While disappointed with some of his side’s defending in the Stateside Cup against Crystal Palace, Gary O’Neil took heart from the threat his team posed in the final third.
Although Santiago Bueno’s tap in was all they had to show for their opportunities, the Old Gold looked dangerous, and on another evening could have been the winning side. It means the head coach is happy with the state of his squad, on the injury front – apart from the absent Matheus Cunha – and in terms of the information being taken in each day on the training pitch.
On a mixed evening in Annapolis
“We conceded two goals from their goalkeeper kicking it over our heads, so there’s a couple of lessons to learn there for the lads. The first one was maybe a bit unfortunate; the bounce of the pitch wasn’t normal and ‘Bents’ maybe just misjudged it slightly. The second one is really poor, booting it over our heads and nobody is ready to race.
“But I thought we looked like a good side for a lot of it. I thought we looked threatening. We had good control against a difficult side, in a difficult shape to play against. The boys who played today were not the ones who started against West Ham, so it was good for them to get some good minutes in the legs. I don’t like losing, but it terms of what we came to get out of the game, it was a good exercise.”
On creating chances
“Rodrigo had two great chances off crosses again. We had a couple of goals that were just offside. Plenty of threat, I thought. Maybe a bit of a sloppy spell after half-time, where we lost our way a little bit, but I’m looking forward to watching it back. It is a difficult shape to play against, but I thought we had a real good go at it, and maybe just killed ourselves – you don’t see many goals scored with punts from the goalkeeper nowadays.”
On the squad’s state
“We have good numbers available to us at the moment. We made nine changes I think, and the team still looked strong. We’ve still got four or five missing, so to be able to make nine changes and still look like the same team, and still carry the same threat, was good. We’d have struggled to make that many changes last season.
“I’m sure there will be movements in and out, but we’re better equipped depth wise. We have quality missing with Mathues and Pedro – real game changers – but I thought the lads who played gave everything and showed moments of quality, and we should have found a way to make it easier for ourselves.
“The group’s in a good spot fitness wise. Disappointed that we’ve lost Matheus for a little while, but apart from that, everyone’s in a good spot.”
On Doyle taking the armband
“We haven’t decided on a vice captain, but Tommy’s good with the standards he sets. He’s more than capable of wearing it and still performing as you saw, because he played well. I don’t like calling it a leadership group, but there will be people within the group who I’ll lean on because of how they are, and Tommy will be in and amongst those. Matheus and Nelson are missing and two leaders for the group, so I’m looking forward to getting the group back together.
“The game on Saturday will be a good one for us. We’ve got some fresh legs now from not using them tonight, or only using them for a little while. It will be a tough test – Leipzig are a Champions League team. Disappointing to lose, but apart from the two goals, I thought we performed well and showed signs of progression.”
