Vitor Pereira says he didn’t recognise his team in the first half at Anfield, but described the second half performance as “fantastic”.
The Old Gold trailed 2-0 at the break, and had caused Liverpool few problems, but after a number of substitutions and change in approach, the game was turned on its head and Matheus Cunha’s strike reduced the deficit.
The league leaders didn’t register a shot in the second half, and while an equaliser failed to materialise for Pereira’s side, he saw enough in second half performance to leave in a positive frame of mind.
On deserving something from the game
“This is football, but I believe that when we play good football, with identity, with our tools, with our qualities, we deserve to get something from football. I want to win games with merit. I want to win games because we deserve to win. The second half was fantastic, in my opinion, it was the team that I want to build.
“The first half was a team afraid, with too much respect, in my opinion, and this is not our game. We cannot come to Anfield just to be part of the party. I will think about the next game, and in the next game I will push my team to play as I saw my team playing in the second half.”
On the message at the break
“I just asked them to play to their level. Play with courage, play with confidence. The moments that we should press, we must go to press them, because they will commit mistakes. We must have the ball. We must create situations. Don't be afraid to respect yourself. We must respect ourselves, our identity, our work, and this is what I said to them.”
On being frustrated by decisions
“I had some doubts on some decisions, but I cannot change the decisions. It's football. I cannot complain because the game finished. I can do nothing about it. It's time to start thinking about the next game and to take something positive from this game. The lesson is we are the team that I saw in the second half. The first half was a team that I didn't recognise on the pitch.”
On getting a full performance
“Against Aston Villa, in my opinion, we played a fantastic game for 90 minutes. That's what I want from my team, I don't care if it's Liverpool or Aston Villa, I don't care. It's about us, only about us. We must go and play in our way. Try to force our way, to play with confidence, risk, quality, because we have quality, and this is the message.
“We saw the second half. We pressed them, we tried to create a chance. We scored and we had chances to score more. And this is the way to play football. This is the way.”
On losing Agbadou to injury
“Another lesson that we must learn is when we feel something, it’s important to go out of the game in the right time, and not to force it, because now we got an injury, and if he spoke with us at half time, maybe we would do a change enough time.”
