“I was boiling up on the touchline,”
“I am also not accustomed to doing pre-match interviews, I don’t even speak to my family for 2-3 hours before a match, let alone the media, but there are rules and I must get used to it.
“It was a lot of suffering, because we were up against a good team with fine players and they are well-drilled.
“We prepare for games with video lessons and whiteboards, but don’t get time to work in training on the pitch and we are missing a lot of things. We need to be far more present with attacking and defending duels.
“In any case, we always see a good reaction and it is easier to work when we have positive results to build on. There is a lot that needs to be improved, we cannot always allow 5-6 scoring opportunities.”
“We are playing against quality opponents and are going to struggle if we don’t do what we prepared. It went better after the break, especially after we conceded the goal. We’ve got to be more solid as a unit, we cannot allow the opponents to keep passing it around us so easily.
“I tell the lads, the foundations of football are solidity. If you do not concede, then with the quality at our disposal, we will score eventually. In four games, we have completed a comeback three times to win, so that means there is character. We can improve physically, tactically, technically and in terms of attitude.
“I can talk for two hours, but if they don’t get it into their heads, then it becomes difficult,” continued Conceicao.
“We need more pressing, more intensity, a lot of work to be done. We have clear ideas, but the players were not accustomed to a certain type of work. They think that if they press high, then they end up running more. That is not true, you run less.
“This is my whole philosophy of football. Naturally, we also have a lot of players who do not have these characteristics, so we are trying to change them. We have everything to gain.”
“Isma went off because he was on a yellow card and it was risky in midfield, but it is also true that he and Fofana need to improve the way they occupy the space with and without the ball.”
“Morata also had a muscular problem and we preferred not to risk it. We’re checking the work that was done before we got here, we need to improve in our fitness levels too, because we need intensity for my football and at this moment we are missing something,” concluded Conceicao.