In January you signed Jose Antonio Reyes, did you see it as a risk to add somebody to the group at that stage?
In 2002 we had that ACL injury to Robert Pires, and I felt that if something happened like that again, we would need something on the left. Pires was born in 1973, so he was approaching 31 in that season, and you knew that in one or two years you would need to do something there. Dennis Bergkamp was older as well, so I was looking at the future too when I brought in Reyes.
I thought he could offer us something – either on the left and move Pires more central when Dennis wasn’t playing. Reyes could play up front too. He was branded as an exceptional talent by our scout, Francis Cagigao, who saw him play in Sevilla. I thought he could even play on the right as well, and I thought: “Yes, let’s add something more.” He was still a young boy, so it was for the future, as well as adding something that season.
In April we had a huge couple of weeks, where the fixtures piled up in different competitions. How difficult was that to deal with as the manager?
Today I’ve thought about it, and I thought many times I should have sacrificed one of the games I didn’t want. We played Chelsea in the Champions League and don’t forget they were very strong at that time. In fact they were a bigger threat in the league than Manchester United – they finished second in the table that season.
We played them in the quarter-final and drew 1-1 at Stamford Bridge, then lost 2-1 at home with the late goal, but we had left a lot of energy against Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-final at Villa Park on the Saturday afternoon, then we had to play the Champions League on the Tuesday. Then we played against Liverpool, and you are thinking in one week, we could lose everything. That tells you it was quite close. Overall it was a mental test for us.
Thierry Henry told us he was carrying a hamstring injury for that Liverpool game, but did the circumstances mean you just had to risk him?
Yes, of course. We had to win this game and we suffered when Thierry wasn’t there. We saw that in the semi-final against Manchester United. He had that impact that top-level players had. That means he boosted the potential of the team, but as well he boosted the confidence of his partners, just by being on the pitch.
For us that was absolutely a major game, and we were behind at half time. The team was driving like a Rolls- Royce, cruising along the motorway, then all of a sudden we hit two trees and we don’t know where they came from. At that moment, you don’t know where to go from there.
At half time, I admit I was a bit angry, maybe the most angry I had been, because I was not often angry with the players at half time. When I was, it had an impact, because it’s not a usual reaction from me. I tried to push them to respond because they looked dead. “Come on, what’s happening?” I said. “We have to respond here.” Some players as well contributed to what was said at half-time, and then after that Thierry produced his show in the second half.