Following a run of two games which saw Eliezer Mayenda miss the best chance of each game, the young forward was criticised heavily before we faced off against Sheffield United, but the gaffer remained confident in Mayenda as he said he would and we have reaped the rewards from that after a standout performance on Wednesday night.
SUPPORT
“I spoke about it in the last press conference, young players deserve support. I think we showed the whole team, the fans, the staff, the club - that Eli could play like this. He played a good game, I think. I didn't say much (to Mayenda) after the Stoke game. We slept for two days to recover, there wasn't time! At the end of the Stoke game, I just said, 'It's done, it's finished. Now it is the next game’. We deserved to win that game because we had many chances, but we didn't. So, we just had to stop, not overthink. Football is like this, and we did well tonight.”
TOUGH GAME
“It was a tough game. Sheffield played very good football and with the players we had in the squad, we played with a different style. We had to control the way they play, especially through our lines. When it was possible to recover the ball, we knew that we had two quick players to run in behind and to threaten the space in behind their defence. We did very well in this part of the game."
AVOIDED A LATE EQUALISER
“At 2-1, they pushed a lot for a goal, and the spirit of our team was very good, we were connected with the fans and we felt their energy. And we avoided a late equaliser. We could have scored again, but this was a balanced game, I think. We know that just one decision, one sequence can make a difference.”
