Manager Jimmy Thelin spoke to the media ahead of our William Hill Premiership game with Kilmarnock.

RedTV subscribers can watch in full now by clicking here.

Killie at Pittodrie

“I think the team is performing a little bit more stable and better every game now and every training week because of the competition we have side inside the squad. The players look fresh and ready for a new game, and it’s nice to play at home. Kilmarnock are a good team, they are stable, they have a good manager in Derek, and it’s going to be a tough game but we feel ready and prepared.

“You always have to be focused on the next game, whatever happened in the past. Like we talked about before the wins, the team is performing a little bit more stable and that’s the key part for us, to be consistent in the games.”

“Also because of some of the injuries, more players are coming back. The competition and the intensity of everything is going higher in the training sessions, also more players are available and that’s also helped us to achieve the goals we have with this team. The way we want to play, more players are fresh, and thats also because we can help each other, support each other during the season. Everything looks much, much better than it did some weeks ago.”

Building on the win at Dundee

“Of course it’s always nice to win games but I have to say, in this difficult time, we have a strong mentality in this club and everybody’s supporting each other. The drive was always there even if the wins didn’t come so everybody was pushing but of course, you saw the smile on the players faces when we won the last game and our supporters.

“It’s always nice to win games, that’s why we are competing. Of course it helps but still, I think we have really strong characters and strong mentality inside the club, even in the difficult times that the goal is still in front of us. We’re trying to achieve something together and the struggling part of the season doesn’t make us lose the direction. We’re still aiming for the same thing, and still we are there in the competition. We have to keep pushing now and keep working hard and try to achieve the points and the wins.”

Squad competition

“The competition is healthy. We have good players. That’s what you need during the season because it’s a long season, it’s many games. For me it’s not a dilemma, it’s only a positive that we have a strong competition inside the goalkeeper position, in the centre backs, in the full backs, everywhere on the pitch. It’s important for everyone to stay sharp and keep that hunger all the time.

“Decisions are made every week in every game. It’s nothing new for us to make the decisions when we have to and we’re always going to choose the team we think has best chance to get us the result. There are many games left to play. We have a lot of games now ahead of us. Let’s see who’s going to start but it’s good that everybody’s back more or less.”

Ambitions

“Nothing has changed from the beginning of the season. We’re trying to arrive to Europe next season, and that’s what we’re still working for. In the long term, we’re trying to be a stable team in Europe. We still have to grow, we have still have to be better. We have a lot of things to improve, but we’re still in the race and we’re still in the competition.

“There are still many games left and it’s quite tight in the table. We have to be sharp in the short term every week. We stay humble, we work hard. We need to do it. We can’t take any game for granted, especially when you have this run we have, we know it’s tough. Nothing has changed in that way but so far we are there and we have to keep the pushing for that.”

Injury Update

“Ester, Dante and Jack Milne trained with the team today. Let’s see when they are back in a position to compete for a position inside the squad. At least they are training now with the team on the pitch. That’s good. It’s difficult to say but they are still maybe around two weeks away from being back.”