Every word from Daniel Farke's press conference including injury updates on Pascal Struijk and Sam Byram

We spoke about this topic a lot in the beginning of the season. It was a difficult moment - also for the club - it’s also never easy when you have so much expectation and noise for a player who we must not forget was only 19-year-old at this moment. He has to handle many expectations and I think about when I was 19, there was not so much with social media and everywhere a mobile. 

My life was much easier at this age and no one realised mistakes. It's so difficult in the spotlight but they are living a privileged life and have to grow up quickly. What Willy has done in recent months is developed his personality. Sometimes, tough times can help you to value the good times.

He’s still young but feels much more settled, more confident, he enjoys much more to be in this role and obviously being involved a lot and scoring goals helps. Everyone is singing his name again. I'm delighted for Willy.

You need players who cheer everyone up and when you see them you just have to smile because they are the way they are. I have my own office so at my age, when you have Rutter or Summerville the whole day, you’d have a headache but I can hide in my office when it’s too much.

I hope the more experienced and calmer players tell them when it’s enough because they're joking every day. It's great to have these characters but you need this [seriousness] as well.

Good players always play well together. Both are pretty creative and brave, doing sometimes some crazy and unexpected things on the pitch. Sometimes they have the same vision in a situation and the same technique, precision to find each other in difficult moments but certainly not in every moment.

If they could find each other in every moment then they’d be going for the Ballon D’Or so there is room for improvement. But they are really good players and have good understanding and interaction off the pitch. Overall we have a good relationship between players and this helps, especially for offensive players when they play together. 

Sometimes I feel with Georgi that he likes it more when his teammates are in the spotlight and not himself. He can be a bit more selfish in order to add a few more goals but I like this mentality. We have the motto ‘side before self’ and this is what they are living, but still with a healthy selfishness.

He’s an experienced member of the team with appearances for the national team. It’s quite natural that the older you get, your word in the dressing room is more important. He leads in the games, initiating the press or recovering the ball when sprinting back - this is also leadership and even more important than great speeches in the dressing room. 

He’s known for his offensive qualities but is capable of sacrificing himself with a sprint back to win the ball. This has a big effect on the whole stadium so I think he’s not there every day with speeches but leads by example in training and games.

Experience is important but the most important topic is the work on the training pitch, during games and also to bring this hunger to score. Sometimes you have a natural goalscorer and out of a player who is not capable of scoring at all, you'd struggle to make a Golden Boot winner. 

We got the feeling through James’ career that he could bring more consistency and for that we worked on a few bits, gave some hints and spoke about what he has to improve in other aspects of his game in order to be there with more confidence and clinicalness in front of goal.

All credit goes to Daniel because we can work and speak, it's him who has to go through the door. It's him who works on it and believes in it. That's what he's doing and for that he gets all the credit.

Work on the pitch because you can't become confident just with psychological games. It’s not like a new manager comes in and works like a magician. You get confidence back when you’re doing well. It starts in training and in habits - how you live and work professionally. 

Then to force this confidence back in the games. This is definitely the first step. We speak a lot about soft skills that are necessary, you also have to lead by example, be a role model, send a message of confidence and belief. But also to stay cool when the going gets tough and show leadership in these moments because if you're jumping around as a manager its difficult for the players to believe you.

It's useful to have the experience in bringing it over the line, and also the players know you’ve done it before. But we speak about soft skills and mentality - you have to act like this.

When you want to play in the top positions in the league and want to celebrate in May, it's always the same mentality and battles you have to implement and improve. I speak about winning mentality, so we don't get carried away with a few good results and the fire is still burning.

Also if you lose, you're not too down and lose nerves which is important after a difficult result. It's a special mentality you need, especially after relegation because once you're relegated you're too used to losing games. Winning has to become a habit.

I always like watching a team and can see the handwriting of a manager and that's what I see at Swansea. The most important topic is his effect on the here and now but I like what he's doing. I like how they set up, I'm quite respectful. I think he’s doing a really good job and you’ll see this with their results and their position in the table will improve. Our work against the ball, pressing and compactness, has to be spot on in this game.

Difficult to say. I'd like to have a timeframe. We first spoke about one or two weeks [out] and it’s now been two months. There is progress in his rehab but doctors haven’t allowed him to extend the load in training until February 20.

This week he has done individual work and there will be an assessment at the beginning of next week. Hopefully we get a green light and he can also work with higher intensity then return him back into team training as soon as possible. 

Definitely not in the next two or three weeks. A late call on whether he will return before the next international break due to the fact he’s been out for so long.

Not surprised because their form in terms of results was not great but I like what they were doing on the pitch. It's a brave side, a good possession side with clear principles and processes. For me it was a question of when they would win and not if. It's a really good side with many experienced and technical players. they are one of the best possession sides in the league so it's a big task. They will go into this game with confidence and against Leeds United they have nothing to lose. They can play with freedom. It will be a difficult task and we have to be prepared.