00:00Richard.
00:01Richard.
00:02Hiya, Pep.
00:05Just in terms of Ryan Cherky, we've seen him create quite a few goals for you recently,
00:11but was that an indication of what he can do as a goal scorer as well?
00:16I'm close to the 80-year box for the opponent.
00:19He's an exceptional player, made a fantastic goal.
00:22A blind guy, a blind woman can realise it's necessary to be a journalist or manager
00:28to realise it was a fantastic, fantastic goal.
00:32So many times with Phil, this type of goal, with Kevin before,
00:37so I'm happy that he opened the game.
00:41Another player who scored, Savinho, obviously you praised him a couple of weeks ago
00:45about his defensive and how he was getting back and listening to you finally.
00:50Is that more from what you want to see in attacking front as well?
00:54I like if Savinho was a deflection goal sometimes,
00:57but what I like for Savinho is always this digging, digging, you know,
01:02it's go, go, go all the time, all the time.
01:05The final decision can be better, of course that,
01:07but always there's reward with this work ethic and especially he goes and he goes all the time.
01:13You know, like Jeremy when he has the ball, Gavin goes and goes.
01:17And last season played a lot, a lot of minutes with us.
01:21This season, sometimes we don't play with the proper wingers, you know,
01:25playing a little bit slightly different than last season.
01:28Maybe play less, but we trust a lot.
01:31He's young, can play right and left side and both sides.
01:34And he's a player that is so, you know, so aggressive.
01:38And with the time we'll improve the final decision, we'll become a top, top class player.
01:44Just check on Oscar Bob who went off with an injury, do you know what that is yet?
01:48After 10-15 minutes, complain about the muscular reason,
01:52apparently there's a muscular injury in the hamstring,
01:55so hopefully it's not a big one, he'll come back soon.
01:57Sure.
01:58Hi Pep, clean sheet for James and a solid performance,
02:03showcasing what he can do when he does play.
02:06What he can do?
02:08What he can do when he plays.
02:09What a question you make, you make me so, he's a keeper, it's one-on-one,
02:14cannot play left back, James, you know?
02:18And that moment you have a keeper, it's Jijos playing in that position,
02:21but he's a top-cup keeper, there's no doubt about that.
02:24So I'm really pleased he can play two more games, play Champions League, you know?
02:29I'm a guy who want to give opportunities to everyone.
02:31He's Leverkusen, when we play to qualify in the first eight, so look what happened.
02:35So I put him with new 10 players and because I rely on him,
02:43that's why today with James, with Rico, with Kusa, with Nathan, with Divine,
02:48you know, and these players that didn't play much recently,
02:53they performed really, really well and hold up in attention
02:56and playing and aggressive.
02:58First half we struggled to be more aggressive in our pressing,
03:02was not top because we didn't bring as much play as a back four
03:09in a position more forward, that's why we struggled.
03:13But yeah, we have a good result and we struggled in the first 10-15 minutes
03:21to take the game.
03:23But after that, with the two actions with Sabino and Oskar in behind,
03:26we took the game and especially I'm really pleased for the impact for the guys.
03:31I came for the bench because in the second half Ryan Cherky could not,
03:35didn't do again the job he should do defensively,
03:39had no energy to do it, Sabino neither,
03:42and that's why with the impact from Josco, from Mateus,
03:46and especially from Bernardo helped us a lot to increase our rhythm.
03:50And of course I didn't want to play Nico Gonzalez, Nico Reilly with 90 minutes again,
03:5690 minutes, they played a lot of minutes and we have Saturday
03:59a massively important game against West Ham.
04:01And like I feel, I didn't want to play the minutes that they played,
04:05but the injury for Oskar could happen that.
04:08But yeah, everyone came for the bench, it was really, really good
04:11that they went to the new team and we're in semi-final again.
04:13So, really pleased.
04:15You said when we were in Madrid that it was a new group
04:18and they had to learn to play on these big stages.
04:21Obviously there's lots of players in your squad who have won a lot,
04:23there are some players who haven't won anything yet.
04:25You're going to have a big semi-final now in January
04:27and the possibility of a final.
04:29Is that going to help this group possibly with the way the season pans out?
04:32It's an early chance to get a trophy under their belt
04:34to go on and do bigger and better things.
04:36As much as you play important games, decisive games,
04:38like finals or important games in Europe, you learn, absolutely,
04:42because of course Leverkusen were not ready,
04:44but until we scored a goal in Madrid we were not ready too.
04:48But the players like play regularly,
04:49so it's not a problem with that player or that player,
04:51it's a question of everyone to understand.
04:54And today you can look at everyone who's trying,
04:56everyone who's trying, Sabino goes and Oskar goes
04:58and Rico wins the ball and everyone who wins the ball.
05:01And after making mistakes against teams like Isman Markin,
05:04it's not easy to play and we are struggling certain moments to that,
05:10but who is not struggling with Brentford, right?
05:13So it was a difficult, difficult tough,
05:17but we didn't concede much chances against.
05:19And we controlled the game without a false nine,
05:22without a proper striker.
05:24First Ryan, after Phil, after Tijani,
05:26to try to make a lot of passes, a lot of runners from behind.
05:29And they read really well and we deserve to be in the semi-final.
05:34Pep, you said that the West Ham game would be the priority,
05:37you made seven changes.
05:38How important is it then for the squad that you were able to win tonight?
05:43We've had a run of a lot of games, from Merlin for example,
05:47from Ruben and the other one, they have to be ready.
05:50We have to have seven days before Nottingham,
05:52we have four or five days before Sunderland,
05:54and after, again, the crazy schedule.
05:57But, so we have to do, we talk about a lot these days, guys,
06:01be everybody connected today.
06:03The guys didn't play, stay in the bench, be connected,
06:06and they prove it.
06:07Mateus was so focused, Bernardo's always.
06:10So everybody was there.
06:13Josco arrived, it was an incredible commit,
06:16and we need three more days, you know?
06:18It was a long week, we have time to prepare our game,
06:21we don't have much time, tomorrow is nothing training,
06:24and just one day, where I used to, of course,
06:27and prepare with our fans to win that important game,
06:31to finish before the, you know, this little break,
06:34longer than usual, being, yeah, up there.
06:38Keith Andrews just said that he felt Kusinov should have been sent off.
06:42What was your view of that?
06:44Would you have been surprised if he had been sent off?
06:46Tomorrow training in the training ground, I invite him to a cafe,
06:48we'll discuss off that with him.
06:51Last one, Bertone.
06:53Hi, Pep, you mentioned playing with false nines tonight.
06:55Obviously, you used to play like that all the time a few years ago.
06:59Is it harder to switch back to that style,
07:01or do guys like Phil and Ryan make it pretty straightforward?
07:04If Omar is here, we would not have played in that way.
07:06Omar is in the American-African Cup, so other players, no.
07:13It's just a state to be there, drop, and play.
07:17This is a false nines.
07:19And Cherky can do it, Phil can do it, Bernardo can do it,
07:22Divane can do it, Tijani can do it.
07:24So, just to, in this type of teams like physicality,
07:28and make a transition teams, as much as you make a lot of passes
07:31in the wrong moment attack, and you have a proper two wingers
07:34to do that movement, because with a false nines you need a wingers
07:38make a movement to byline, and Oscar can do it.
07:41Unfortunately, Oscar was injured and now have a problem,
07:43because I have to use Divane, that is not the perfect position for him,
07:47but his work ethic was really good and really pleased for how he played.
07:51Thank you, everyone.
07:52Thank you, good night.
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