“The players, the staff as well: we know it is a big game for the fans,” the manager said in his pre-match press conference. “We fully understand the rivalry between the two clubs.
“Of course, having Macca [James McArthur] back in the squad is a plus but we fully understand how this game is important for us. Again, the performance will be massively important.
“Talking with the players, looking at the atmosphere when we played them at home and away [has helped me learn about the game]. You can smell the passion, the tension, the excitement. This is what you call a proper derby game.
“Not just in this game, that has to be part of the DNA of this football club: playing with a lot of passion, playing with a lot of desire, we want to compete. Of course this is a specific game because of the rivalry of the football club but this has to be a given for us.
“In a derby game [form] doesn’t matter. What is important is for the players to have a really good week of training and this is what we had. We are fully prepped physically, mentally and tactically to compete.
“[Brighton] are in a really food run, in a really good position in the table but tomorrow is about how much we want to succeed, how well we can play to allow ourselves to win that game.
“They will understand but my role and responsibility is to make them understand it will be important to control ourselves, to control our emotions and concentrate on how we can play tog as a team. To focus and concentrate on the game plan and how we want to defend as a team and how we want to attack. It will be imp to keep the passion but to control he emotion.”
