It's been a big week for Chelsea. How do you sum up the past few days?
"A lot has happened, as everyone knows. We are adapting to the new coach. We are very excited to work with him and his staff. The first few days have been very good.
"We had a great, great time with Thomas. We appreciate everything he did for us, for the club, for the fans, for everyone. Now, we have a new challenge to look forward to, and we're very excited."
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Were the players shocked by the decision to sack Thomas? And how did the senior players react?
"It was a surprise, of course, for everyone. But then what has been said between the players will stay there."
Can you give us a flavour...
"No flavour for you, my friend, sorry. But of course, there is always talking about what happened. But now we have games coming, and life is quick, isn't it? It's fast, and we don't have much time to stay there and think again and again and again. We talked, and now we need to focus and concentrate on what we need to do."
By the end of his tenure, Thomas was saying that he felt confidence was low and that the squad was perhaps mentally weak. Were those fair accusations?
"He didn't use the accusation word, but it was his feeling at that moment, and he said that to us as well. We tried what we could to try and do our best. It is what we do, and unfortunately, it wasn't working anymore, and the new challenge now is to rebuild that confidence maybe.
"We are here, Chelsea is a big club, and we have, of course, a lot of work to do. To do that, everyone needs to go in the same direction."
Do you, as players, feel some responsibility for Thomas' sacking, and how have the first days been under Graham Potter?
"He [Potter] came with an idea and, as I was saying before, life is fast, life is quick. We just need to try and understand what he expects from us and try to do the best way we can do it.
"About responsibility, of course, because we are a team. It's not one person responsible for what happened with the team and the group on the pitch. Everyone is responsible. It is our responsibility as well for what happened."
How do you, as players, adapt to a mid-season change of coach?
"By working a lot. You need to work a lot. Meetings, seeing what the new manager brings to us and trying to understand as quickly as possible what he wants from us on the pitch. He has been doing that very well, asking if we feel comfortable with what he is proposing.
"That is very positive, and that is the way we need to keep it going because there is a lot of new information, and we need to try to understand all that information and help each other with the communication so we can get even better."
Graham has never managed a club at the level of Chelsea before, with superstar players like yourself. Do you think that he is ready for that?
"He is a humble coach but with a really good way of working, and I think he has this challenge, and I believe he is going to do very well because he has good ideas and a group of players who are ready to try to do the best they can, and listen to what he asks. It is a good combination for good results.
What impressions did you take from playing against Graham Potter's Brighton side?
"I could see a team very well organised tactically and a team that wanted to play football, making so many passes to try to hurt the other team with balls through the lines, attacking a lot and pressing high. Try to have an offensive mentality. He did very well against us and other big teams."
There is a game tomorrow against Salzburg. What do you expect from them?
"They are a team that is very vertical and aggressive. It is not an easy game, it is another challenge with everything going through - our first game with the new manager. Champions League is never easy - we need to be well prepared to play against them because they are dangerous, especially on counter-attacks."
You're a double European champion, and many of the Chelsea players have won the Champions League. How important will it be for you to step up tomorrow and support Graham in what will be his first Champions League game?
"He is a good coach, and I think this new challenge is not just for us, it is for him. As we always do, we try to help everyone, and I think he is well prepared for what's coming. It is going to be a new experience for him, and I think he will like it a lot.
"At the end of the day, it is all about results, isn't it? So we will try to win this game to make everybody feel better."
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