What did you make of the performance today and the atmosphere?
The atmosphere was incredible. Our supporters were outstanding today. The energy they created in the stadium right from the first whistle was brilliant. To be honest I thought it helped us. In the first half we just looked a bit nervous and edgy for about half an hour or so and were probably fortunate to still be in the game.
We were giving the ball away cheaply and just letting them come at us. At the same time, it’s not surprising. A couple of 20-year-olds out there, a 22-year-old and a couple of 23-year-olds. It’s a really young team we’re putting out there so I thought there were some really encouraging signs towards the end of the first half for five or 10 minutes.
We got them in at half-time and settled them down a little bit. Then I thought the boys were brilliant. They came out with a great energy, took the game to Manchester United, scored a good goal and didn’t stop from there. They had to defend but we did that well. Vic pulled off a couple of good saves so encouraging signs there.
You mentioned the young players, just how impressive was Pape Matar Sarr a 20-year-old in that pressure and atmosphere to put in that kind of performance?
Yeah, brilliant. He’s been great from the moment I arrived. He’s got a great energy about him, but he’s got quality there too. He’s one of those midfielders who causes the opposition real problems because whether it’s him running with the ball or without the ball, he runs forward, he runs aggressively and he disrupts the opposition. He’s just got a great temperament for a young guy. So really pleased for him.
You said yesterday you wanted to not only win the game but put in a performance, how much did you think you did that in the second half?
I thought there were encouraging signs there. I don’t think it was a victory of the back of a backs to the wall, desperate performance. I thought there were elements, especially in the second half, where we showed the kind of team we want to be and that’s what you’re looking for.
I’m not silly enough to think that two weeks into the season, six or so weeks into my tenure that we’re going to be putting in complete performances, but what you want to see is some sprouts of growth in terms of the team we want to be and I definitely saw that, and real resilience too. We had to show that in the first game as well with things that went against us.
Today we could have gone into our shells in the second half but if anything we got more brave and more courageous with our football and we got the rewards.
How much is that about fitness and how much is it about mentality with the second half performances?
It’s just sometimes the nature of the games, the way they flow. Different games. I just thought today we were just edgy in the first half. We weren’t doing the simple things and it’s human nature. The boys were just trying really hard to impress and probably overcomplicating the game and once they simplified the game and there were some obvious areas where we could hurt them, they got to grips with that and committed to it in the second half.
When you made the team decisions, leaving experienced players on the bench and putting young players in the team, is it just a feeling you’ve got or the way you want to go?
I like to think I know what I’m doing mate. Especially in the early stages, part of what I need to do at the moment is explore the squad and the individuals within it. It would be silly of me to stick with some sort of formula in terms of team line-up, because unless I expose some of these guys to this level and trying to play our football I won’t find out about them. So it would have been very easy not to make any changes.
The guys who dropped out, Emerson and Skippy, didn’t do anything wrong last week. They put in great efforts but I wanted to see Pape and I wanted to see Pedro. There are others I want to see and I will use, without disrupting the cohesion of the team, but this early bit is an opportunity for me to see guys out there and give them a taste of it as well.
That then feeds into their development. If they’re out there and they can see they can do it then it gives us more personnel to work with moving forward.
How did you feel about getting your first Premier League win under your belt and hearing the crowd sing your name?
It’s nice. You separate yourself from that stuff because what’s more important to me right now is that if we’re going to continue to go down this road, I said before the game that we really need an energy, particularly here at home. It would have been a shame today, because you could tell the crowd were up for it, if we were flat in our performance.
You want to win and that gives everyone the joy they need but I felt the manner in which we played, it’s a great starting point so when the final whistle goes from my perspective that’s a fantastic fertile ground for me to get going, rather than if we had a flat performance it would have been hard, we would have had to work hard. At the same time now that leaves a fairly decent benchmark we’ve got to match now because that’s the expectation because we did it against a very good team so we have to do it on a weekly basis.
How will this impact in Australia, will football/soccer finally crack it?
I battle with that, mate. I really don’t know if we will ever crack Australia. I hope so. I think the women’s World Cup was a brilliant tournament. I am not watching anymore of it, but yeah, the Premier League has always been the most watched league in Australia anyway and now they have a vested interest, so that’s great. How much of an impact that has I am not really sure, but from my perspective and not just for me but other guys. I don’t know if there are too many with similar backgrounds to mine but I’ve worked 26 years in the game and it is not that I feel I have earnt this opportunity, it is just I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t be given this opportunity.
Was it important to win and entertain, there were 39 shots overall today?
I would prefer if more of the 39 were down our end, than the opposition. We don’t design and say the opposition will create chances, but it is part of it. It is a consequence of how we want to play and particularly at the moment where it is fair to say it is not really embedded in us as a group so it will leave us susceptible at times to the opposition attacking us. Again, I thought you don’t want it to happen by design but it was great Vicario made a couple of brilliant saves today just for his confidence, his self belief. It is only his second game in the Premier League, so it was great he was able to do that. It was great for our back four to defend when they needed to against a very good, very strong opponent but yeah we want to entertain, for sure. I think that’s important but entertain in terms of playing football that brings success, that is still what it is underpinned by.
You had your full-backs running into the box, leaving 2 vs 2 at back, contrast to last few years, have to convince players?
You never know. There are probably elements at the moment that they are doing it because I am telling them to do it but there has been enough in the first two games for me to see they want to do it themselves. There has been plenty of opportunities in both these game sfor us to veer away from that at this early stage and it would be understandable. I said last week, we scored after 10 minutes and then we lose our most experienced defender in a young defensive line, then we get a penalty and own-goal against us, so it would have been very easy for that group to say this is not working and it was the same time.
We were nervy, gave the ball away at the start and plenty of opportunity for us to stop playing and go long, be more direct. Even at 2-0, we didn’t sit back, we still pressed the goalkeeper, still tried to be aggressive so that tells me some of it is fueled by them. It is not just because I am telling them to do it, which is great because ultimately if we’re going to get to where we want to, it has to be driven by the players. They have to believe in it, understand it and my role and the coaches is to keep giving them that guidance and information.
You took a moment at full time in the centre circle, what were you thinking?
Like I said. You want to feel that moment because I have always said, to me I love what football does to people, particularly in those moment. So, you kind of take a moment to think about the 60,000 here or the ones who were watching at home because they will be smiling for the rest of the week. I love that it does that the game. For me that moment is just about appreciating I am pretty blessed to be doing what I am doing, being in the middle of a stadium leading a fantastic football club and then you start to think about next week, mate.
