Nuno Espirito Santo
You had plenty of distractions in the build-up with the Covid tests as well as the pause to the game today, what did you make of the performance around all of that?
I think it was a positive performance. Like you said we had the issues with the preparations for the game with the false positives which created disruptions. The international break by itself causes huge disruptions. We’ve been able to handle it well but we didn’t start the game well. We knew the atmosphere was going to be noisy and Newcastle were going to come out strong, but after that we reacted to conceding a goal, we reacted in a calm way in the way that we played in possession, in the lines that we created, the gaps and the pockets that we found and I think we played, in my view, some really good football today.
You had that very difficult pause to the game when things were going on in the stand, were you pleased with the way your players dealt with it and they seemed ready when they returned?
Yes, yes, and credit to how they reacted to what was happening in the stands and credit also for Andre the referee. He made the right decision. There was no condition to continue the game. He stopped the game, he spoke to us all and explained what was going to happen. Thank god the fan is stable and good and this is really good news.
You made no substitutions today, is that because you were happy with their fitness out there because some played just two days ago?
The idea was clear I think. We were controlling the game really well and I believe that with all the international break disruption, the more time the players have on the pitch I believe that it’s better for them.
What did you make of the front four today, they looked dangerous?
I think it’s not only the front four, all the team played good, but of course we’re talking about Sonny, Harry, Lucas and Tanguy. I think they combined well, they worked very hard without the ball and the way they recovered, with the mobility they created. It was good but everything they did was because they had the foundation behind them. Skippy and Pierre, they did fantastic work.
