Robert Page lauded his team, Wales, for their response to recent criticism with a performance against South Korea that he believed had restored their “identity.” Page made these comments after the match.
In a friendly match played on Thursday at Cardiff City Stadium, Wales and South Korea played to a scoreless draw in advance of Wales’s crucial Euro 2024 qualifying match on Monday in Latvia.
This was as a result of Page and his players being put under a great deal of strain after suffering defeats at the hands of Turkey and Armenia in June.
Page stated, “Since the last camp, a lot of things have been discussed.”
“You would have seen the reaction of the players tonight against a very good team with one of the best strikers in world football [Son Heung-min].” “You would have seen the reaction of the players tonight.”
“I couldn’t be happier with how they turned out. I am very pleased with how we defended ourselves. That brought us full circle to who we are.
“We attained this level of performance in March, both on the road against Croatia (1-1), and at home against Latvia (1-0).
The fact that we were unable to fulfill those requirements in June was the thing that let me down the most. Tonight, we were able to live up to those expectations.
“As a defender, I’ve been there myself; we had to suffer because we didn’t have the ball, and we did an excellent job of defending the box.”
“There were so many positives with the ball as well, including young JJ [Jordan James] getting his first start and looking excellent, and yet there’s still room for improvement for us, which is exciting.”
Due to their result against South Korea on Thursday, Wales have only one victory in their last 13 matches combined.
This sequence of poor form has included Wales’ terrible performance at the World Cup, in which they were eliminated at the group stage, and a terrible start to their qualifying for Euro 2024, in which they are currently ranked fourth in Group D.
As a direct consequence of this, Page has come under close examination, with many fans demanding that he be fired and analysts criticizing both the tactical decisions he has made and the comments he has made in the media.
In the recent weeks, Page has been asked a number of questions regarding the criticism, and he believes that his team’s performance versus South Korea was a positive response to the criticism.
Everyone has the right to their own point of view. “There is no issue,” was his response.
“I am aware of everything that is housed in the locker room as well as the staff room. I completely understand that the goal is to win football games. Due to the transformation that we are currently going through, we have lost some players of world-class caliber.
“I’m proud of the way that they defended themselves and the way that they’ve gone back to the standards that we’ve set, particularly in March.
“Tonight was our chance to make things right, and I believe that we were successful in doing so.”
