A tough night, but ultimately, you got the win and the result?
Yes, I think you’ve answered it probably as well as I could’ve answered it. We’ve got a slightly narrow lead, but nothing more at this time.
When AZ Alkmaar lead, did memories of Eintracht Frankfurt go through your mind?
No. When I got to half-time, I still felt as if there were three quarters of the game to go, so there was plenty of time to try and turn things around. We had to make sure that we picked up. We did so, our decision making in the first half, especially in the first half, was so poor. Our hold up play didn’t really allow us to create more opportunities. Second half, we got a little bit better and it gave us a chance to get a goal or two.
How important was the penalty and Said Benrahma’s nerve in taking it?
I couldn’t actually understand why they took so long on the decision, because I thought the referee have given it and I didn’t have a chance to see it. I thought he was maybe looking to see if it was a yellow or a red card, I thought that might have been what they were waiting on. I really have no idea what the delay was on. He held his nerve, finished the penalty off, but he had a great chance to finish another one off later on, which was much easier.
How much confidence do you take from the second half performance and the fact that you are now ahead?
I think the tie is very evenly balanced, very little in the game. If it was the other way around and we were losing by a goal, I wouldn’t be sat here saying we were out of the tie. I wouldn’t think AZ would be saying that either. I think that the game is very tightly balanced, I didn’t think we gave up too many opportunities tonight, even though we conceded a goal, but it was probably our play in the higher areas which we didn’t do well enough or create to give ourselves a chance to get further in front.
How pleased are you with the character showed by your players to come from behind on the night with decisions going against you?
I am pleased, we got ourselves in front, which in the tie, was a big thing to try and be at least in front if you can. It was a difficult night. We have learned some lessons over the years, well we hope we have. It is very difficult when you think that you are maybe not quite getting the rub of the green. Recently, when watching West Ham, you would see that at the moment.
You were urging your players to get on with it after scoring, did you feel there was more to do in this first leg?
We have to use every minute that we’ve got in a home tie. I don’t know if there’s such a big difference in home and away in the first or second leg ties, but while we were at home, we had to make the most of it. I would rather that we just got the ball up and get started again to get the goals.
Is the most satisfying tonight the fact that your team did show discipline and not get red cards, despite decisions going against you?
100%, because there was a little period where it was just starting to get out of hand. It is really important that we told the players and we hope we learned a little bit from it. It is a big, emotional game. Football is that. People would be disappointed if you didn’t see your players fight for everything. Tonight, the players did, they fought for everything but we played a bit too excitedly in the first 20 minutes. We didn’t show any calmness in the final third, which meant it was very difficult for us to get that moment maybe we could have got a goal from.
What did you make of the decision to award AZ Alkmaar’s goal and how your players handled that?
It is one of the things that we are trying to learn more about. I think that part of being in Europe is that you have referees from all different countries which means that we are not quite sure what the levels are. I’m not quite sure tonight. Nevertheless, I don’t really want to be talking about referees. I would like you to talk to me about the football and the referees was another thing, because I’m trying not to answer too many questions on referees if possible.
Was Michail Antonio’s goal just in time to avoid being replaced by Danny Ings?
Yes. I was going to change him for Danny Ings. I felt we just needed another, different way at the end. Maybe if it had have been five minutes earlier, I might have taken him off.
Do you think your players have enough resilience to get the job done in next week’s second leg?
I hugely believe we’ve got a big resilience here. I think we have it through the club, I think we have it through the team and we’ll need it. We’ve needed it in the big games in the Premier League. We’re just off a big win against Manchester United. Tonight, we’ve won 2-1 in a semi-final of a first leg, so you’d have to say that’s okay. When it’s a cup competition, it doesn’t matter how you do it really and the job is to get it done. We’ve not got it done yet, far from it, we’ve got a big job to do next week.
How is Kurt Zouma, considering his quicker return than expected and playing the duration tonight?
It was partly due to Angelo, Angelo had a bit of illness which has been going around the camp as most of you know for a week or so. Angelo has had the illness, which sort of made my decision a bit easier that I had Kurt ready to come in. Thankfully, he was able to perform.
