antonio conte happy
It’s always difficult when you go down to 10 men in a game like this?
It was difficult after the red card, especially because in the starting XI we played with the three strikers in Sonny, Kane and Richarlison and also Perisic that is a wing-back but an offensive one. When you remain with the 10 men and you stay 2-1 down, it’s not simple because you have to cut strikers and try to find again the best balance with 10 men and then try to have counter-attacks and set pieces, to reach a draw. In this period they scored a third goal and before to make substitutions it was really, really difficult. I think that the red card killed the game and in my opinion, if I have to complain, it’s especially for the first half. In the first half we felt the possibility to win the game. We had a lot of chances and to exploit much better the situation. Every time we played we overcome the pressure and we had a lot of space and many times we made a mistake in the last pass. For this reason the game was in balance after the first half. Then the second half, we started and we conceded the second goal and we can do much better, but in every situation. When you concede a goal you can always do better, in the first goal as well and the third goal. After a few minutes the red card killed the game totally.
Was the red card fair?
Honestly, I always have said in the past that I don’t like to comment on refereeing decisions. I comment on the VAR decision because I think without the monitor and the video it is really really difficult to get the best decision. About the referee decision I think that I don’t want to comment. There are images and I think everybody can think what is the best decision but I don’t want to comment on this. Maybe if I have to repeat some yellow card in the first half that maybe the referee can use much more than the yellow card in the first half for somebody.
You don’t agree with the sending off then?
I don’t want to comment. The referee decision sometimes you are lucky. For sure the red card killed the game, this is the truth, but not because we remained with 10 men, because the team was a team really really offensive and in those four or five minutes before we could make a substitute it was so offensive that we conceded the third goal.
Are you surprised they didn’t check the VAR?
Honestly, I don’t know what happens later, but in England I have to be honest, it is very difficult because there isn’t the same line. Sometimes you see a situation that could be a red card instead is a yellow card or no yellow card, sometimes you see a situation that is a yellow card and you see a red card. They have to work a lot about this. In Italy, they go on Thursday and stay together for three days to work together, to look at the video and try and improve. I don’t know if they do that in this country but it would be a good idea because the level is so high and we need the level of the referee and VAR the same. The Premier League is a really high level and for this reason every part of this situation has to be top.
You seemed angry when Emerson made the challenge before the red card were shown, were you annoyed that he made the challenge there?
Honestly, for sure the player is frustrated because he knows what happened, he knows the difficulty we had after the red card. It can happen. Emerson is a young player, he is only 22, I think he has to try and exploit this situation to be better and in the next situation avoid totally the tackle. Honestly, the player was really surprised, not only him, but all of the players.
Was this defeat because of mistakes by your players?
I spoke with the players and said to try and move on quickly because sometimes you have a strange game. I think today was a game that after the first half we felt the possibility to win the game because we had the chances that we should exploit much better. In the second half to concede the goal quickly and then the red card, the game changed totally. Now I think we have to move on and know we have to take the positivity of this game. Also we have to try and improve the situation that cost us defeat. We have to prepare for the next game, in only three days we have to play against Frankfurt and this has to be a big push.
