We've won five out of our last seven in the Premier League, how do you see where we're at at the moment?
We are in a very good moment, not just about winning games but about the performance of the team. The team improved a lot. You enjoy when you watch the team and Antonio has done a fantastic job and the players too. They are working hard. Every day they are so focused, so committed, so we are much better than four or five months before. This is the most important thing for us.
When we start this project in the beginning of the season, we say we want to rebuild, we want to achieve our target, it's not just about short-term, it's about long-term project. We are in the right direction. If we speak about targets, I repeat, we don't talk about short-term targets but long-term targets, but if we think about two months ago, every one of us and maybe fans, the people around were pessimistic, so pessimistic.
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At the moment it is the opposite. Every one is so optimistic. So I think we have to find the right balance. It's not easy in football because it's so emotional, but our job is to control this and find this type of balance. I don't want to say that it doesn't matter if we arrived fourth or fifth, because it changes a lot in one season. It would change a lot for the club, for the fans, for the players, for everyone of us. So we fight to have the best position that we can but also we have to follow our project.
Our project is to rebuild the club, to rebuild the team, to be competitive in the long-term, to be competitive every season and to do the best for this club now and in the future. So balance is the right word.
Tell us about the competitive nature of the Premier League?
The Premier League I think is the most important league in the world. The competition is so high for coaches, players, clubs and managing directors so it's really competitive.
So also it's a big challenge but it's a nice challenge for everyone of us that has the opportunity, the chance to be here and to fight to be better, like a professional, like a person, because the competition is important for every one of us.
What are your thoughts on how Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski have settled in?
We know, me and Antonio, we know these players very well because me I was in Juve before and Antonio because he was in Italy, so he knows very well the players. We know that the character and mentality and the style of these kind of players would be right for us.
So their adaptation was really really quick. So this was really the news, because normally some players need time to adapt, to adapt to the Premier League, to England, whatever, so for Rodrigo and Deki it was really, really quick.
What have you made of Cuti Romero's impact?
He is a really important player for us, but I think not just him, he has a big impact but even the other defenders, they work very well at the moment. Eric Dier is amazing, Ben Davies the same. Sanchez, Tanganga and Rodon, when they played they did well, so we have a very good group of defenders, so we are happy.
How important is it to establish a winning mentality within the team and squad here?
In every club it is important to have a winning mentality, in the Premier League even more because the competition is high level and every game is tough. Every game is tough. You don't have one game that you can win easily.
So there are a lot of surprises. Winning mentality is not about just winning games, but also working hard, the culture of work, being committed, being focused every day in your job, to improve yourself and the team every day. This is the winning mentality that is so important for every team and every club.
It's such an important end to the season but beyond that your work never stops?
The most important thing is to be focused on the rest of this season. We have got nine games. We work hard to be here and to enjoy these nine games. To enjoy means we have to live these nine games as finals, every game like a final.
Every game all together, we need fans, people all around us, we need a positive environment, to put energy, positive energy and I think all together we have to do the best that we can do and enjoy every game that we play.
This is the first thing that we have to be focused on and the second is my job, but it's not just my job, the job of my structure, so the scouting department and speaking with the staff and Antonio every day about what we can do to improve this team. It's not just about players but also staff maybe, the best pitches maybe, the best infrastructure.
So it's normal that when we speak about the summer we speak about recruitment, but we work every day and we speak all the time about what we can do to be better, so we follow like this. We continue to work in this way, in this direction.
Do you have a message for the fans?
First of all we have to be grateful to the fans, to follow us and give us this kind of support every game, home and away. The atmosphere against West Ham was amazing but every game I can't say that other games are different. It's always amazing to play in this stadium with these amazing fans.
So I think, all together to arrive at our target, to build something really good for now and for the future.
