Q1: Can we get the latest on Solanke, Kolo Muani and anyone else who may be available?
Thomas: "Everyone from midweek is available again, Pape was a precaution (in midweek), he trained today, so that's a positive. Kolo Muani's dead leg is dragging on, he'll be a few more days and he's not available. Dominic is also not available."
Are you starting to feel it now that the season is really kicking in?
Thomas: "It's definitely been that for the last four, five games. It's fine. It is what it is - get on with it, prepare well, perform, win, prepare well, perform, win, that's the plan."
Joao Palhinha has had a great start...
Thomas: "Very happy with Joao. He's done well, come in, helped the team playing centre-back and still doing well. Yes, very pleased with him."
The 'Together Against Suicide Campaign' starts this weekend - every 90 minutes, someone takes their own life - how important is it that we all look out for each other? What can football do to help?
Thomas: "We definitely need to help each other, that's a sad stat and there's another that one in four considering committing suicide, that's also sad. We need to help. I'm very happy this campaign is going on and it's very important for Vinai, our CEO. I think in general, for me as well, I think suicide is the worst you can do, but before that there's a lot of steps. You maybe be mentally not in a good place and we all know it's all about speaking to people, and if you don't have anyone in your closest network, you reach out to the helpline, or to a local community, because we need to help you to speak."
How far is Dominic away from being fit?
Thomas: "His ankle injury has been a little tricky, it's nothing big, we're relatively positive he will be back quickly. It's not perfect, but we're going forward in the right direction."
How much of a selection headache is Richarlison giving you with Dominic's impending return?
Thomas: "Right now, it's very simple, very easy. Richy is playing and doing good, three goals and one assist, good numbers. Happy with Richy. He just needs to keep building, keep adding good performances, keep arriving in good areas in the box. That's positive."
What is Lucas Bergvall's ceiling?
Thomas: "Good question. Hopefully, as high as possible. My job together with the coaches is to maximise potential in every player, maximise potential in the team. That's my most important task. Lucas is a fantastic, prime example of that. How can we maximise his potential? Right now, he is in a very good flow, you can just he's full of confidence and that's a fantastic position to be in. So, pleased with him. Also, he's, I think, adding more and more to his game now, he's arriving more than the box, for example, which is important."
Thoughts on Wolves?
Thomas: "We are facing a good Wolves side. I think everyone is aware that they haven't had the best start in terms of points. When you look at their performances, they are much better, much tighter games, the games they've lost, apart from City, have been super tight. I expect a very difficult game. It's a team we haven't been able to beat for the last five times, so we're fully aware this is another game in the Premier League where you can take nothing for granted, you can't be thinking you can just walk over any opponents. We need to be come flying out and be ready for it, with the fans behind us, they need to back us every single second of the match. But I'm very confident. I'm positive that we'll go out and perform well tomorrow."
Stats suggest this should be one of the easiest results to predict this weekend...
Thomas: "That's because we always look backwards. We don't look into the next game. Every game has got it's own life, every game got it's own story. I've been these questions before in the past, and I was thinking, is it best to face a team that's been unbeaten in 10 games or a team that haven't won in 10 games? I don't know, and I don't care. I just know we prepare for Wolves. We look at their strengths and the areas where we think we could potentially hurt them. I think it's good that our players are in a good place. They're confident, but also know that we need to work very hard. Nothing is going to be easy."
How much are you learning playing game, one rest day, one preparation day and 'bang' go again?
Thomas: "Learning over over the time of the season because having two days between games have probably done 100 times in my career. Three games, similar, but I haven't done it 300 times, but do you need to have done it 300 times? 100 is probably enough to have your routines in terms of how you prepare prepare the team. So, I think that's the most important thing. We have a very good coaching group, very good staff, where we have a clear idea and process how we want to do it, constantly discuss the small details. So, for example, we had some that played a lot of minutes on Wednesday night. They are the second day, we still want to get a little bit out of them, although some that didn't play, we need to get a little bit more out, so how do we get that physical low bang on? Plus, we want to get all the details in. So that is ongoing discussions constantly. And there's no one fit all, kind of matchday minus one, it's a constant small little bit of developments. I think it's the discussions. That's important, I think is that we have a good framework we want to get in, then constantly building it."
You've been asked about mental health initiatives, is there enough care for managers? Do you have someone you can go and talk to?
Thomas: "That's a good question, first and foremost, I'd like to take the opportunity to pay tribute to Matt Beard and his loved ones, wife, kids, family, friends and everyone who worked with him. It's a very relevant question. I think for everyone involved in the game, players, of course, that's highly pressurised, but everyone feels the pressure in a different way - officials, performance staff, anyone involved. Then, coming back to a manager. For myself, I use good friends, my wife, and then others that are in the environment, so all the head coaches, because it's quite unique. I've also got a leadership mentor that I also use. I'm very aware that you never know if that pressure, how you call it, stress hits you one day. I would say I'm quite resilient to it, but you never know. You can't neglect it. Speaking openly about it is hugely important. Also understand this such a big world, but also a very small world. We all know each other, this stuff. It's just because it's so much publicity that makes it a little bit tricky sometimes, because I know it's the most important thing, or maybe the most important thing of not important things in life. And I think it's important to put it into perspective."
Is Dom still feeling any discomfort in his ankle?
Thomas: "It's not perfect, but we're going in the right direction."
Is is strange to come into a club in a moment of change?
Thomas: "Daniel had been here for almost 25 years and then the change came. Okay, didn’t expect that but since then the Lewis family has been very transparent, very good in the way they have communicated and it’s very clear the club is not for sale. Vinai, on top of everything, is very clear and for me personally, I feel in a very stable environment going into work every day and also learn over a lot of years that the only thing that helps me and helps the team is I do everything I can to focus on the team and players."
How has Luca Williams-Barnett been since making his debut on Wednesday night?
Thomas: "Very happy. In so many ways I think the first step in many things is always a very important step, but after that there are a lot of next steps that he needs to take, but of course it is nice to see him get his debut."
Have you had many interactions with the Lewis family yet?
Thomas: "Yeah, I said that one or two times that we’ve had some interactions and definitely spoke to them. Yeah, it’s been good."
How did Kolo Muani suffer the dead leg?
Thomas: "In training. I think it was Pape that ran into him. I need to blame Pape! It was very unfortunate, it’s just a contact injury. It is one of those where sometimes they can take a week or other times they can take a couple of weeks because it's started to bleed again, unfortunately."
What's the latest on Radu Dragusin?
Thomas: "He is progressing well. He has been on the grass for three weeks or something like that, so he progressing well as he should do. We all know coming back from an ACL is a longer one, so it's on track. It will be some weeks before he's involved in the squad."
Have you had a formal meeting with the Lewis family, or is one booked up in, say, the October international break?
Thomas: "No, we have had more informal chats. Of course, it's about football, the club and the team and all that, but the bigger plans is something we're working along with and I think it's important to get to know each other and align everything."
Has Dom suffered a setback?
Thomas: "No, because when you have that, when there’s a bit of pain, it’s just to see if we can get it right. He wasn’t on the grass today, but was on the grass earlier in the week."
Will you need to build Dom and Kolo Muani up again, rather than just train and on the bench?
Thomas: "Dom has been running a lot and done a lot, so he’s in a fine-ish place. Of course, it will still take a few weeks to get up to a good place. Kolo Muani has been off the grass for a couple of weeks and it will take some weeks after that."
