Glad to get through, but relief in the end?
Yeah. You don’t expect it to be easy coming here but we probably made it harder on ourselves
by not capitalising. Hull probably weren’t at it in the first half, I think we had chances
to score. Then with passages we got slightly sloppy. At half-time I wasn’t delighted
and then in the second half Hull gave us a real game of it. If you don’t take those
chances when you can then teams stay in it for 90 minutes, like they did.
Was that game summed up part of the season?
Yeah, I don’t know how many shots we had. Recently we have been having a lot, good chances
and not taking them. It is a frustrating period for us because it defines games, the nature
of the games. Then we have to remain very secure if we are only going to score only
one or two goals and we gave them too many opportunities. It is part of the process.
Getting frustrated by saying it all the time?
Yeah, but we didn’t lose today so we are through. I think in management and coaching
is par for the course. I’m saying the same things every day, you have to repeat and repeat
and if we are a bit young and the message is not going in then the players have to get
it in very quickly. If we want to be where we want to be then we don’t need to be saying
these same things. I am not saying it for the sake of it. I am saying it because I am
giving every ounce to be successful here and if you allow teams to stay in games like we
have lately then you get these kind of results.
Sent on Tariq Lamptey and Billy Gilmour late in the game. Why was that?
Because I trust them. I thought Billy Gilmour was the best player on the pitch for the period
of time that he was on the pitch. So I absolutely trust him. He came on, passed it, moved it,
simple passes through the lines. Had little bits of contact and I trusted them to come
on and do the job.
Lampard history in this competition?
Yes, I don’t need to jump forward at all at the minute to the next round because I
don’t even know who we are playing. Whilst I am a little bit not delighted with the performance
today. It is probably because of the last couple of games. I also understand how tough
these games are because I have played in them. You sometimes see it through when you have
not deserved to win or where it was a little mess but we got through. They are not easy
games. I am not saying that and I am not disrespecting what Hull did against us today but I think
about the bigger picture and how we can improve. That’s a constant message at the moment.
Olivier Giroud, injured for the game?
He had a tiny, tiny feeling in his groin yesterday. It was my choice for him not to travel.
Michy Batshuayi, pleased with his performance?
He gets his goal. I am pleased as a goal scorer and a striker, he wants to score goals and
it helps his confidence. I am pleased. I have said all season that we can’t just rely
on Tammy. Tammy has been scoring regularly. He has given us a lot. Of course, we want
Michy firing and scoring goals like he did today and when he trains he needs to stay
at that level because today we needed him.
Update on Abraham injury?
No, no there isn’t. He has been getting lightly into the water and all these things
but I said yesterday that there’s no fracture but other than that there is still some swelling
so I don’t know. I don’t know much of the detail.
Is Michy ready to step up?
I don’t want to get into Michy’s game. It is not time to do that. I said yesterday,
he trains as I want him to train and that’s not easy when you are not playing as much
as you want to do but you have to go the extra mile to show that you deserve to play. When
you get them opportunities then you have to, wherever they are, show it. Today, I am happy
with Michy. I am happy. Not because of just his goal. His goal was slightly fortunate
but I like that. That’s how goal scorers should score those kind of goals but I just
want him to keep delivering when he is training and when the opportunities come. We are at
that level of football which is quite demanding and everyone judges strikers on goals and
I think Michy has that in him. So I want to see a bit more.
Tammy not fit and Michy can lead?
Yes, he is the recognised striker. We now Oli might potentially move on at the moment.
He is the absolute recognised striker. He is an international striker, so yes, for sure.
Michy won’t leave?
No.