\n Did that require a lot of the same characteristics as Sunday?\n<\/p>\n
\n TE: Yeah, I think that’s fair to say. I think it’s a different team today to the one that we played against on the weekend.\n<\/p>\n
\n It’s probably one of the best teams in the league to break you down. Philippe [Clement] and Norwich just have so much quality on the ball.\n<\/p>\n
\n It’s not easy to defend that. We knew before the game that it’s going to be a tough one. They will push us down whether we want to or not.\n<\/p>\n
\n There will be some moments closer to our box that we need to defend, and I think that we needed to grow into the game a little bit.\n<\/p>\n
\n There were one or two situations, especially at the very beginning, where we didn’t get the ball down on the ground quickly. The pitch was quite open.\n<\/p>\n
\n Then we grew into the game, got more and more control. Obviously, you never want to be forced to make as many substitutions as we had to.\n<\/p>\n
\n We had a substitution early, then two at half-time, but it is what it is. You have to find a way. As nice as it was on Sunday, we didn’t want to end a man down.\n<\/p>\n
\n Then it leaves you with only two slots, two players in the second half against a team that runs a lot with probably one of the highest physical outputs.\n<\/p>\n
\n Together with Swansea, it’s probably the most that you have all season. Then you need to find a way, and I think the players did that.\n<\/p>\n
\n How important was it to get that first away win this season?\n<\/p>\n
\n TE: Yes, I think that we were close a couple of games, and that also comes into the considerations for the line-up today.\n<\/p>\n
\n I think away from home we had a couple of games that we just need to finish better. We had some good performances on the road as well.\n<\/p>\n
\n But we didn’t finish them the way that we need to. That was different today. I’m very happy with the boys who started and gave the game a lot of energy.\n<\/p>\n
\n I’m also very happy with all of the ones that finished.\n<\/p>\n
\n What were you thinking with your initial team lineup?\n<\/p>\n
\n TE: These considerations are complex. There’s so much that comes into play. Norwich are one of the most compact teams in the 4-4-2.\n<\/p>\n
\n They don’t really like to drop into a back-five, but sometimes you have the chance to play in behind a bit quicker than you might against other teams.\n<\/p>\n
\n That was the reason why we needed two runners, and we decided to go with Sammie and Dobs because we had the feeling we could get in behind.\n<\/p>\n
\n At the same time, if you don’t have Cyle on the pitch, you might need a little bit more physicality to defend some set-pieces in your box.\n<\/p>\n
\n Breezy has played with one eye only against Pompey and also today, so probably he’s not the one who can really compensate in that very moment.\n<\/p>\n
\n We decided on Zach for his application, for the energy that he brings, and also for his physicality. It’s a lot of considerations that go into it.\n<\/p>\n
\n I’m happy with everyone who was on the pitch today.\n<\/p>\n
\n Are you satisfied with your performance as manager?\n<\/p>\n
\n TE: I said this to the players, I feel there are a couple of games where I can help them a little bit more than I did today.\n<\/p>\n
\n I felt that was the same against Norwich at home. For me, similar games. I think that we had to suffer against Norwich at home as well.\n<\/p>\n
\n For some reason, I don’t know, I think there are games where I can help the players more than I did today, so for me, this one today is on the players.\n<\/p>\n
\n How big of a concern is the Downes ankle injury?\n<\/p>\n
\n TE: He said, ‘Strap me up, and I’ll play on Saturday’, so let’s see how that goes. It’s the outside ligaments on the ankle. Outside is not as bad normally.\n<\/p>\n
\n But we’ll assess tomorrow and then we’ll see for the weekend.\n<\/p>\n
\n Jander was just unbelievable; how does he do it?\n<\/p>\n
\n TE: Yeah, to be fair, I have the same. I don’t know how he does it. I have no idea. Really, I have no idea. He was not even supposed to be in the squad.\n<\/p>\n
\n I had a fight with the medical staff- well, a fight is too much, obviously, I never fight- but a conversation about how we may potentially use him.\n<\/p>\n
\n Now that [Cameron] Bragg was out, the plan was a little bit different for this week, but he was not really supposed to play more than 20 minutes.\n<\/p>\n
\n I don’t know how he does it.\n<\/p>\n
\n How good is it to have Dobbin as an option up front now?\n<\/p>\n
\n TE: He was absolutely fantastic. He had so much energy. I haven’t seen the data, but I don’t even think I need to see it, he’s run so much today.\n<\/p>\n
\n He’s given it everything. He’s broken on some transitions, and they could only stop him with a foul. I thought that Lewis was very good.\n<\/p>\n
\n Was Abbott not at the level you expected this evening?\n<\/p>\n
\n TE: I was very happy with Zach today. I think he had a fantastic 45 minutes, but with the booking, I only wanted to protect him.\n<\/p>\n
\n Was Scienza’s benching a tactical decision or response to Sunday?\n<\/p>\n
\n TE: There’s always a lot to consider. If you look at Norwich, you need to defend down on the wings a lot, a lot more than you do against other teams.\n<\/p>\n
\n Then maybe you sometimes swing around a little bit more, as we’ve done against Millwall, but I felt that today there’s going to be a lot of work.\n<\/p>\n
\n We need to track down, and that was the decision for the line-up today, but there’s a big one coming up on Saturday against Bolton.\n<\/p>\n
\n Leo has shown time and time again how important he is for us, and I’m sure that he will have a great game on Saturday.\n<\/p>\n
\n Was Mubama disappointed not to start even when Larin didn’t?\n<\/p>\n
\n TE: Yeah, it’s difficult, and rightly so; he’s disappointed, because I think he’s an ambitious striker with a lot of confidence, and I want him to be that way.\n<\/p>\n
\n There are always decisions to take, and there’s been an international break; Lewis has been with us over the whole international break.\n<\/p>\n
\n We played a game against Aston Villa, and he played up there as a nine, and I have just a feeling and an impression from him over the last weeks.\n<\/p>\n
\n With a long period when you are not there during the break, and it’s been a late transfer, then there are considerations to make.\n<\/p>\n
\n I think that Divin also would have deserved to start today, and I’m sure that he would have played a game on a great level, but rightly so.\n<\/p>\n
\n He’s disappointed if he doesn’t start. That’s normal. Then later it’s important to trust him on the pitch and make sure we bring the three points home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Did that require a lot of the same characteristics as Sunday? TE: Yeah, I think that’s fair to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":803228,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-803227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/803228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}