'We needed to respond quickly and as a team'
On the emphatic response to Saturday’s disappointment…
“It is what we expected. We did not concede a goal tonight and we scored four. Maybe we could have scored a few more but it was most important to win the game and respond quickly in a convincing way and that is what we did.
“I was tempted to make more than one change but I did not because I did not want to give the feeling that you punish one more than another. I believe sometimes you give the team the chance to respond quickly. I made one change and it was because [Samir] Nasri is a more natural left-sided wide-player than [Emmanuel] Eboue. The change was not to punish anybody I just believe we needed to respond quickly as a team.
“I think it was perhaps the most complete performance of the season.”
On forgetting Hull…
“That is down to your memory. I believe it is part of the learning process and maybe the fact that we had never played against Hull meant we experienced the difficulty when facing them. Maybe at 1-0 we thought it was done.”
On the attitude shown by his side…
“We were focused. I thought at times we were a little bit too tense, especially at the start of the game. But we were focused and at that level, whether it is the Premier League or the Champions League that is vital. I believe that on Saturday we were caught by a lack of focus.
“I think the team is maturing and there is big potential in the side. We want to be intelligent and in the end you measure that on how well we do together.”
On the performance of Cesc Fabregas…
“I think he was outstanding tonight. He was good defensively and offensively and overall it was the ‘complete performance’.”
On seeing his strikers doing the damage…
“Yes it was nice to see. Theo was dangerous again and he makes big progress and a big improvement. It was the response I wanted. It is half of the response of the week, the other half comes on Saturday [against Sunderland].
“No [Theo is not injured] it was a kick. I took him off because I was cautious but he could have stayed on.”
On remaining defensive concerns…
“Before Saturday we only conceded two goals and they were from corners in the League. On Saturday we conceded two goals too. I must say one of them was another corner but the other one was a goal that we have all scored but only once in our lives. We conceded a goal that you cannot do a lot about.
“I think away from home we have found a good balance defensively like at Blackburn and Bolton. At home we are not completely reassuring yet.
“I believe that the first time they caught us tonight was on the break from one of our corners. We were caught on the break, but that is maybe the only real time when we were lucky. The second time was on the corner when Clichy saved on the line. Those were the two times when they were dangerous tonight. Overall we were much more disciplined and focused on corners. The fight in the air was there.
On winning Group G…
“We know that we want to win our home games. We have taken a point in Kiev and we go to Fenerbahce to try to win the game like we always do.
“We expect to win the group.”
