“Everyone is fine, everyone returned from international duties well so that’s always positive. Very happy about that. Everyone seems to be in a good place. Dom will not be available still, don’t expect it to be too long but he will not be available for this game.
“Yeah, both [Simons and Kolo Muani] are looking good. Both of them are definitely in contention to be ready for the squad. Xavi, for natural reasons, is further down the line. He just started the first game for Holland and played a few games for Leipzig. Definitely in terms of Randal, it’s been a while since he’s played. Last time was in the Club World Cup. Hasn’t trained really with PSG. So he is not as fit as Xavi, but he looks good.”
“I have some ideas. I think it’s still a team I’m learning. I get to know better and better. Of course, I have key ideas, but, you know, something is to look from the outside, another thing is to, as I say, feel them. You’re around them. You speak to them. You watch them live, training, games. You watch the game back with, like, a very specific view.
“And then I have some ideas how I want to do it, and then you get surprised. Okay, that could look good, and other times you need to change a bit. So I learn about the team and the players.
“Xavi, I see him mainly as a 10 or a left-sided player or left winger. Whereas Kolo, I see he can him playing as striker and he can play both wings, I would say.”
“Yeah, I think, first of all, that was an extremely difficult decision to make. I also think, in many ways, it was a bit unfair. I also think that the UEFA Champions League lists are not big enough. We know the load on the players is getting bigger and bigger. We have said it many times, we are hopefully playing 60-plus games. That’s without international games.
“So some of them can be involved in up to 70 games. So I think that we need probably a bigger squad. I can’t understand why we need to limit ourselves.
“I actually like the idea of the club-trained players. I think it’s a good thing, every team needs to develop their own players. So I think that’s good. Of course, that limits us a little bit as it stands. Hopefully, we get it after that, but because we had a less number, I had to make a decision now instead of making a decision before a team selection.
“Before I name, for example, I name 20 or 23 players tomorrow. For Champions League, you can name even more. So anyway, the squad you’re naming before every game, it’s, you know, performance, all that. Now I need to name it before I really know Mathys and I think he’s done well. I just had to take a tough decision.
“I think he’s been extremely mature. He’s 20-years-old. The way he handled it, the way he trains, everything about him, extremely impressive.”