On Conor Bradley’s display…
I think it’s nice for him, nice for his family, nice for us but it’s also very nice for the Academy, that a player that comes through the ranks at the Academy does so well. And not only him – Caoimh was outstanding today, Curtis [Jones] was outstanding today. Probably all of them were outstanding but to have three Academy players in your team doing so well is also a big compliment for the Academy this club has. And Conor did very well. But I’m totally not surprised by him doing so well because he showed this already last season and showed this in this season in training sessions and in games as well. So, very nice for him.
On whether Kelleher’s form and Alisson Becker’s impending return gives him a ‘difficult decision’…
I think every decision I have to make is a difficult one, because we have so many quality players. I’ve been clear about that situation but tonight shouldn’t be about that, it should be about Caoimh being so important for us. It was a big moment for him also I think; if you see Mbappe behind the ball, I thought probably what everybody thought – and what everybody also thought when Mo stepped up – ‘This ball is probably going to go in’. And he saved it, so it was a big moment for him, a special moment for him. So, let that be the headlines and not the other thing I was quite clear about one or two weeks ago.
On the Reds’ improvement between the two halves being a theme of the season…
I think the effort we put in during the first half helps us to be as good as we are in the second half. If you play again at this level, it’s so difficult to outplay them already in the first half but you invest, you invest, you invest – you keep on running, keep being aggressive, keep trying to press them high. And then in the second half, it’s not only with us but you see more goals in the second half than the first half. That has all to do with the players also getting tired. We also invest in the first half to show up even in a better way in the second half.
The good thing about the second half is [that] before they go out [at kick-off], we always prepare them what to expect from what we have seen from them until now. But what we saw from them until now was with Vinicius [Jr.], now they lined up without Vinicius. So, after the first half we know better what to expect than we knew before the game. Maybe sometimes these small adjustments help us as well, but it has mainly to do with the effort we put in during the first half already.
