One long pass from Aymeric Laporte cut Wolves open and presented the opening goal to Gabriel Jesus. From there, and after Willy Boly’s red card, the task was a big one, but the head coach still took heart from his side’s character at the Etihad Stadium.
On the first goal
“We are in shape, we are organised, then it’s a 30-yard pass that breaks us.
“There’s no doubt about it, Man City controlled the game and had chances, but we had a plan and it was about our defensive organisiation to try and stay in the game, so with the goal and red card everything went down.
“It’s difficult to stop them but you try to avoid certain situations, knowing that they will break. Then we have to balance ourselves, but I must see better. We must improve.”
On the Red card
“I spoke with the fourth official and it’s a red card, no doubt about it. It becomes very hard, playing against 11 is tough, so with one less it’s harder.
“One of the things Man City have is their possession, we had to trap them in the right places, but we had one man less, so the midfield was short and it started falling apart.”
On the positives
“We showed character, we were brave to stay in the game, always working hard, but we can’t stop all the chances for Man City.
“We tried to have speed and to maintain the organisation, then play clearly on the counter attack.
“You have to stay compact, knowing the result is going to be difficult. You have to work yourself until the end and my boys did it, so we must look ahead to the next challenge at home.”
On learning from the game
“We are learning every day, since last season. What we try is to concentrate on ourselves. We know that we must do better to compete against such a big and fantastic team.
“There’s always a challenge for us. We can’t erase the game from our memories, but we’ll try because what is important is the next one.”
