The boss met the media after an eventful draw in Russia, which ultimately sent us through to the semi-final of the Europa League.
Here’s what he said.
on a difficult match in Moscow…
First of all I would like to say we played against a good team, CSKA Moscow, I knew that after the first game, and they showed that again tonight. They were mobile, technically good and gave us many problems. Secondly, you could see that when you have a big difference from the first game, it is difficult to turn up with the same urgency than if the difference is very small. that played a part in the way that we played in the first half. Thirdly, looking at all the results as a whole picture in Europe this week, you would say that in Europe maybe teams have come closer, games have been very open, and that everything is possible in every single game. CSKA made my heart beat much quicker than i expected it to be. I wish them good luck for the rest of the season.
on Danny Welbeck’s performance…
I repeat at the moment the same after every game: I would say as well, above all the qualities, when you have your back to the wall Danny Welbeck looks like he has an extra special motivation in his body and head to give you something special. That is something really exceptional, you do not find it in many players.
on a second-half change in tactics…
Yes I feel that maybe we were a bit surprised by the intensity and not at the races in first half and after that you come back. They scored the second and even then they had another chance to make it three. Then we were a bit on the ropes but we had a good response, we were better organised because our distances were too big in the first half. From then on we always looked like we could come to 2-2 because we missed many chances. If you look at the game we were in trouble, and once we moved to a back five we looked much more stable and didn’t give so many chances away. The second goal comes from long distance but from the box we didn’t give anything away any more.
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