Paul Warne talks to www.themillers.co.uk...
Rotherham United boss Paul Warne says there is little to report on the injury front following a fixture-free weekend, but has received a boost with long-term absentee Darren Potter returning to full training this morning.
The Millers chief, who was nominated for the February Manager of the Month award after five straight wins, explains that he once again has the entirety of his squad at his disposal, with the exception of Jamie Proctor, but admits it will be hard to deviate from the 11 that continued the impressive unbeaten streak with the win over Doncaster Rovers.
“The team news section of this is that there is no team news,” Warne joked.
“Everything is fine, everyone is fit and Potter is back so it's only Proctor who is missing.
“There are no issues yet but it is Thursday morning as I speak, so anything could change between now and Saturday.
“I'd be lying if I said it was difficult because I don't think it is. As it stands at the moment I'm pretty assured in my brain which way we're going to play and I think I know the players we're going to choose.
An Achilles injury has halted the progress of cultured midfielder Darren Potter since the game at Bristol Rovers but the experienced operator has this morning returned to training with Warne pleased to have his services available in the coming weeks.
“He's gone through all his running drills and all that with the physios so he'll be joining in with the full squad today,” Warne added.
“Its good news for me and it's good news for him and it's nice to have him back in the group.
“The way we've played since he's been out of the team has possibly been a little bit different but it's not that he can't play in it. He will struggle to get back in the side quite obviously but with all due respect, if you were Messi you'd struggle to get in my team at the moment.
“He's only just started to kick the ball again and hopefully we can get a game under his belt next week just to get some minutes into him. Then more realistically, we're looking to drip feed him in over the next couple of weeks.”
Whilst Warne explained that he is likely to opt for a similar team selection as Rochdale visit in Sky Bet League One this weekend, he did stress that should levels drop in training or others particularly excel, then he wouldn’t be afraid to mix things up.
“I need to make sure that the lads that are playing are right on it and if they're not if someone shows me else then I'll welcome them to the party,” he continued.
“If we see something in training that we like or we don't like then I'm more than happy to change it but at the moment, I'm pretty solid on what we're going to do but like I said, anything can change between now and then.”