00:00Good evening, everyone. If you have a question, raise your hand and we'll come to you.
00:10I think we'll kick off with Tom from Football London.
00:18After the Wolves game, you weren't happy with the performance.
00:21A week later, how are you happy with the response the players have given you tonight?
00:24Well, very happy with the results, with big parts of the performance
00:28against a team that is very difficult to beat, really well organised.
00:32They can really stress you in the way they play.
00:35The game can become chaotic.
00:37We didn't allow that happening except of one sequence of two corners
00:41and one throw after we kicked the ball out of play.
00:44In the second half, we had three massive chances to put the second goal or the third one.
00:49We didn't do it and you can suffer at the end.
00:52We didn't because we haven't conceded anything,
00:54but overall the margins maybe they could have been bigger.
00:58And just on Victor, naturally we've been talking about how much he's been spoken about in recent weeks.
01:02So for him to get the crucial goal must lift the whole weight off his shoulders.
01:05Yes, very happy for him.
01:07They took ownership on the pitch between Martin Bucayo and him to decide who was the taker.
01:13And they made a great decision because Victor put the ball in the back of the net.
01:17Sam Telegraf.
01:19Hi, Michele. Just a word on Declan Rice.
01:21I know we ask about him every week, but it's another very impressive performance.
01:25Unbelievable.
01:26His all-around play, his leadership on the pitch, the amount of balls that he regained as well,
01:31that allowed us to run, has been incredibly consistent this year again.
01:36What a massive place for us he is.
01:38Do you feel at all that your team was a little bit lucky not to concede a penalty
01:42with the Saliba and the Barry incident?
01:44I know they checked it. I haven't seen the image. I haven't seen even our penalty as well.
01:49So, I don't know. They made a decision.
01:51We are all involved in a lot of situations in the box.
01:54So I don't want to really comment too much on that.
01:57Isan Dalimau.
01:59Hi, Michele.
02:00Hi.
02:01What were your thoughts on Martin Odegaard obviously gifting the penalty to Jokra?
02:05Is it kind of...
02:06Great decision.
02:07It kind of, not finished yet.
02:08It kind of, it kind of had similarities to September 2023 when he gave Havertz the ball.
02:13Bournemouth.
02:14Bournemouth.
02:15Bournemouth, yes.
02:16And he obviously scored.
02:17Does that kind of show the selflessness of the captain and going out of his way to help
02:22a player under scrutiny?
02:23Yes.
02:24I agree with that.
02:25And as well the confidence on the player.
02:27Because obviously he practices every day and he's unbelievable at it.
02:32And he put the ball in the back of the net.
02:34So I love when players take ownership and decide by themselves what is the best decision.
02:40That's something really positive.
02:41And what were your thoughts on Martin's performance particularly in the second half?
02:44He seemed to grow into the game a bit more with his passing.
02:46Yeah.
02:47He was much more.
02:48He was much more vertical as well.
02:49We find so many spaces.
02:50We find him to have more vertical attacks as well.
02:53The moment they started to be more aggressive in their press.
02:56And yeah.
02:57And in those moments we should decide the game a bit earlier.
03:00And Mikel, this is the third time in four years you're going to be top at Christmas.
03:05What gives you confidence and belief that this time will be different and you could
03:09go on and win the title?
03:10What gives me belief and confidence is the level of performance and the consistency of
03:16that.
03:17I mean that's very, very difficult to do in this league.
03:20And that means that the team is constantly there.
03:23And nothing.
03:24Enjoy the process of winning.
03:25And you're going to have to go to difficult places.
03:28You're going to have difficult moments.
03:30We have dealt with a lot of things already.
03:32And we are there.
03:33And what are we going to do?
03:34Work for the next game.
03:35Try to improve and make sure that everybody is with that spirit and energy and enjoying
03:40that.
03:41Mart Ataitik.
03:42Hi Mikel.
03:43You mentioned a couple of times there the margins could have been bigger.
03:46Is that something you felt as a theme throughout these kind of recent games?
03:50Because it seemed that games have been a bit tighter than maybe they needed to be.
03:54Yes.
03:55But okay, you hit the post twice, you know, with players that are normally in those positions,
03:58they're going to put the ball in the net.
04:00But it's what it is.
04:01We have to try.
04:02We have to continue.
04:03The more we insist, the more will happen and the margins will be bigger.
04:06And that's what we have to try to do.
04:08And a few times when you've got to this period of the season, I remember a couple of seasons
04:13ago, you mentioned ball speed being really important.
04:16I was just wondering how you felt that's been in these games, especially in the first
04:21half here before the penalty.
04:23How did you feel your team were moving the ball?
04:26At the end, you have to dominate the tempo of the game.
04:28In order to do that, you have to understand what the game requires when you have to play
04:31really fast, when you have to slow the game down.
04:34If you provoke the things that you want to provoke with the ball, it's right.
04:39But sometimes when you have to be more incisive, more aggressive, you have to speed up the game.
04:44And today we have moments that we read that really well, and other times that we were
04:47a bit hesitant to make the right decision.
04:50And that's something that we can improve.
04:52And finally, Matt from The Standard.
04:53Hi, Michael.
04:54What was the difference, do you think, in the approach in terms of seeing out the lead
04:57this week in what was fairly comfortable compared to last weekend against Wolves?
05:03Well, against Wolves we generated many more entrants in the box.
05:06And when we reviewed the match, the amount of situation that we have, overloads in the box,
05:09and the ball hasn't arrived into the right spot, it was unbelievable.
05:13And without really considering nothing until the last cross, again, the margin should have
05:19been bigger.
05:20But that's what we have to do.
05:21Learn while we are winning.
05:24Okay, guys.
05:25Before I leave, guys, I want to congratulate everybody at this football club at Everton.
05:30Everybody has contributed building this amazing stadium because it was incredible to witness,
05:35not only the way they've done it, the atmosphere that they created,
05:38some as an ex-player and someone that supports this club.
05:42So congratulations to all of them.
05:44Yeah.
05:46We're good.
05:47Sam, have you got a final one on Palace?
05:48Did you have a question on Palace?
05:50Yeah, we'll do a couple of questions for Palace.
05:52Yeah, that's what I was trying to flag in the room.
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