How did you assess Michael Olise’s performance?
He was fantastic in the second half. I think he changed the game for us. The first 15 minutes of the second half, he was really good and he showed his talent, that was really good for us as a team.
He played great. How important will that goal be for Jean-Philippe Mateta?
Michael scored one, hit the post and created the second one. He had a couple of chances where he went on his left foot and didn’t hit the target. This is one of his strengths, doing that. Of course, Jean-Philippe scoring the second goal is good for his confidence.
What did you make of the alleged discrimination? Booing the knee, chants at Gallagher etc?
We as a football club are against any kind of discrimination. Of course, this is not something we want to see on the field. Taking the knee is something we are really proud to take and it is the same for any football club and player making the decision. What is important is to show that as a football club we are against discrimination.
Did Michael Olise mention he was struck by a bottle?
No, he didn’t talk about it.
Will Olise get more of a chance in the Premier League with Jordan Ayew away at AFCON?
Yeah, I think having Jordan at the African Cup of Nations, it will give him obviously more time to play in the Premier League. What is important is when you look at the first half and second half, it is two different players. It shows there is fantastic potential in the player but at the same time, he needs time to keep developing himself. Those games he will play in the future will help him to develop. We know how good he can be and now what is important for us is to work together to improve that talent.
Is he desperate to play more games?
All the players are impatient. They all want to play and this is what I like about Michael, about Eze. They want to be on the field and want to play. Their job is to make it difficult for me and when you look at the way both of them played today, yes I will have a difficult decision to make in the next couple of weeks.
Before Mateta’s goal you were about to bring on Edouard and Benteke. Was that a bit lucky that he grabbed the goal before you could make the change?
I was really pleased. Sometimes you make a decision but a player scores. I wanted to give him five/ten more minutes on the field. That was the first substitute I was going to do.
Eze’s first start since May, what did you make of his performance?
He performed how I was expecting. When he gets the ball at his feet he is a really creative player. At times you can see he is still missing a little bit of sharpness and that will come with time. I think he is just like Michael. We have a period where we are missing players upfront and they will have more chance to play so I expect him and want him to progress game after game. I was really pleased with his performance. Like the team, he was more comfortable in the second half than he was in the first half.
Were you worried you’d be on the wrong end of an upset?
I think in the first 20 minutes they created a couple of situations in the counter-attack but we were expecting that. In the first half, I think we tried to play but we didn’t put enough tempo in our passing and we made it easy for them. I believe that we defended quite well in the first half. We make those mistakes and we concede the goal. In the second half, we came back and played more direct with more tempo and I think we managed to create situations and score goals. The big difference between the first half and the second half was we used possession.
Jack Butland error, pleased with how the team responded?
I think when we play the way we want to play, sometimes keepers, centre-backs and full-backs make a decision and can make a mistake and we concede. This is part of how we want to play and I have to accept it as a manager. On the other side, I was really pleased as it showed our togetherness and team spirit that we wanted to win. And we wanted to win for Jack. I was really happy and pleased with the response we had in the second half.
What did you make of the fans today?
Fantastic. I think we needed them and they responded really well. It was a derby and they were really present. They gave us what we needed to get back into the game and they were really important for us. The energy we needed from the stands we got and congratulations to them because they were behind us. That gave us the energy to keep going. Even at the end, in the last 10/15 minutes where it was really difficult because we couldn’t keep the ball, the fans were present and that was a really good performance from them as well.
What did you say at half-time?
We needed to play in possession with more conviction. We needed to play to come forward and to score goals, to penetrate inside their 18-yards. In the first half, we had the ball and possession but we made it too easy for them. Second half we put them in positions where they needed to defend one vs one and we managed to hurt them. It was just the mindset we needed to change and we did it in the second half. We changed a little tactically with how we organised ourselves in possession and I think that gave them problems.
Jack Butland response to error?
He has a really strong character. He’s surrounded by people who wish him well. He understands the mistake and as a manager and a football club we’ll give him the support he needs. He’ll bounce back. He’s an international player and of course, when you don’t play a lot of football the confidence is not there. But overall the way he’s been working since I’ve been in the football club, the way he was supporting players when he’s not in the starting XI, has been brilliant. I’m really glad to have players like that around the team.
Get back to his previous level?
He needs to believe in himself. We need to give him that confidence. He needs to play games as well. The quality is there. It’s just the confidence he needs to have in his head.
