside the team, because the shape is there.
“There are two ways to improve, change is what we’re never going to do, because we truly believe in how we do things. We’ll keep on insisting, improving, growing, it’s about the building process.”
On Southampton’s threat
“They’re very good. It’s going to be very tough tomorrow – very good team, with the dynamic they have. Tomorrow’s going to be a tough, tough game for us.
“It’s about how the opposition are playing and they are playing well. Very well-organised, they press very well, they have speed. It’s going to be very tough, but we are ready. We’re going to Southampton to compete.”
