Nuno Espirito Santo gives his views after Tottenham lose against Pacos de Ferreira
Speaking in the post-match interview on Thursday night (h/t Daily Mail), Nuno Espirito Santo chose to remain positive after Tottenham Hotspur were handed their first loss of the season facing Pacos de Ferreira in the play-offs of the UEFA Europa Conference League.
A narrow 1-0 loss courtesy of a Lucas Silva goal means that Spurs have some work to do in the second leg next week at home.
Spurs went in with a radically altered lineup with the view to giving the quad player and youngsters some chances. A few debuts were handed to new signings such as Bryan Gil and Pierluigi Gollini while Christian Romero was handed a full start.
However, with such a rotated side in play, Spurs failed to produce much of note and a defensive collapse meant that Lucas Silva went through on goal. He had no trouble slotting it in past Gollini. There were a lot of concerns raised after the game regarding the squad depth of the side.
Nuno Santo addressed some of the issues in his side
Nuno Espirito Santo spoke out on how the loss was a bit of a kick to the morale after the fabulous win over Manchester City.
“Of course it impacts a lot. Nobody likes to lose a game or not play good. The feel-good factor disappears. This is football. It is up and down but they have to bounce back. This is what we are going to do. We are going to work tomorrow to prepare for the next one. The good part of football is that it gives you the chance immediately and we have a chance on Sunday.”
Bryan Gil was given his first cap as a Spurs player and even though he impressed in patches, the tactical switch to shift him to the right backfired. He looked lost on the opposite flank as Spurs searched for the equaliser. Nuno also spoke about the issue.
“I think Bryan started well, but that’s my responsibility. I think we still have to find the right position for him and give him exact tasks. In this game, he changed two times his position and it’s not the best way to go to improve a player.”
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Spurs will now have a deficit to overcome next week and from the display in the first leg display, it would be hard to see these players retain their places. A lot of the first-team regulars might be recalled into the side to salvage the game. Nuno will be hoping he can still retain some of the names such as Gil who impressed initially.
