The last time Manuel Ugarte was in the mixed zone was against Lens. After a 3-1 victory at the Parc des Princes, the Uruguayan midfielder showed a big smile. Wednesday evening after the slap received at Newcastle (4-1), his face had literally changed like his performance, far from his standards at the start of the season. In front of the press, he conceded that this bankruptcy was as much mental as tactical.
Against Newcastle, is this defeat mental or tactical?
MANUAL UGARTE. I think it’s a bit of both. We expected to have a better match, but the difference was very big in the game. Newcastle played very well and did very good pressing. Now it’s done, we have to think about the next match.
How did you feel in this two-man environment against five Newcastle players?
The first thing is that they did a very good press, very well organized. They had great determination. We could have had a better match, but we have to continue and think about the next match.
“The atmosphere helped them”
With this atmosphere, was it more difficult?
The atmosphere conditioned the match, Newcastle are strong at home. We have to think about what’s next, it wasn’t our best match. We could have done more. The score remains severe. We are second in the group, we must continue. We could have been more aggressive, we could have shown a better state of mind but the atmosphere would have been favorable to them. These are the matches that must be won. It wasn’t so much our fault as it was their credit for this result.
How do you explain the team’s lack of aggression and character?
I don’t know… I think they were a little more aggressive because they were coming back at home in the Champions League and that’s not usual for them. This is not a criticism. The truth is that the atmosphere helped them. I think we could have done more attitude-wise and individually, but like I said, these are games that happen sometimes. I think it wasn’t so much our fault as theirs. Now we have to continue because we are still second in the group.
