00:00Hi Rob, good to see you. A bit of a bonkers game towards the end. What did you make of it as a whole and the point away from home?
00:22Yeah, a little bit frustrated with our staff, sensed it in the warm-up, looked a little bit flat. I tried to get into them before the game, I think we started a bit flat and at half-time we just needed, it was evident we needed to try and inject a little bit of life and something into it into us.
00:38I don't think we were particularly playing poorly but we've not been saying that we weren't seeing the same zip that we've seen over the last few games and we weren't getting behind them enough and didn't carry enough of a threat.
00:48I think we were playing in front of them and they were happy for us to do that. So, yeah, made a little bit of a change, a tweak, I thought it had a bit of an effect because we started to get more control and look a bit more dangerous.
01:03And then, yeah, once we went to a four and brought Yogi on as well, I thought, I mean, it was an instant impact, it was a brilliant goal and then we were pushing, you know, how the game ended with them being down to nine men as well.
01:14It's frustrating that we didn't capitalise more. I felt that we played into their hands a little bit once they went down to nine men and we were probably over keen to either work the perfect cross and not put it in the right positions or we put it in from a bit too deep for free kicks or whatever and didn't work them enough.
01:31You've got a lot of experienced evident defenders that are happy defending the box in a block and, you know, they can buy a little bit of time.
01:37They're happy with balls coming in from certain areas and we probably played into their hands without working them from side to side enough.
01:42Tried to give them a clue by putting Pedro Lima on towards the end to go, right, it's wide, it's crosses, let's shift them. But yeah, we didn't quite do that well enough.
01:49And of course, you could have won it at the end there with Hugo's fantastic effort, but it's an even better save, isn't it?
01:55It's a brilliant save. I just thought as soon as it left Hugo's foot it was in, but that's what Jordan Pickford couldn't do.
02:01Just on the goal as well, obviously you want to pick out Mane in the sense that he's sort of two and two and he's 18 and he's, you know, setting the Premier League light at the moment.
02:09But also you mentioned him already, Jorgen's role in that, considering everything he's gone through recently, that's really important to create that moment.
02:15It was a brilliant assist. Yeah, look, it was a really well worked goal and dropping in his timing was perfect.
02:20His touch, his pass was different class, but the run from Mane and the touch and finish was sensational.
02:24So taking nothing away from the kid, but yeah, it was a great assist from Jorgen and brilliant that he got an impact for us.
02:31Just finally for me, you mentioned him already, Pedro Lima.
02:34We understand that he won't be able to go anywhere else now other than going back to Porto, which I imagine is unlikely.
02:38Yeah.
02:39Key, Jana Hoover, are we expecting to move out? Just on Pedro, what have you seen from him and what do you expect to use him?
02:46The last couple of days, he's impressed us so much with his crossing ability.
02:49So that was right in the last five minutes. Come on, let's just get him on.
02:52And I just had a feeling that we might get one out to him and he might be able to put one in.
02:56So we've seen a lot of good qualities. Technically, he's very good.
02:59So we're looking forward to working with him now.
03:01Hi Rob, I was just interested in your thoughts on the Michael Keane red card and whether that really does constitute violent conduct.
03:13I'm going to do my best Arsene Wenger impression now and say, well, the only time I have saw it as I looked up and the fans were booing,
03:20I kind of looked at what they're booing at and I sort of just saw the end bits.
03:23I can't give you a, I can't say I've seen it on the laptop inside at all, I'm afraid.
03:28There's a few people saying it's soft, but I haven't seen it. Thank you.
03:40Are you pleased in a way that you've got a point on a night where you haven't played as well as you have in the previous two games?
03:48Yeah, I think, you know, the performance there in the second half, I thought it was good.
03:52I remember, you know, we were up against Everton at home and they're 1-0 up.
03:56It's still, you know, it's a really difficult place for us to come.
04:00I thought we were playing pretty well, you know, we just didn't necessarily have the same cut and thrust that we've had in a couple of the other games.
04:08But to take something from it after being 1-0 down, yeah, it gives us, well, it keeps, you know, it's three games in a row now we've taken points.
04:18I think it's a good chunk of games now, we've had good performances and pretty consistent performances.
04:23And tonight, yeah, I just think we probably looked a little bit jaded.
04:25It's been a very busy schedule for the lads.
04:27We were asking quite a lot of them.
04:28We're asking a lot of the, like I said, the young 18-year-old now who's, he looked tired in the first half.
04:33John Arias looked tired in the first half and we needed to affect it some.
