“That comes at the expense of some control defensively. The best of the first half and the best of the second half, combined, is what we’re striving for as we move forward.
“It was so important today that the crowd felt behind me in this stadium, that there was a response from the players. We needed to be able to respond as coaching staff too, had that not been the case, then the disappointment would’ve been doubled – I’m constructive enough to see that tonight.
“Whilst everyone is incredibly disappointed, to a person, in this stadium, everyone will reflect on how important that sense of energy was ahead of Tuesday night.
“It’s normally important to speak to the players at the end of the game, so that everyone leaves on the same page. In a situation like this, there are never magic words that make this situation better, but I know we’ve got an honest group of players who are calling for what we’ve talked about.
“We want to know what we set out to do, where we fell short and where we achieved. I’ve learned about the group tonight, and that was a really important thing, irrespective of outcome – we needed that information for us to take forwards.
“I will go to bed disappointed, but I’ll wake up constructive.”