On team selection considerations…
We always play with the strongest team, but that doesn't mean it's always the same players. We had five new players against Liverpool one week ago at Anfield, and we have 18 fit on-field players available, so it’s not possible to change 10.
I don't know if Alkmaar is changing 10 players tomorrow, because I think it's one of the biggest teams in the Netherlands, so why should we do it? We want to go far in the Conference League, and therefore we need to play our best players.
Tomorrow there will be 23,000 or 24,000 Palace supporters. 2,000 Alkmaar supporters. Everybody paid for their ticket. Everybody wants to see his team winning. And I think that's just what we have to do: play with full strength and try to win the game.
We have had very good experience here. When we played, for example, the FA Cup semi-final, three days before, we played at the Emirates and we played our strongest team. We drew 2-2 there. And we won 3-0 at Wembley three days later.
When we see that a player is a little bit fatigued or he needs to rest, he gets the rest. If the players are fine and we are talking to them and, of course, every day in the morning we have a meeting and are talking with the doctor, with the fitness staff, with the medical staff, about what's best for the players.
If we think somebody needs a rest, he will get it. Sometimes I'm asking the player, d’o you want to rest because you played many minutes?’ Usually the response is ‘no, I want to play’. And then they play.
All the players who are in the rhythm are fit, so it's not about playing and playing. It's about managing the situation.
Usually my experience is that more the players who are not in this rhythm get injured when they play, and that's the challenge we all have, and that's what we are talking most in our meetings about.