“If I’m honest, in my younger ages as a coach, I was thinking about needing to prove something. This has gone because either you are a really good manager or not. I don’t believe in you are a top manager here and a poor manager there. Newly-promoted sides, it’s more challenging to finish in mid-table, in comparison to taking over a decent Bundesliga side Monchengladbach. It’s easier to do this than with a newly-promoted Norwich who didn’t spend any money. It’s still a players’ game, managers are not magicians, you get the best out of what you have. If I’m really honest, the first season in PL with Norwich, it was a miracle. I loved this group but it was not a Premier League side. I’m far away from personal desire”.

“It was important for him, two difficult years, came back had something to prove in the summer, outstanding for a pretty long period, goals, assists, endless workload – you can’t burn a candle from both ends for 46 games. More challenging spell, not in terms of workload for the team but end product has dried up for a few weeks. Then he was there with an unlucky situation at QPR. Player who always gives everything, he’s pretty disappointed. Beneficial he was left out of US squad, let him recharge for a few days. He has so much energy but even his tank was empty. In the last days, he looks sharprer, he’s on the up again. We need him on the up. Gut feeling is what he does in training, that his dry spell is over. Not a guarantee he’ll play every game from now on, bit of competition but I’m pretty sure he’ll have a decent impact”.

“I think so. Four wins brings us to 92 points. We won’t automatically lose four away games. I’m also not too addicted to speaking about amount of points. My experience in the run-in, don’t be too far ahead, just focus on the next game. Focus on being at your best in the next game and grind out as many points as possible. If our home supporters sing us to four home wins then we go up. I don’t want to be respectless, the home games are really difficult games. More or less final route like a knockout stage, we want to be successful in each game. I don’t look too far ahead at the point tally, I want three points against Swansea”.

“Not a target but everyone was singing his praises after 15 goals, I was saying why not the next mark. For me it’s not about who scores the goals, it’s about being successful as a team. If he assists, wins a penalty, defenders chip in with goals from set-pieces, or the wingers or the 10, whoever, I’m also happy. It’s not about winning golden boot or individual statistics. Everyone will recognise if we are successful as a team, do the first thing in 25 years, to promote with the supporters, individual targets are not important. I want Joel not to be selfish but if he has the chance, try everything to put this chance away. Hopefully he can convert chances further on and if he reaches the mark 20 goals I wouldn’t say I don’t want this”.

“I’m full of praise, sometimes when there’s a contact injury like many in the past, it’s really tricky and you can’t do anything about it. Sometimes, a rehab works out to plan even better and sometimes you have to adapt to a setback. Full of praise to Henry [McStay] and the boys, to Ruben [Crespo] and compliments to the players, they work really hard. We are not top of the league because we have the best players, I have a top class staff, with our physios, sports scientists, nutritionists, they look after the players. If a player drops the standard, they make sure they’re at their best, they’re instrumental. Without proper staff with quality and right characters and mindset, nowadays you can’t be successful. This group also has to be on it, they are a great relationship and great spirit. Not one of the secrets but one of the reasons we are in a great position”.

“As a manager you always learn, I hope I learn every period to develop and improve. I think you can’t compare last season’s run-in with this year. We had a different setup, but due to the contract situations, we had a group of many players where they know ‘ok, if we don’t make it to the PL, there’s a good chance of a move’. This made it difficult in the run-in, without accusing anyone, it’s just a fact. We had an unlucky situation with Patrick when he was unavailable, we missed him a lot, Struijk out – our rock in defending. I have more or less every player back in team training, different contract situation and different group, not too much to learn from last season’s run-in. But you have to keep your nerve, don’t overdo things, don’t go overmotivated, go into games pretty confident, good mood, enjoy what they’re doing. To have experience is always helpful and we have this, but last season was different to this scenario”.

“He was out quite long this season, two times with major injuries, but I like how hard he works on the training pitch. I like he’s back available but we’ll have to keep in mind he’s been out three months. For that, we need to find a good balance”.

“All the players involved in team training have the chance to make the squad. We must not forget about Harry, such a young player, has not played a game at senior level while having best goalscorer in the league in Joel Piroe, Mateo Joseph and Patrick Bamford, but it’s good Harry trains with us. Til he’s really ready to start games for us it’ll be a while”.

“I expect a difficult game because first after int’l break is more complicated for us because we have so many on int’l duty. To have them back for one training session is tricky. Junior playing in the early hours on Weds, different timezones, similar to Ao Tanaka. They have to travel long, we have to make some late calls. The new management since they took over, they concentrate on protecting their own goals, five games, three clean sheets, they’ve just conceded three goals. Normally a good possession side who presses high, pretty open game against them. Right now they play a bit more pragmatic. Possession is in their DNA. We are quite respectful, it won’t be the easiest task to create chances against them. We know how important our home games are. The challenge is there, we want to find some good solutions to secure all three points”.

“It always depends on the whole structure, the opponent, the style and we also need to find a good balance. We can’t allow ourselves to just have offensive-thinking players on the pitch. Good stability, a good core, good defensive ability is the basics. What we won’t do is after being top after 38 games, to change the whole setup – it’s brought us to this position. Important to stick as much as possible”.

“Not perfect he missed the last five days in training. Of course with his injury it’s a bit more tricky to put him in starting lineup. When you put a player in without a few weeks starting, he should be at his best in training and have no doubts, can he move in a normal, comfortable way. He had a little dip in form after impressive start to the season. Last weeks he came closer and closer to starting games again, good advertisement in the last game from him, I liked his performance. He has lots of competition, natural winger positions, or central positions – but a player on the up increases his chance to play. It’s a bit disappointing he has this little injury setback, I hope he’s back at full training and his best pretty soon. Good to have a quality player to change the game. Sometimes you can change the game from the bench, I’m still quite hopeful is available for the squad”.

“With Willy it’s an ankle injury. He arrived here with us on Sunday. Since then, assessment, treatment, rehab work, we tried to involve him today in a light session. It will be a late decision with him. Less we use him, less risk or re-injury and more time to recover”.