What pleased you most about the performance?
A good performance, the team put in a very good performance, the last period
I am seeing great improvement. I said before this game that in the last five games we scored
a lot of goals, five against Everton, four against Leeds away, three at Manchester City,
two goals against Manchester United and also two here. We created many chances to also improve
the final result. It means we are improving and
we are trying to go in another step to try to be very close to the top of the table.
It is right to have ambition and I put ambition to my players because it is important
to have a target, a difficult target for sure because to reach the fourth place
is not simple, it will be very difficult, At this moment we are ready to fight for every game,
then sometimes it can happen that we lose the game like at United where we didn’t deserve to lose.
We are showing great improvement
and this is good for the present and the future. On Sunday we will have a crucial game against
West Ham. They have the same target and we are talking about a team that
in the last season they arrived before us, they are playing Europa League. To
get three points on Sunday will be very important to continue to have a hope to reach fourth place.
How important was Cristian Romero with and without the ball?
Cristian Romero is
a good player, and he has to be focused in every moment of the game. If he is focused
in every moment of the game, with the ball, without the ball, he is really good player
with a lot of space for improvement. He played a really good game, like the other team-mates.
For sure we are talking about a player, a young player, with a lot of space for improvement. He
has to have the desire, the will, to continue to improve, and to ask himself much more. Because he
has the possibility to become a top defender, but it depends on him. And on the manager to help him,
sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a bad way. But the most important thing is he has to improve.
What did you make of Rodrigo Bentancur's performance tonight?
He seems to be adapting quite quickly to the Premier League.
Honestly tonight it is very difficult to speak about a single player because
the whole team played a good game. For sure to see Rodrigo Bentancur
and Deki Kulusevski go into the team so quickly in this idea of football is great for us.
I said to you after these two signings now we are more complete, especially in midfield because
we lost Skipp for two/three months in this moment.
We needed to have a player like Rodrigo. Don’t forget Winksy because
he is a reliable player and improved a lot and also Kulusevski is showing
to be a fantastic prospect. We are talking about a player that is 22-years-old but
you can see that he is strong physically, good technique, talent and they are helping us a lot.
What did you tell your players to limit Brighton to no shots on target?
Honestly to play against Brighton is not easy. I think tonight we played
a better game than the game we played in the FA Cup. I remember very well in the FA Cup we won 3-1
but the result was a bit unfair because they
shot a lot and were unlucky. Tonight I think we deserved much more to have a good result.
They have a really good manager because you can see
an idea of football, they like to play football, during the game they can change system.
He is working well. To work with the same team for many years to improvement and the tactical aspect.
For this reason I think great compliment to the manager because I think he is very, very good.
Was that second goal a real counter-attack?
Yes but the game, you play 95 minutes, and during the game you have to be good to play
and to exploit this situation. Also Liverpool, I see, many times, that they score
on the counter-attack, and Chelsea. The best teams, the best teams. You have to try to exploit
every situation. If you find a team that stays in their half of the pitch, you have to be good, to
have a creative player, to create the superiority, to be/beat the man. And at the same time, when
the opponent is attacking, it’s important to have players fast for the counter-attack.
I think football is … a lot of situations, no? You have to try to improve
during the training session, all of the situations. To start from the back,
from the goalkeeper. To try to invite the pressure to attack the
depth. And then, also, there is the counter-attack. I think in
football there are many, many, many goals in counter-attack. It’s ok. We are very happy.
Was Harry Kane’s volley of the coke bottle as impressive as his goal?
We are very happy because Harry is scoring a lot. He started this season
and he struggled a bit because he didn’t score a lot. Now we are very happy because
as a manager I know that I have a world class striker that in every game he can score.
To have Harry in your team makes you stronger.
Harry is starting to understand with this team, with the way we are playing, he has every game
many chances to improve his record and score and to enjoy. I am seeing that he is enjoying to play
with us together and with his team-mates and with this way we are playing.