How harsh do you think that scoreline is today?
I think we started well in the first half, creating some good chances, not conceding many chances for them. It's true, they scored one goal from a penalty but we were in the game. We were competing well. The game, in my opinion changed in the second half, conceding that early goal and after that we keep going knowing it was difficult, but we scored a goal.
But the game in that moment was very, very tough for us. I'm happy with the attitude of my players. We knew before coming that it will be a very demanding game for us. But now we are playing in three days we don't have time to complain and the best thing we can do is try to prepare as better as possible.
Did you think the penalty was a harsh decision?
I think it can be a penalty because there is contact. But I don't know if it's enough or not.
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A lot of changes today. What was your thinking because you didn't have a recognised number nine, what was your plan?
I think, as you can see, we try to be compact, try to protect the middle, try to defend in a mid or sometimes low block, because playing against Arsenal sometimes you cannot decide where you want to defend and knowing we need to run many distances and we need players with those qualities to do it. I decided to play this with these players and knowing we have to play another game in three days, I have to manage all the efforts of my players.
How pleased were you with Rasmus Kristensen?
Yeah. I told you many times before about Ras, you can believe, you can trust in him because he always plays in different positions always in a good way and always very motivated. It’s good to have players like Ras.
Pascal Struijk played but Liam Cooper didn’t, was that a tactical thing or was it anything to do with fitness?
No, I think Pascal is training more time ago than Liam and in my opinion, he was better prepared for the game today. I know Liam played with the national team some minutes during the last week, but it's only a decision. Both of them are going to be important during the rest of the season. I don't have any doubt about it.
Can you put into words how difficult it is to come up with a plan to frustrate this Arsenal team. How good are they?
To play against Arsenal, you know the results they were scoring in the last three, four games playing in Emirates, they score three, four, three, four goals, it is something they usually do. Then we try to be more compact to be defensively more aggressive. Choosing well the place where we want to defend and I think in the first half we did it well. But after the game the goals are changing the games, and in this case, was difficult to manage the second half.
What was your message at half-time? You must have been pleased that you're still in the game?
I know the message I gave them but in the first minutes we conceded the second one then I don't know if they took the message. But now it was something like ‘keep doing something similar because we were losing but at the same time we were competing well’ but we needed to do it during all the game, not only in 45 minutes.
It's been a tough season for fitness for Luis Sinisterra. Where do you think he's at at the moment, fitness wise, are you happy with his contribution today?
Yeah, I'm happy with him. Yeah, very happy because he's training well, as you see today, he was able to play around 60 minutes and it's more or less the limit in this moment he can play, no more than 60 minutes. We are managing the minutes for Luis, the minutes for Rodri, It’s something we have to manage.
It was 3-0 when you brought Rodrigo on and more far gone when you brought Patrick on, what was the logic of bringing those players into the game when it was seemingly lost?
Yeah, because we always need good players on the pitch. In that moment, we need more offensive players and to change something up front.
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