Sissoko: 'Most important is to give everything'

Moussa Sissoko believes we deserved more from Monday night’s 1-0 defeat by Manchester City.

An early Riyad Mahrez goal gave City the win under the lights at Wembley but we had our chances to take something from the game.

Opportunities fell for Toby Alderweireld and notably Erik Lamela, but they were unable to convert as we fell to our third league defeat of the season.

The result leaves us five points off top spot but France International Moussa believes we can feel encouraged by our performance against the Premier League champions.

“We can be disappointed about the result, I think we deserved more than that,” the midfielder reflected.

“I think tonight we showed a lot of character, a lot of desire, we tried to force them not to play. We had a system that the manager made and I think we did it well.

“We had a lot of chances to score but we didn’t. In this kind of game when you have the opportunity to score you have to take it because when they have a chance they will score and that’s what they did. So, we can be proud of the performance but at the same time disappointed with the result.”

The only goal of the night came within the opening six minutes of the game as Raheem Sterling beat Kieran Trippier before he played the ball across goal for Mahrez to hammer in at the front post.

Moussa admitted that conceding an early goal against a team like Manchester City can make the game more difficult, but he felt we continued to play our game after the early setback.

“Against a big team it’s always difficult when you are 1-0 down because you have to play more, try to attack more and be more open,” our number 17 explained.

“I think we did it well and at the same time we tried to stay solid at the back. We didn’t concede too many chances and we had a lot of chances, but we didn’t take them. It’s like that in football, we have to learn and keep going.”

In starting against City, Moussa marked three consecutive starts in the Premier League for the first time this season – a run which the midfielder admits he is very much enjoying.

His performance against Pep Guardiola’s side epitomised the industry of the side as we pushed to get something out of the game, but Moussa left little time to reflect on his own performance as he had his eyes already focused on Wednesday’s test of West Ham United in the Carabao Cup.

“I don’t know if it’s one of my best performances, I played well, like the team. Every time I play, I try to give my best,” he added.

“The most important thing is to give everything so that’s what I did. I was happy to play, I’m happy to play some games consecutively and now on Wednesday we will see. I will have a good recovery and then the manager will decide the starting XI for Wednesday. The most important thing is to win as a team.

“We have good quality in this group and we all want to win something together. We know in the cup it is more straightforward to win because you don’t have so many games, but it won’t be easy because you have some good teams to play. We have to take our chance, play every game and try to win every game until the final. This is what we want, and I hope at the end of the season we will get some trophies. It’s going to be a massive derby match on Wednesday, so we have to make sure to win this game.”