To jump to a conclusion after one game day is such a small sample size, not the smartest thing to do. Maybe after next week it is a different conclusion. In general it is not smart not to have a winter break. In Europe now, you face top teams. So to merely jump to conclusions, lack of winter break, PL not as a high a level as we think, they are not the right conclusion to make. Let's judge after next week and then maybe it is still too early to say. If you are in CL last 16, all teams are very good and strong. Four out of five away from home, margins were quite small from what I saw, Arsenal margins were small and maybe it's weirdly but I didn't see 3-0 coming for Man City v Real Madrid. PSG v Chelsea, people told me Chelsea were involved in that game, so jumping to conclusions after one game usually not what I wanted to do."
I see his form as 2 weeks ago, he played a good to decent game v Gala but also received a yellow card in an environment where we conceded a lot of soft free-kicks and yellow cards and the other team were really smart in addressing that. So it was too much of a risk to leave him on for a second yellow because he is always aggressive in his duels and some teams can be really smart if a player is on a yellow to create an atmosphere where he can get a second. So we had Robertson so we didn't risk it. I am trying to take things into account with the decisions I make, Milos didn't play badly. But he had a problem on a yellow with a referee who gave a lot of free-kicks to Gala."
I believe that a good individual performances comes from a team performance. We were on it first 15 mins and then there was a moment that changed the momentum of the game, conceding a set piece, not for the first time, that is not what we are accepting. We don't think everything should be much worse than it was before but we didn't play our best game of the season. I also saw for an away leg in Europe we were able to generate enough chances to score a goal. More than another team might do away in CL, but we have struggled with converted the chances we have and we have a bad cocktail of conceding chances and goals. If we cannot repair that every game will be difficult. But I have confidence we have quality players and the next 2 games are at home.
I am really looking forward to playing twice at home now with the support from the fans that can make a massive difference.
What I want is that I am able that every single player gets the maximum out of everything until the end of the season. That is the aim for me and the players, I am sure. It's the only way to get the maximum of what is in it for us. Sometimes we need a bit of luck, like the last-16 last year, penalties, so close to beating PSG adn they went on to win it. So the margins are small and we have to fight for them to make them bigger and bigger every day."
We don't know what is going to happen between now and the end of the season. We could win two trophies, you just don't know. I'm not in agreement that this guy should be under pressure.
When you see stats like that, please just realise what we have enjoyed. We have won a trophy. If we'd have been in the position in the second season and finished maybe fifth [last season] everybody would have said: 'Yeah, give Arne Slot a bit of a go'.
He has done well. I'm not saying it's been perfect this year, I'm not trying to wax lyrical that we have had some great performances and it's been good. No, it's been difficult.
I was not expecting anything different from this, from what's happened. It's both things, the players that have left, the players that have come in. God bless him, what happened to Diogo Jota you can't quantify that enough; players, feelings, mates, young men."Thompson added: “So all the things that have gone on have been difficult, it has been quite traumatic. I'm thinking where we are, I do think we'll finish in the Champions League [places].
I'll predict something now: I don't care what happens, we will win the league next year. Because I think once this is all settled down, this team will win the league
It's a bold claim maybe but once all these players have settled and all the injuries are back... what Arne Slot has done, I think he's done very well. To get that amount of wins [in 100 games] is quite astonishing.