Cesar Peixoto was proud to see his players win with their own identity at Preston North End and now hopes the 3-1 win was just the beginning.
On Friday the head coach called on his players to play with their heads and retain their way of playing, regardless of the game’s path, and once Fer Lopez opened the scoring at Deepdale, the Old Gold controlled the afternoon.
Adam Armstrong made it two before Lopez doubled his own account, and now Peixoto wants this win to set the precedent and was delighted the win came in front of a packed away end of 5,600 travelling supporters.
On his first Championship win
“I’m happy with the work of the players. Congratulations to them for the effort and for playing in the way we want. Today we didn’t lose our identity, and we didn’t lose our organisation, for 90 minutes at a good level. The players in the starting eleven and the players from the bench helped and improved the team, so I’m happy. I don’t want to concede the goal because I want a clean sheet, but that’s football.
“I’m happy with the three points, but they’re only three points. Last week not everything was bad, and today not everything is good. We still have a lot to improve, it’s only three points, we have to work hard, the Championship is very, very tough. But congratulations to the boys because today they worked very, very well.”
On a pleasing performance
“We didn’t lose our personality. We tried to play the game the way we want. The first half it was a little more difficult, but at half-time we made some changes and in the second half we played like we want with the ball and changed the rhythm of the game at the right moments. We scored two goals in the second half, and we could have scored more. We played like we worked during the week.
“Three goals is good and we more chances to score more. Our attacking play was very good. We found the right spaces, attacked the right spaces and put many players into the box. We were always looking towards the opposition box and trying to score. We didn’t score one goal and went back, we tried to score as many goals as possible and play in our way.”
On Djiga and Tchatchoua coming in
“Mosquera and Trippier are two very important players for us, and we also don’t have JJ Bellegarde and Rafiki, important players for us. Today ‘Jack’ and Nasser did a great job, an amazing game from them both. I think all of the players performed at a high level, and the players who came from the bench also maintained that level and improved the team.
"I don’t only have confidence in the starting eleven, I have confidence in all of the players. Today they showed they have the quality to help the team throughout the 90 minutes, and because of that I have a lot of confidence in all of the players.”
On changing the group’s mindset
“The mindset is very important because they have a lot more quality than they showed last year. When we change the mentality and help the players bring what they have inside them to the pitch, they improve and we’re going to win. Of course, we’re not going to win every game, but we’ll try to win every game and we’ll fight until the end. These players have much more quality than they have shown in the past.”
On winning for the fans
“I’m very happy for the fans, to give them the victory. We play for them and their support throughout the 90 minutes is very important for us. That’s what I want, everyone together, the fans, the players, the technical staff and the people around the club. That’s very important because there will be games when we win and games we draw like last week, but we have to stay together. The players work very hard and want to win every game. Playing away with this crowd is amazing, and also the next game at home is very important, the support, because these players work very hard.”
On taking the momentum forward
“It’s important to keep taking points. The more points we have, the better. After the draw in the first game, it felt like there was a big problem. Today we’ve won, so now we have four points from two games. We wanted six, of course, but four is good. We’ll keep trying to fight for three points every time. Sometimes if you draw, it can happen, we stay together, with out idea of the game, our mentality to fight, and we try to improve to maintain the high level.”
