Edwards admits players got overawed at Anfield in Liverpool loss
Edwards admits players got overawed at Anfield in Liverpool loss
Transcript
00:00 Hello.
00:02 (SIGHS)
00:04 Oh, my last one.
00:20 Oh, my nice...
00:30 You dared to dream, didn't you, for 45 minutes?
00:32 Yeah, we just made them angry, I think, didn't we?
00:34 Yeah.
00:35 I thought it was, overall...
00:40 ...a really good first-half performance.
00:44 Second half, I just thought we saw Anfield,
00:46 we saw Liverpool, we saw that full-throttle football,
00:48 their counter-pressing was incredible,
00:50 suffocated us, fans were amazing,
00:52 and it was probably difficult for the players to really concentrate
00:55 and play like we had done in the first half.
01:00 In the end, I think it'd be great learning for us
01:03 to see what the best looks like.
01:05 I know they had some players missing today,
01:07 but I thought their performance in the second half
01:09 was almost like they had the best team out there anyway,
01:11 with the intensity they played at,
01:13 and with the speed that they played at.
01:15 Played a little bit into their hands, made some mistakes in the second half,
01:18 but we'll learn from it, dust ourselves down,
01:20 and hopefully get better from it.
01:22 Lots to like, I thought we were very, very good, they were better.
01:25 Yeah, I thought they started a little bit stronger,
01:32 talking about the first half,
01:34 but then I thought we really grew into it,
01:36 and we looked good, took some control,
01:38 looked a threat, got the goal,
01:40 and they're going to start coming after us,
01:44 and they did, but we were still stepping forward
01:47 and we were still able to take the ball.
01:49 Second half, hopefully Sambi's all right,
01:53 but we'll have to see how he is,
01:55 we're forced into making the change.
01:57 Probably played into their hands a little bit too short,
02:01 didn't use that space that was in behind,
02:03 they were able to step onto us,
02:05 and they suffocated us in that second half.
02:07 I have to credit the lads, they kept going,
02:09 they kept trying to do the right things,
02:11 the right things that we see,
02:13 the things that are going to help us long-term.
02:16 Tried to step forward, tried to keep pressing,
02:18 we were still pushing at the end,
02:19 we didn't sit back and just accept defeat,
02:23 we kept going, finished off with a few set pieces,
02:26 one or two half moments.
02:28 I'm proud of the players,
02:30 but tonight we came up against a better team,
02:32 an incredible atmosphere,
02:34 and in that second half we just experienced
02:36 what an elite looks like.
02:38 You've taken Northern Felt again,
02:40 and the ground-clap was meant for Chieri?
02:42 Yeah, great for Chieri, that's where we want our wide players
02:44 to be arriving when the ball comes into the box,
02:46 so really pleased for him.
02:48 Lovely moment for him, scoring the Kop end,
02:50 it was great for him,
02:52 but I'm sure we'll reflect on that later on.
02:55 It's brilliant for him when you think about his journey
02:58 and where he's come from and where he's at now,
03:00 it's fantastic, but it will hurt,
03:02 it will hurt me, it hurts the players right now,
03:04 it's always hard to come out and speak after a defeat like that.
03:07 Did that defeat hurt that day?
03:09 Yeah, we limited them probably more to shots from outside the box,
03:13 one or two half moments,
03:14 one was an acrobatic volley where someone's leg appeared from nowhere,
03:18 but not too many dangerous moments.
03:22 I felt like we had as much threat as them in the first half,
03:25 although they had more shots,
03:27 but in the second half I just think their real threat
03:32 came from their counter-press and their intensity,
03:34 it really put us on the back foot,
03:36 and clearly it's disappointing to concede from a corner
03:38 and a throw-in as well.
03:40 So those are the bits that we know we can improve on,
03:42 especially when there's that noise and when your mate next to you can't hear you,
03:47 you've got to be able to deal with those situations better.
03:50 But look, bigger and better teams have come here
03:52 and that's happened to them as well,
03:55 so it's not a disgrace for us,
03:57 I don't think we look like a bad team,
03:59 I just think we struggled in certain bits in the second half
04:02 and played a bit into their hands,
04:04 and credit to them, I thought they were brilliant in the second half.
04:08 Sam, is it the same hand game?
04:10 I'm not sure if it's the same, he's just feeling it lower hamstring,
04:13 so in the end it was the right thing to do to take him out,
04:16 he wasn't comfortable to carry on,
04:18 so we really hope he's OK, we'll have to see.
04:20 And that's been crushed together, right?
04:22 Yeah, he's been brilliant.
04:24 We're asking our lads to do a lot of work,
04:26 work really hard and run hard at the moment,
04:28 all the time, and when you're playing against the best teams,
04:31 and you played against United a few days ago
04:33 and now you're going up against Liverpool,
04:35 the intensity in our running is high,
04:38 and you're always at risk then to muscle strains.
04:41 I know there's been a lot this year,
04:43 and I know Liverpool have got their own injury problems as well,
04:46 it's hard to keep everyone out on the pitch all the time.
04:49 Speaking of the second half, the first one and the second one,
04:52 the side-cards are sort of coming out of the building.
04:54 Yeah, it was like the Kop was just sucking it in,
04:56 and it couldn't really get out.
04:58 As I say, we saw Anfield and Liverpool at its best,
05:02 I thought they were brilliant.
05:04 You kept going, you could have brought them back onside...
05:06 Yeah, we kept going, and that's one thing we'll always promise,
05:09 we've got a lot of supporters who came to watch us
05:12 and paid a lot of money to get here,
05:14 travelled a long way to get here,
05:16 and we'll never surrender or give up, we'll keep fighting.
05:19 The fans saw that as well,
05:22 we have to accept sometimes defeat against a better team,
05:26 but it wasn't due to lack of effort
05:28 or us trying to do what we feel are the right things.
05:31 Rob, just to mention Anfield there,
05:34 it's the opposite from Man Utd,
05:36 is there anything you can do to prepare for an atmosphere like that?
05:38 Or is it just one of those years of experience you haven't had?
05:40 Maybe it's a coming-of-age experience,
05:42 we look at our group and there won't be many
05:44 that have experienced Anfield like that,
05:46 so there'll be a bit of good learning for us there.
05:48 Hopefully in the future, if we can still be coming back here,
05:51 it'll be great, that's got to be our aim.
05:53 So maybe we can just manage those moments a little bit better,
05:58 but you almost have to live through some of that to get better,
06:03 for next time and in other situations like it.
06:06 I just said to some of our younger players there, Chong-E to Ted,
06:11 in a way it's good, what's happened is good,
06:15 because we'll get better from it.
06:17 We have difficult moments, I don't go in ranting and raving
06:20 unless I see a lack of work ethic.
06:23 We learn from the areas we've made mistakes in tonight
06:26 and hopefully that will stand us in good stead going forward.
06:29 All right, thank you guys.
06:31 Thank you guys.