Thu 19 August 2021, 22:30
Tottenham Hotspur“No excuses.” That was the message from Nuno Espirito Santo after our 1-0 loss against Pacos de Ferreira in our UEFA Europa Conference League play-off, first leg on Thursday night.
Nuno took a considered view after Lucas Silva struck the only goal of the game for the Portuguese Primeira Liga side just before half-time at the Estadio Capital do Movel.
We fielded a young side with Academy graduates Dane Scarlett and Nile John joining summer arrivals Pierluigi Gollini, Cristian Romero and Bryan Gil in making their first competitive starts for us. J’Neil Bennett and Maksim Paskotsi made their debuts off the bench and Ryan Sessegnon was back after injury.
“It was a tough game, but we didn’t play well,” said Nuno. “We moved the ball well in the first half but lost too many passes. Let’s look at that and start to improve it.
“No excuses. The boys are working well and hard, many are getting back and trying to get the right performance level that competition in all football requires. We’ll get there. Let’s analyse the match, because there were things we did well, but many things that we didn’t do so well.”
Asked what he took from the performance, Nuno added: “First of all, the decision was to give competition and minutes to our players so we can grow and improve.
“At the same time, I saw players who gave everything they have in difficult circumstances. In the second half, of course, the young lads coming in made the team a bit unbalanced, but at the same time, this is how we improve players. Dane had 90 minutes and realised that playing against tough central defenders is hard.
“We have a second leg but now, let’s focus on Wolves at the weekend and then we’ll have time to think about the second leg.”
