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Maribor Post Match | Derek McInnes

28 July 2016

“I’m delighted with the response from the players when we went behind.
“It was really sore on them because I thought we were the better team throughout and we created the better chances and played with better intensity.

“We tried to get the balance right of being on the front foot, asking questions of them, getting crosses in the box and giving them something to concern themselves with. I thought we did all that except get the goal.

“I think they had one chance in open play and they took it, that’s the quality they have. We’re a bit annoyed with the goal but instead of feeling sorry for ourselves I’m thinking more about the response from the players.

“It’s been similar with the amount of late goals we’ve had this season, that’s a great thing to have. I think that can take you a long way. We created a few chances, we managed to score one and one might just be enough to make sure we have something to play for over there.

“There’s no doubt that Maribor are in the stronger position just now, but we scored three goals last year in Rijeka, we scored two goals in Groningen. We can score over there.

“The players will know they can score over there after that, I thought they were excellent from start to finish. I thought we kept them at arms-length and by in large other than the result, the performance was everything I hoped it would be.

“I think that the score-line for them makes them play the same way. They are very compact and very confident within their own shape. They don’t lose many goals.

“They’ll remember what they faced tonight, and they will remember we can get to them. The plan is to get to them next week.

“They defend deep so we took advantage of that tonight. They’ve got a maturity to see the game out as it stands so I don’t expect them to be too expansive. They haven’t been that team when I’ve watched them.

“We took the responsibility to take the game to them. Getting the balance between attack and defence is any manager’s dilemma and I thought we got it just about right tonight and we should have made more of the chances.”
 

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