Brentford manager Thomas Frank agrees with me. I want to face the other team’s full squad. No shortcuts. If my team is facing Arsenal, I want to see Saka. Liverpool, Salah better start. Bayern, Musiala should get the full 90 minutes.

Thomas Frank on the High Performance podcast:

When we beat them (Manchester City), two-one up there, and you need to do a little bit of a motivational speech—which I’m a little bit, I’m believing in, because you say it every week and I get tired of listening to myself—so anyway, last meeting before the game, I said to the players, “Of course, we’re going here to try to win. It’s against the best team in the world, the best players—De Bruyne, Gündogan, Foden, Grealish (at that time), Rodri, all of them—and I really, really hope Haaland plays because when we beat them, I want to beat them with all the best players.”

I said that to the players: belief is everything. If you lose the belief, you can never win. That’s for sure. I go into every game believing we can win.

Anyone wishing or praying for injuries or absences for the opposition does not have the mentality to win long-term. Maybe in moments, you get lucky, you win, but you need that belief in the tougher periods.

Featured image credit to the High Performance podcast.