What did you make of the performance, you seemed much better in the second half?
Do you think? I think that instead in the first half we started really well and we played really well. Before they scored I think I have seen only team. It was Tottenham and Pope made two, three amazing saves, if we go to watch the game again.
Then we conceded this goal which for sure we can do much better. I don't want to comment on the referee's decision because you know I don't like to do it, but for sure, we can do much better in this situation. Then just a couple of minutes later, we conceded a second goal, and this second goal could kill everybody. Instead, if there is one side, I am happy it's seeing a good reaction from my players.
I have seen in the second half in this situation, you have a big risk to lose your mind, to lose your head and then risk to concede a lot of goals. We tried to score, we scored one goal and tried to create chances to level the game, but in the end, we didn't do it. In my personal opinion, I think the draw was the most fair result tonight.
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Were you worried that your defence looked nervous with Hugo Lloris' kicking and some shaky passing from Eric Dier?
I think my only worry at this moment is we have to try to keep our fingers crossed and don't have injuries because we are not a team with such a depth of squad to face competitions like the Premier League and Champions League, but this is not something against the club.
Absolutely we knew this situation. I spoke with the club, and if you remember very well, at the start of this season, I said to you that we need to go step by step and have time and patience and have two or three transfer markets to bring this squad to be competitive to play in two competitions like Premier League and Champions League.
In this moment, we are playing massive games, and for example, there are players like Hojbjerg who has played every game, and at the end, there was an injury because he was tired. He was a risk, and it's the same for Cuti [Romero] and for Richy, he played with the national team and then he came back.
For Deki, honestly, for Deki, our expectation was to have him recovered much earlier. Instead, the situation was worse, and we needed to wait. Lucas Moura started the season with this problem in his tendon, and now he's trying to recover a good physical condition.
For Skippy, it's the first game since January. (Laughs) When you put all this together, we have to have experience. Okay, you have to have experience. In this moment, it's very important for me to cope with this difficult moment and to have experience and try to go until November in the best possible way. For this reason, we need to be focused on recovering in two days.
For sure, there are players that need to rest for two days to recover because we have players who, for them, this was seven games in a row, and we don't have the possibility to make rotation in this moment. Our target now has to be to try on Wednesday to win the game because to go to the next round is a good opportunity for us. I know it will be difficult, but we have the possibility to do it and then to try to manage the situation until the last game in November, then there is the World Cup, and we will see what happens.
Do you have the time and patience especially as you seem frustrated by the current situation?
Yeah, for sure, this type of situation makes me frustrated because I would like to play this type of game, also in the Champions League, with the best team and then to have on the bench three, four or five good substitutions and not to try to invent situations you understand? But we knew this, and when I spoke before, I always said look we have just started the process for Tottenham to bring Tottenham into the best position to be more competitive to fight for something important, we have just started.
For this reason, we need to cope with this situation. For me, it is not easy, it is not simple, but we have to cope and to manage the situation with experience and stay together. Today I don't have complaints about the attitude, will and desire of the players because every single player performed. The attitude and effort was really strong and really big, but sometimes it is not enough. Tonight it was not enough to avoid a loss.
With Romero and Hojbjerg, did you have to rest them?
Romero was the last two or three games. He arrived every day half and half to decide if he play or doesn't play. I think in the past we have taken a risk. The players gave their availability to play otherwise, honestly, if the player doesn't want to play, I don't force the player. Now, after the game against United, he felt a lot of fatigue and then yesterday, he felt fatigued in his calf. Before in his thigh, the right. Now left in the calf. Pierre, it was the same because Pierre played every game, he played every minute, and he was really tired. About Richy and Deki? No chance. I don't know about Pierre and Cuti for Wednesday. If you ask me in this moment, I don't have an answer because I don't know the way they recover from this fatigue and this situation if they have something, Romero in his calf or Pierre in his thigh.
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