Frustrated with that performance?
Yes, frustrated of course. Losing the game.
Were there positives to take in the second half following your FA Cup disappointment?
I think the second half was quite positive in our way. Of course, losing the FA Cup, mentally and physically was quite challenging. We have a young group of players who need to learn from those kinds of games how to bounce back from a game like that. I think we struggled to get into the game in the first half an hour and we were really slow in our passes. We didn’t compete well enough. And then, of course, we concede that goal. And in the second half, we tried our best but really we couldn’t score.
How hard is it to play at St James’ Park?
They’re in a really good period winning games and that gives confidence and belief and the fans following behind. So we knew that it’d be a tough place to come. But I was expecting us to compete a little bit more, especially in the first half an hour. And when we conceded the goal it became difficult to get back into it.
Is the challenge for next season improving in games like this?
We always want to improve individually and collectively, we want to be a better team. But we don’t want to take any kind of conclusion yet. We still have six games to play in – six really important games for us. When we take this conclusion, we will see how players conduct themselves and how much they want to compete every week, how far they are to challenge themselves and to keep giving everything to the team and to the football club.
Michael Olise substitute – tactical or injury?
We know that Michael had some issues with his foot in the last couple of weeks. We started him today, but he wasn’t 100% so the best decision was to take him off.
Happy with how you responded to taking the hit of the goal?
I think we responded well. In the second half, I was very pleased with the way we wanted to compete against them. I was happy with that. But we need to do it from the first half an hour, from the first minute of the game we have to compete better. The way we entered the game gave them confidence and belief. We didn’t compete well enough in the first half an hour.
