What is the team news?
No news, nothing new. Richarlison and Kulusevski are still out.
When will they be back?
I have to call the Doctor next time to tell you the situation. It could be a good idea!
You said strong words after the match. Do you stand by your VAR comments?
What I thought Wednesday, then I said what I said. It was the same, I didn't change my mind.
You felt that the officials were not right to do what they did?
I was very clear after the game about what I said. I confirm what I said. It's simple. Why do I have to repeat again the same things? My feeling about the situation that happened is the same.
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You think it was injustice and dishonest referring?
I said this? I confirm, I repeat the decision was really wrong. It created a big damage to us.
Is VAR ruining the emotion & excitement of football?
I repeat, I don't know for me I continue to think it's impossible to make mistakes with VAR. It's impossible. Because you have a screen, you have time. It's impossible to make mistakes and for this reason I don't like this.
It's the same if the coach can see the end of the game and you can make different substitutions. If I see this, I can do this, I can change. For me it's impossible to make a wrong decision with VAR and also to stay four, five or six minutes for the people to stay there.
To stay there five or six minutes already means you have confusion in your mind. It's incredible. I justify the mistake of the referee, I always said this.
But it was incredible that against Newcastle the VAR didn't see that a player blocked Hugo Lloris. Why didn't he call the referee? Why, why? It was so clear. Another big, big mistake. It was very difficult to comment on this because we're talking about a situation that’s so clear that to find an answer is difficult. I hope in every situation to see honesty. I only ask for this, honesty. But to make mistakes with VAR, it means you're really, really... I don't want to say what I think
How much have you enjoyed your journey at Spurs as next week marks one year for you at the club?
I always said that I'm enjoying my time at Tottenham. I think in one year we had a great path together with the club, the players and the fans, and with you [the media]. I'm enjoying every single moment with my adventure in Tottenham.
For sure, I discovered a modern club, a club with fantastic training ground, amazing stadium, the passion of our fans and at the same time also the demands of our fans. Because with our fans the demand is very high! Yeah, I continue to enjoy every day to stay here, to work here for this club.
What are the main differences from Bournemouth since they changed their manager?
If we can take the result and the difference, it is a big difference. Sometimes you don't know what happen because the last manager is a really good manager and they got promotion, they had a really fantastic path last season and in this season in the moment they change the manager they started to get points, points and points. For this reason it will be a difficult game tomorrow.
With VAR are you at the point now when you want it scrapped?
Honestly I think VAR is a great help for the referee to make the best decision. I think this because when we started to use the VAR in Italy, we were really sure. In every situation and also on the bench you were calm, relaxed because you know that people see the video and to see it again, to have the right time to check many times the situation. For us I was really happy because I said in a positive-negative situation, the most important thing is there is honesty in the decision and to make the best decision. But it started after six months and then the situation started to change because in the VAR they started to give different interpretation. Now you don't know what happened. Now you don't know what happened.
What happened in the last game was incredible, incredible. You score, you are already qualified for the next round, you are celebrating and then you invent to stay for five minutes to look at the situation with VAR and you take the decision and you don't know if its right or wrong. This is not football in this way also because you cut the emotion, the emotion of everybody and especially the players because you don't know. You score a goal and you don't know what happen later. Did someone invite a foul one minute before? Or discover a foul one minute before and then they go to disallow this. It happened this. It happen but it only happened when they want to happen. This is the difference.
For this reason I continue to tell it has to be the right interpretation, the right interpretation for everybody and not different interpretation and VAR otherwise it is damage. The VAR becomes damaged in this way. This is not the first time but I repeat it is okay, they create the problem in this way and they have to improve a lot. But when I stay at home and I see the image, I am watching another game and I see the image, the VAR, then for me it is easy to take the best decision. Instead then you see for example they take the opposite decision. Oh, I don't know football or maybe who stays in the VAR, they are seeing another image.
Form hasn't been great in the past couple of weeks, is that because your players are tired?
I think for sure every team that is playing in Europe is a bit tired, especially the teams that are playing in the Premier League because the Premier League and Champions League, to play both, you have to play every game a massive game. For this reason you have to pay great attention to make rotation and to put every time a strong team.
For sure when you go to play every three days and you risk a lot injuries, you risk to have players tired and when you are tired you can also make more mistakes because you are tired but this is the schedule. This is the schedule we knew and I am not complaining for the schedule because we knew this at the start of the season. The schedule is the same for us and for the other teams. For sure when you go to play against a team that is playing one game every six or seven days, it is a bit difficult because maybe, probably, they have more energy and intensity than you.
Do you know why you were sent off on Wednesday and is it fair that you can't manage what is a really important game in Marseille?
I was sent off because I came into the pitch. For this reason, but I see a lot of people coming onto the pitch. And we waited five minutes to see if the goal was disallowed. I didn't insult anyone. Only I came over the line onto the pitch but then quickly I came back.
Also in this type of situation, I think maybe if I have to tell something about the referee, because then the relationship with the referee was good, they have to understand also the moment as it's an emotional moment. You are disallowing a goal after five minutes that we celebrated a goal that for us was qualification. Then if you are a bit... I think you have to understand, to come over, to speak, to send me back to the bench. You understand? I was very close to the line. It means you want to create double damage and he created double damage to us.
Is Bryan Gil starting to gain your trust or is he a player that you view as an option in the Champions League but not Premier League?
Bryan Gil is a player that I always said to you is a really good prospect but physically is not so strong. I think at the moment we were pushing a lot and to make his substitution was important because he is very good 1v1. He has good personality. For sure if I have to ask Gil to defend. I think in this moment I think Gil can be useful for this type of situation. It wasn't the first time as also happened against Frankfurt. It means I believe in him, otherwise I don't risk playing him in Champions League.
But I try to find the right moments when he can be useful for the situation we're facing at that moment. Because you see my substitution was Gil, then Lenglet for another defender, then Emerson for Doherty. I tried with the players on the bench to change but sometimes you can go much better. Sometimes you have injuries and you have to try to do your best.
What improvement have you seen from Bryan since his return from Valencia?
Yeah, good improvement. For Gil it was really important to go out last season and play more games in Spain because we're talking about a league that you don't have to be so strong to play in this league. There's more technical quality and for him it was really positive to go there and play games.
But I'm sure about Gil future because we're talking about a player who sees football. When I ask him something in the training session, he understands quickly and also his desire is to become an important player. If I have to compare him with someone I can see him like Bernardo Silva at [Man City] in his structure. But, for me, at this moment Silva is physically stronger than him but we are talking about this type of player.
Are Cristian Romero and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg over their injuries or did they play through the pain barrier in midweek?
We have taken a big, big risk for this decision. Especially for Cuti, for Romero, because he was really tired and we risked him a lot. But you know for this time of game you have to take risks and the players can gave us their availability to play. Now we have to try to manage very well because he played and was lucky to finish the game but he finished the game with great will and desire.
For this reason it is right to say thanks to him and Pierre. I think Cuti needed to recover better but Pierre is OK 100%. Cuti is OK but we have another important game on Tuesday and for this reason we try to make the best decision for him.
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