On his wider squad…

Before it was [Christantus] Uche, now it’s Eddie [Nketiah] – but we can talk about Will Hughes, about Jeff Lerma, about Jaydee Canvot, about Romain Esse, about Justin Devenny. They all deserve to get more minutes, but at the end, we always look at what’s best to win the game.

 

It’s not a gift – but sometimes if you change eight or nine positions at once it doesn’t work out because you never train together. We could see this against Millwall and then it’s a little bit unfair. Then, all of a sudden, you are judged for something you are not accusable of, because when you never train together – how can we expect that everything works out?

 

Of course, it’s a Conference League game. We want to qualify straight for the Round of 16. Therefore, we have to be at our top level.

 

Larnaca won 4-0 against Alkmaar. Alkmaar had a red card after two minutes, but winning 4-0 against AZ Alkmaar, who won just at Ajax Amsterdam, just shows their kind of quality. Therefore, we need to be at our top level.

 

It’s about looking at who is available, who is fit, who is in the best shape and then nominating the team.

On managing minutes…

[The defeat to Everton] was at the end of three weeks where we had many games. Now we are at the beginning. Of course, you will ask me the same before Arsenal, you will ask me the same before Liverpool. Then we play Brentford, then we are at home to Alkmaar, and then we have the last game against Brighton.

 

We have many games coming up. At the moment, the players look fresh. Of course, I was thinking about making more subs against Bournemouth. But the team looked so well, they played so well, they did so well. Eddie’s substitution, we were 2-0 down and wanted to give an impact with adding maybe more a striker than a midfielder, and it worked.

 

But everything else, we didn’t feel that this had a massive impact on the team’s performance because they did so well. And then just doing something that somebody is happy and can say, ‘wow, yes, they made five subs, it’s good.’ No, if we think the team needs it, we will do it. If we think a player needs to rest, he will get the rest. If we think a player is fit, he will play.

 

I mentioned it so often, it’s not to keep somebody happy. Everybody is treated well. Everybody feels the appreciation. We try to support every single one. It’s not to keep somebody happy, it’s performing well and playing well and winning games.

 

It’s all about that, and everybody knows this, and everybody really has huge effort to help the team and has the commitment to the team, and sometimes I had players in my career, when I brought them on, they said, ‘what do you expect from me?’ I said, I don’t expect anything. If you bring me on, help the team – it’s all about that.

 

It’s never about the manager. It’s never about an assistant. It’s about helping the team. And if you help the team, everybody is happy. The easiest way to keep somebody happy is if you see that you can help the team, and this is what Eddie showed.

 

He was the only sub [against Bournemouth]. But also when we could see against Liverpool, there were more subs that had a big contribution that we could win the game, and it was the same at Kyiv. We know with our tight schedule, with the many games, we can’t be successful with 11 players. We need more, and this is what the players are showing.

 

This is what we expect from them, always giving 100% effort to help the team.

On Devenny and his potential at left wing-back…

He plays for Northern Ireland there and he did very well against Germany. Sometimes, when you’re a player like Justin, the positive part is he can play on many positions. He can play both sixes, he can play both tens, and he can play the left wing-back position, so that’s good to be in the squad, but sometimes the difference is you are everywhere available. Maybe you don’t get the minutes, and that’s a little bit the problem with him.

 

We know we can count on him. Wherever we call him up, wherever he plays, he gives 100% for the team. That’s what I really appreciate and I think everybody in the team appreciates his effort. Wherever he plays, it’s always 100%.

 

That’s why he got so many minutes in his first season. That’s why he’s always now one of the first or second choice to be brought on. It’s because he deserves it and everybody trusts him wherever he has to play. I’m always considering him in these five positions where we need him with his strengths.

 

He’s maybe more an attacking left wing-back. When he plays in a ten, he’s extremely hard-working, making a lot of runs and out of possession. He’s doing so well. The same on the six.

 

We have different profiles in the six. We can play Jeff Lerma as the physical six and Daichi Kamada as the attacking six. We have these options. This is what we want. Depending on the game and the score, we decide who to play.

 

On Mateta linking up with France…

One of the biggest strengths of JP is, if he comes into a group, everybody likes him, because he’s such a great guy, he’s a lovely guy.

 

He’s always smiling, he’s always happy. It makes it so easy to be welcomed. That’s why, again, even if he doesn’t know anyone, after five minutes he knows everyone. That’s one of his bigge

st strengths.

On Nketiah’s recent form…

I think honestly, and I spoke to him quite often last year, he put himself under a lot of pressure. It felt like sometimes he wanted the goals and assists and the chances a little bit too much. And then he had the chances, he missed it, and it was a little bit like a spiral downwards.

 

I said to him sometimes, ‘hey, stay calm, you get your chances, you get your finishes’, and he scored. Everybody will tell you the same. He was working so hard in every single training sessions and scoring many goals. And then sometimes in the games, it didn’t work for him, and he put himself more under pressure.

 

Maybe, you know, after the break and then scoring two goals in the last week [before the October break], and even when he missed the pre-season, maybe it helped him that he now doesn’t feel this pressure and he’s a little bit more relaxed, and this is what I see.

 

He doesn’t think now ‘I have to come on and I have to score a goal’. We just say, ‘OK, I do my job and it will work out’, and then sometimes you assist, sometimes you score.

 

And even in this game [against Bournemouth], it was not that he had the assist or he had the goal, but everybody felt he had a huge contribution that we could get back into the game.

 

That’s important. Sometimes it’s not that you are the one who scores the goal, but with the energy you bring on the pitch. With the runs he made to create space for the others, he helped us massively. I think now he doesn’t feel the pressure as much as last year, and this helps him d

efinitely.

It was the best start. We always try to have the best start to win the game. And especially, I think when you see Kyiv is a big team in European football, Larnaca, also Cyprus football is getting better.

 

Pafos qualified for the Champions League and they [Larnaca] are now in the Conference League. They have many very experienced players. Yes, it’s a little bit of an older squad there, but very international: Spanish players, Portuguese players. Good team.

 

Then we have AZ Alkmaar, as I mentioned, for me one of the top five or six teams in the Conference League. The same with Strasbourg.

 

I think we have challenging games, and this is what we want. We want to compete in European football and therefore we will give our best. We will play the best available team to get the win against Larnaca, but again, with huge respect for the way they are playing and with huge respect for this team.