#PLStories- Cristian Stellini on Bentancur injury, Pedro Porro debut and Tottenham defeat against Leicester City #THFC
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What’s the latest on Rodrigo Bentancur, he looked to be in a lot of pain?
He feels pain at the moment. We know only this but he can walk so it’s important to feel that he came back to the bench with his leg [injury] and we hope that we can check in a few days that Rodrigo can feel better and he play soon.
That was such a contrast to the performance against Manchester City, what changed?
I think today something changed after we scored. We turned off and in this league you can’t turn off. You have to be consistent in all parts of the game. We struggled a lot after the first goal. We’re disappointed for that.
What did you make of Pedro Porro’s debut?
Pedro, we think he was ready to play. For sure he’s ready to play in this league because he’s a great player with experience. We know also it’s not easy. Changing league, the type of football you have to play maybe he needs time. He can react with all the team. The team has to help a player like Pedro who arrives now and needs time to play in this type of league.
How do you explain the inconsistency?
Not an explanation because if you know what happens, you can change this. It happened also last season when we beat Manchester City we lost to Burnley. To be consistent is a long process, a mental process. You have to be better mentally, better in the approach. Today the approach was not bad. But after we scored the goal, something changed.
There seems to be a struggle getting to grips with the mental problem, do you have to change personnel?
We’re a team. The team has to change something. Not only individually. It’s about the desire. You want to play this game, it’s about recovering energy mentally. When you play a team like Manchester City maybe you use all the energy you have. To recover this energy, it’s like a battle and how much this battle can contain. You have to recreate the same energy. To have this battle bigger you have to work. And we have to do it.
You’ve had the City game with no problem getting yourselves up for it and now the Milan game coming, are the players just not capable of raising themselves for other games?
Not only the players, everyone has to do it. The players have to be disappointed with the play. We have to be disappointed in ourselves. Everyone has to think about this.
Was it good to have Antonio back with you?
Yeah, yeah. It’s good for all the club. It’s good for the team, it’s good for everyone to have Antonio back. He has to take it easy a bit because he cannot use his energy 100%. We have to give something more to cover the gap because without Antonio that way we had more responsibility. Today we didn’t start the game badly, we started well, we scored 1-0. In that moment we have to continue.
Did you have to tell Antonio to remain calm?
We spoke before the game, during the game but Antonio feels the difference. He takes care of his health so he knows he has to be careful. He wants to be back because he’s our manager and with his passion he can transfer as well but he needs to be careful in this moment.
Was he well enough to speak to the players after?
No, about this game it’s better probably to speak tomorrow about this game. We have to recover the energy because we have an important game Tuesday against Milan, an important club in the Champions League. The history of this club is important so we have to play a great match.
You won’t have Hojbjerg, Bissouma and maybe Bentancur, can you trust enough in two very young players in Sarr and Skipp to play together in Milan?
We trust a lot in our team, in all the squad. So if we need to play with other players we will play and trust in them. It’s important to understand that it’s not one player who changes the team. If the team does something more we can cover the gap with players who haven’t in the past played a lot. If everyone takes responsibility, nothing changes.
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