Super happy obviously. We know what it means to our club and our people to win a North London Derby. We have the power to make them very happy so hopefully we achieved that.
On the performance we had good moments and others where we had to suffer. We suffered because we had to adapt the plan because of the players that we had available. I loved it. The second we started to get that news, the team got hungrier and hungrier to play that game. It’s a big compliment to everybody at the club to behave in a certain way. It’s a tough week coming and instead of finding any excuses we did the opposite. We faced the challenge, played with courage and acknowledged the qualities we had to win the game.
What does it say about the squad that you can win under these circumstances?
The people that we have. We have people that are hard and have thick skin. They love the game and we love winning. In order to love the game and win you have to do things that people call ugly. Enjoying those ugly things is a big compliment to this team right now. When you’re able to do that normally you get a good gift.
What can this win do for your belief and how is Odegaard?
It does because we won three years in a row here. I don’t know when the last time that happened in the history of the club was. I think they believe already. We’ve won a lot of big games. It’s a big week coming up and that’s going to give us a lot of motivation, energy and belief.
There are obviously a lot of things to get better today. I don’t think we did the simple things right at all. But we’ll get better.
Regarding Martin we still have to wait and see. The news is that he wasn’t available today.
Is Nicolas Jover the best in his field?
In his field, in other fields, as a person. The relationship that we have, that’s why I made the decision to bring him to City when I was there and then to Arsenal. Him and the staff have injected a belief to the players that there are many ways to win football matches. This is a really powerful one. It’s given us a lot so big compliment to all of them.
How’s Saka?
I don’t know. I made two changes with the front players and suddenly he’s down. I looked at the bench and the options that we had and we had to adapt. I don’t know exactly what it is but he could not continue.
How hard a week has this been to prepare for this game?
I didn’t enjoy it because I didn’t sleep much. I looked ahead to Spurs for four or five days and I had a super clear plan how to do it. I prepared all the meetings, the training sessions and everything. Then I get the news that we’ve lost a player, and then another player and then another player, and I had to completely change it and adapt the plan to the players that we had available. So, it was a great challenge.
What does it say about the players who are available?
They adapt. Loving the game means that you’re able to do things regardless of the context. Jorginho loves the game. He doesn’t play it but he loves winning. When he’s not playing he’s training like an animal every day even though he’s won everything. When you ask him to play 90 minutes – which he hasn’t played probably for the last five months, he’s able to do it. The same with Jurrien, it’s been a year out and he hasn’t played 90 minutes at all. He was struggling but he managed to do it for the team. Others, Kai, I don’t know without a preseason how many minutes he’s played but he was unbelievable. All of them, that’s the spirit and the characters that we have that I love.
You defended a lot deeper, were you happy with that?
I didn’t want to. I wanted to press the ball much higher, lose the ball in much better conditions higher up the pitch. What I didn’t want to do with certain players we had today missing was expose ourselves to a game that they are incredibly good at. I have to choose. The reward on the other side was much bigger.
Any concerns over the scheduling of the game on Thursday?
Whether I have or not I’m sure we’re going to play Thursday and Sunday and then Tuesday. It’s what it is. We have to adapt to that if we want to be a top team, a challenging team that is up there.
Last season you were praying for the end, calmer this time?
It was, after 0-3 to 2-3 you were thinking this cannot happen. They threw everything at it. They tried today but I think we looked more composed, better organised and gave very, very little away.
Gabriel is maybe underrated externally, what would you say about his importance?
The way he has evolved first as a person and then in his role in the club and the team has been phenomenal. It has been great to watch. This is why we are here, this is one of my passions to give players the environment, the support and coaching to grow, to prepare them for life and to get to levels they probably didn’t think [they could reach] before. Gabriel is one of the best examples of that. Why? He loves what he does, he applies himself extremely well and he wants it. When that happens, good things happen to these kinds of people.
Do you prefer a backs to the wall win over a 5-0?
5-0. 5-0. But this one was extremely special.
