Jimmy Thelin spoke to the media on Friday lunchtime to preview our William Hill Premiership match with Livingston at Pittodrie.
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Deadline day arrivals
“We know Kevin (Nisbet), his qualities and his positioning inside the box and his finishing. He already knows how we play and his role in the team, so I think it’s good adding competition. He is also someone who already knows how we want to play. Jesper (Karlsson) is a player I had before but that was a long time ago now. He has grown but he has his qualities in and around the box and sets up other players in good situations but also he is a good finisher and a good assist maker. I think he can add qualities and also be a good role model, because we have some younger wingers, and I think it’s always good to have these different age groups, so they can learn from each other.
“Stuart (Armstrong) is a good, responsible football player, how he conducts himself. It’s a long time since he played a game but he has done really well in the training session. We just need to be careful. Step by step they will get more and more game time, but they look ready and sharp.
“Jesper did really good in The Netherlands at AZ Alkmaar and then in Italy, he learned a lot and didn’t play so much but he is a better and more mature player than I had before. We also have to have the team who can carry each other. It’s not only them to make an impact, also the team has to be stable enough to carry players with these kind of qualities, set them up in good positions and so I think every week now we will support the team development and the impact they will have in the team.”
New signings working up to full fitness
“They did well in that game (the performance of Gyamfi & Lazetic in the Aberdeenshire Cup) and also of course Mitchel Frame. We have a vision in our head, how we want to bring in these young players to grow, but also a core who can carry them so they can have time to grow. I think that’s important for us to get this dynamic of the squad in the long term, but I think also they will have an impact in the short term and also how they are looking in the training sessions now, and how they bring energy to the team. I think that’s really important for us.”
Livingston at Pittodrie
“We have to have the long vision in our head, but the result has to come also. We have had a tough start to the season, tomorrow we play at home and we need to turn things around and start winning games. It’s a super important game against Livingston. They’ve done well. They are a good team but I think and I believe we have taken a step now and with these new signings and some adjustments, I think we can do a good performance now and start winning games.”
Work in the transfer window
“The window is never easy, and it was a lot of work behind closed doors. It was a really late signing (Jesper Karlsson) but because of all the hard work and of course, Jesper’s will to come, we found a solution. Now the team also has to be a really good team, and then we can use the quality of these players, so they can show the best of themselves. Usually it’s always about the team when the team works, the individual qualities come forward. We work a lot now to get them into the team, and also the competition (within the squad). We have some players who get more because of the competition in their positions. For me, it’s only positive that everybody has to really, really push now to, first of all, deserve to play, and then also grow as a player. We’re going to need all the players, because it’s going to be really intense between now and January.”
Delivering on the pitch
“There is always pressure. Everybody’s here to compete, and we have high expectations on ourselves to arrive to the European spots, to do well in Europe, to be good in the Cups. We have a lot of competition ahead of us now, and of course, we need to perform and give us a result. I think the performance have been again, a little bit too much up and down. We have started some games well, but didn’t use our momentum well enough when we had the possibility to score and then get punished too easily. So my job with my staff is to really, really help the players to get a stronger team working better together, and that’s my job.
“If the performances are not coming, the result is not coming, and then it means the pressure is there. The pressure is always there. It’s tough games. We have done a lot of things good. We have brought in these potential players for the long term, and now we’re working with the core players, and now we have to find this balance and the mix and also the performances to get out on the pitch so we can get the results that we need to keep this belief and trajectory for the long term to be a stable club in Europe but we have to win now of course.”
Team News
“Everybody’s available right now. Some players need some more minutes on the training pitch to get ready for games. We’re going to probably add some friendly games also to get everybody in game shape, but even (Kristers) Tobers he has been training fully but they just need some more time to be quick and sharp enough for playing games.”
European Squad
“Some more players are out. It’s really good players, but we have four competitions, and we know that some of the players have some certain capacity to compete, maybe this amount of games, so we were thinking about sharing the responsibility there. Also Tobers is back, and Gavin (Molloy) performed really well now in the competition, it’s a strong competition, and also Gavin can play in two positions. So it’s just tough decisions, and we try to do the best for the team and also take care of individuals.”
