Not too many people will have seen Thomas Partey scoring the goal coming?
Yeah and he almost scored shooting when he hit the crossbar. He was involved in both goals – the header he scored and the penalty as well and then the other action where he had a shot. You can see he was player of the month last month and he’s come a long way. He has the consistency of the minutes, he understands what we want much better, I think his cohesion and understanding with the players is getting better and better. Now it’s about consistency and keeping doing it.
How important is it to have a consistency of the whole team?
This is what all coaches want, and they can understand what we want to do and they can do it with a certain speed as well. Then it gets more complex because you need the right timing, the right technique, the right quality, the right decision making. But you could see today there were moments that when it clicks everybody is in the same page and they all look for the same things which is very important.
Martin Odegaard is playing well every game at the minute. What do you put that down to?
He was terrific again today in every aspect of the game. What he had to do defending, when we were high, when we were deep, in build up phase, what he had to do in the final third, the way he understands and manages when it’s needed. I think he’s come a long way since his arrival and he’s showing great maturity on the pitch. He makes the other players better I think.
Does that fee you paid for him now look like a bargain?
I don’t know, it’s still a little bit early to say that. We were certainly convinced that was a player who could fit in our club, in our model, that has every value that we want from the players to represent this club and then that has the qualities to do what we want to do. We are really happy with him.
How much value do you put on your players being happy? Have they found a new level of contentment in this group?
Yes, but I think that’s the way it should be. If the players representing the club are not happy then the people who are responsible for them, we have to go somewhere else because we are doing something wrong. They have the joy and the privilege of being players and they have to enjoy it. If not then what is the purpose of what they do. Now you can sense that they are having a good time together, they are enjoying playing football and they can express it. It’s all about that.
Is Wednesday night against Liverpool now the acid test for this team and how you’re growing?
That’s a different level now. We have to take the game into a new standard to have a chance to beat them. We know that and we are going to prepare tomorrow how we can beat them and how we can believe that we can beat them which is crucial to be able to beat them.
Ramsdale seems to be unfurling a save of the season list against Leicester alone doesn’t he?
He had a great save on Barnes’ header in a crucial moment when we were 1-0 up and that’s when you need your goalkeeper to come up and get you out of trouble. He certainly did it today again.
Was the interview where Partey called himself a 4/10 the turning point for him and was there anything specific you did to help turn him around?
Probably being in his neck every day, because he needs it a little bit. But I think it comes from the player. I think when a player accepts the reality and accepts ‘ok I want to be in a different position’ you can’t expect that to be happen if you don’t change anything that you do, and expect the rest to change. He started to do many other things and you can see that he’s enjoying on the pitch and this is what we want.
Do you allow yourself to look at the table at the moment?
I look at the table with the games that we have remaining. We know where we are but we have to look forward, we have to look what we do, focus on our performance and and prepare for the next match. That’s it because the rest we’re just gonna be guessing. I’m not a great gambler, I never have been, and I don’t want to gamble now.
