On the changes he made during the second half…
Yeah, for me at the start of the second half we were dominant, we were creating our chances so that’s why I didn’t feel the need to change something. But yeah, if you create your chances and it doesn’t go in, then you have so many good players on the bench that can also make a difference and have an impact on the game, you do change. I don’t think in the second half anybody deserved to be taken out; in the first half they almost all deserved to be taken out, but in the second half they didn’t. But if you then have the likes of Lucho [Diaz] and Curtis Jones, you bring them in. For me, it’s not that much of a risk if you are 1-0 down to bring players in that can score a goal, as long as you know that these players can play with the same intensity as the ones that started. And that’s what Lucho and Curtis brought: intensity without the ball and quality with the ball.
On whether he ‘sees a big opportunity opening up’ after Liverpool went top of the Premier League today…
No, not because of the fact that they [Arsenal and Manchester City] lost. But what I do like a lot is that last week, two times we came one goal behind against Arsenal, 1-0 and 2-1, and two times we were able to fight ourselves back into the game. And in this game we were 1-0 down at half-time, which I think we deserved, and then to come back so strong against such a quality team that has spent so much money in recent years as well, led by a few very good managers in the last few years, then to come back the way we did gives me a lot of confidence for the rest of the season.
But I also added after the game to the players that 45 minutes of the football we played in the first half will, in the end, punish you somewhere. So we need to show up from the start. The crowd was incredible the second half, our fans were incredible the second half. Our players [too] but our fans as well. It was the loudest crowd since I’ve been here. Let’s go now for Tuesday, where I think we need them again. To make sure we play like this from the start and the fans can help us from the start, because that definitely has influence on our players and in the end on our results.
