Barry-Murphy pleased with EDS efforts despite first defeat | OneFootball

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Manchester City F.C.

·24 October 2021

Barry-Murphy pleased with EDS efforts despite first defeat

Article image:Barry-Murphy pleased with EDS efforts despite first defeat

Manchester City's Elite Development Squad manager Brian Barry-Murphy says he was pleased with the performance of his players despite falling to their first Premier League 2 defeat of the season against Tottenham Hotspur.

Oscar Bobb opened the scoring in a 3-1 defeat at the Academy Stadium, before the visitors replied with a brace from Dilan Markanday, sandwiching a strike from Spurs captain Harvey White.


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But whilst the result was disappointing, Barry-Murphy was delighted with his players' efforts.

He said: "I thought the players gave absolutely everything.

"I said at half-time to really focus on trying to play the way we have done all season: bounce back from every setback and they did. We just didn’t manage to score the goals today.

"The players are willing to give everything for the Club and each other and they will keep going right until the end.

"On certain days this season, it is inevitable that you’ll lose games.

"Even though it doesn’t feel in the moment, losing is as valuable a tool as winning every week in terms of how you assess what we can do better when we suffer defeats and it is a very valuable experience for us all."

Barry-Murphy called upon promising talents from the U18s side following a tough schedule that has taken its toll on the squad.

U18s captain Rico Lewis came into the side and Luca Barrington started on the left wing, while a number of their teammates made up the bench - and the EDS boss was pleased with how they adapted.

"It is a brilliant experience for them. They had tried to put into practice what we had planned," he explained.

"There were setbacks in the game but we responded to those, took control of the game in the second half like we did on Tuesday (against Brugge).

"I thought we had a lot of chances to go and score. We just didn’t have the finishing moments today."

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