Nice to have another game so soon to right the wrongs of Saturday?
TE: Yeah, right the wrongs is… We’ve talked last game about expectations that are rising, and I think it’s important also that they do.
We still shouldn’t forget that there’s no game that just comes easy in the Championship.
It’s not that we’re just going to travel through the league and go in every single game.
At the same time, of course, we do have the ambition to climb further up, and it’s going to be a big one on Tuesday.
How do you manage the energy levels? Will you need fresh legs?
TE: We will see. I think that we actually did this quite well over the last few days before the game against Charlton.
We do have a couple of players who managed to recover a little bit. We’ll assess, but I don’t think that we will need a big, big turnover in terms of energy.
Is this a group of players who relish playing games so soon after each other?
TE: Especially if you play at home, back-to-back, that doesn’t happen too often, especially if you look ahead. Tuesday is going to be a big one for us. I’m sure the boys will be ready.
Were Charles and Scienza subbed for tactical or fitness reasons on Saturday?
TE: I think they’ll be fine for Tuesday.
Will you need to be careful with Stewart? He played over an hour on Saturday?
TE: Let’s see. I think that Ross was very good. I also think that Cyle Larin was good when he came on, so we’ll assess on Sunday and Monday to make a good decision for Tuesday.
QPR have picked up decent results of late – what are you expecting?
TE: [They will] definitely be coming with confidence, based on the result that they had on Saturday.
It’s a good team, I think they’re very clear in the way that they play. Their 4-4-2 is a very clear structure.
They’ve changed a little bit the way that they play up top, so that’s something that we will need to have another look at compared to the last game.
It will be a good challenge for us on Tuesday.
What is the biggest improvement since you last faced QPR?
TE: Not just for the team, but in general, the football club has come closer together.
We are growing together and getting closer, step after step, to a mentality to win football games in different ways.
I think that is the biggest development that we’ve had over the last few weeks and months.
Do you think the players are handling the rise in expectations?
TE: I think the atmosphere was very good on Saturday. Again, the night game on Tuesday will be even a little bit more special. Night games are always special games.
It’s up to us, it’s the best thing you can play for, if you have a little bit of pressure, if you have a little bit of expectations.
That’s normally down to the fact that you’ve done something well in the past, so I take that more as a positive.
Do you think you can sneak into the play-offs?
TE: Yes.
Confident?
TE: Yes.
What makes you confident? Results have improved under you.
TE: I don’t know how much that has to do with me; in the end, we have a lot of quality on the pitch. We have an excellent squad.
I think that it always takes a little bit of time to bring that chemistry in together, especially if the squad is quite big, and you have many players that come in from different leagues.
We are in a good spot now. Players know the league. We’ve come a lot closer as a group. I’m confident that we will stay on the gas and make sure that we pick up many points along the way.
They weren’t doing well when you arrived. Now they’re on the fringes.
TE: I appreciate when you say that, I think there are so many more people involved just than me, and I think that the whole club has grown back together.
There have been many changes over the last years, and I just think that we strive towards a certain continuity and stability. If I can play my role in that, I’m very happy to do that.
I need to make sure that we keep going, because we’re still quite far away from where we want to be and where we need to be.
Do you have to stop yourself and the players looking at the points gap?
TE: If you don’t look at the table every now and then, if you don’t look at the results, I think that’s also natural. But it doesn’t help.
Once you come to the last two games of the season maybe there’s a little bit more ifs and whens and maybes, and we’re still very far away.
For me, it doesn’t really make much sense to look up, to look down, to look left, to look to the right; we just need to make sure that we keep going.
We need to make sure that we play our part, and I think if we do this, then it will be more than enough to get where we want to be.