04:37As credit to the lads in the end, I think we've got to take a lot of positives from it.
04:41And you're right, when we weren't maybe at our best, we've been better in the last couple of games, we still took something from the game.
04:47We ask you about transfers every time we see you at the moment, so I'm going to do it again.
04:5111 days into your next Premier League game, how different do you expect your squad to be?
04:56About nine new signings in by then. Confident.
05:00No, look, I don't know. I don't know, I'm not even going to elaborate on it at the moment, I don't know, we'll see.
05:07Sorry, it's a crap answer.
05:09We asked you yesterday, like these last three games haven't really changed what you feel you need to do in the market.
05:15No, I don't think so. I'm just pleased that the lads are responding and we're seeing performances and fight.
05:21That's what I'm pleased with.
05:23But no, I think we want to try and, with some of the outs as well as some ins, we want to try and make an impact.
05:29That's the line I keep using, but we do.
05:35Rob, even at 1-0, you were never out of it. Did you always feel that that moment was coming for you?
05:41Yeah, we did. Even though, like I said, we weren't at our best and we didn't have loads of zipping.
05:47We weren't getting behind Everton very well. Everton were not as aggressive as I thought they'd be.
05:51We planned for them to be a lot more aggressive in their pressing.
05:53We felt we might be able to then find some of the spaces that we'd actually seen against West Ham the other day.
06:00But we didn't. So they were a bit more keeping the back four intact a lot more and also 4-5-1, especially once they've gone one that up.
06:09So that was why we had to try and change it at half-time.
06:11Had to try and create an overload in the middle and just adjusted things a little bit.
06:16But we felt we could get back in it. There's no doubt about it, even though we were a bit sluggish.
06:20Thank you. Thanks.
06:25Sorry Rob, I know this is probably a bit hypothetical what I'm asking, but the way the players have responded,
06:35certainly over what we've seen in the last month, how you played at Liverpool,
06:41do you think if you'd have had a chance to get in earlier? Do you understand what I'm saying?
06:48I know what you're saying. The fact that they are responding the way they are.
06:51I appreciate it. It's kind of you to say so. I think I said it last week, we've had almost the time of a pre-season with them.
06:57We'd had about six or seven weeks and I think we then started to see some really a lot better performances.
07:03But there's still a lot of time. There's still a lot of points to play for.
07:08So is it an impossible task? Because plenty of people thought it was impossible.
07:12Look, it's a very, very difficult challenge for us, obviously, but we're going to continue to fight.
07:17We have to, you know, we're all professionals and we're competitive.
07:21We want to win games and we're not going to roll over and we're going to keep fighting all the way to the end.
07:26All the way to the end of the 38th game, by the way, you know, no matter what's happened.
07:30I can promise that. And that's all we can do.
07:33OK, thanks. Sorry, I know it's a night after.
07:37Hi, Rob. Mine's kind of a two part question. You mentioned the fact that they were flat at the beginning and in the warm up.
07:43Do you think last night's result for Nottingham Forest maybe had any residual impacts upon that?
07:50I don't think so. I hadn't thought about it. So I don't think that had an impact on the lads.
07:55So no, I just think physically we've been asking a lot of them and we really have.
08:01And they have been responding. They have been working hard.
08:03And I know we had a day more to recover than Everton, you know, the other day as well.
08:07But, you know, we've travelled up and it has been a busy schedule for a lot of games and we are asking more of them.
08:13We are demanding more. So, yeah, sometimes you get that and you don't know why.
08:18You can't quite put your finger on it. But like I said, the staff sensed it.
08:22And I had a go at them and tried to get in some at the beginning before we even went out.
08:27But, yeah, we just didn't quite have that that we needed at the beginning of the game.
08:31And then you make the change at half time with Andre.
08:34Did you think about bringing Jürgen Strand-Larsen on at that point as well?
08:38And maybe even was there a decision between exchanging the strikers rather than pairing them up?
08:44No. I felt we wanted to try and keep on as many goals or threats as possible.
08:50So I thought it would be too early to bring Jürgen on unless we completely change the shape and bring a defender off at that point.
08:55I didn't want to open us up too soon at half time.
08:57And we felt by just creating a bit more of a box or a 4v3 against Everton's 4-5-1 in the middle of the pitch,
09:04we felt we could try and get a bit of superiority there, maybe then might open up one or two things.
09:09But we were keen to get Jürgen on at some point and give him enough time to have an impact as well, which he did.
09:14Thanks, guys.
09:15Cheers.
09:16Cheers.
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