‘Besiktas were far superior' – Stephen Kenny admits St Patrick's Athletic ‘lacked physical intensity'
STEPHEN Kenny admitted that he would be papering over the cracks if he complained about decisions in St Patrick's Athletic's comprehensive 4-1 loss to Besiktas.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Turkish giants hammered the Saints going 4-0 up before half-time with England striker Tammy Abraham hitting a hat-trick.
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Kenny's side face a near impossible task to stay in Europe next week in Istanbul
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The former Aston Villa and Chelsea striker caused awful problems for St Pat's
And it was only in the second half that the Saints got any foothold in the game as Simon Power scored a consolation goal meaning a three-goal deficit heading to Istanbul next week.
Kenny felt that Besiktas' fourth goal - an Abraham penalty - was a harsh decision while he also bemoaned a Tom Grivosti goal being ruled out on the pitch rather than allowing VAR to decide.
But he admitted there could be no excuses on a night when his side were well beaten.
Kenny said: 'It would have only papered over the fact that we were outplayed. Besiktas were definitely far superior to us in the game. We were second best.
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'We didn't bring the level of physical intensity that we need to. We were well off in the first half, well off them physically.
'We were very disappointed to lose in that manner in the first half. We were struggling to deal with their front four, to be honest.
'We did struggle to deal with Abraham. A couple of goals and could have been defended much better from our point of view.'
The Saints were better in the second half after they switched from a back four to a back five, though Kenny that it was the performance rather than formation that was wrong in the first half.
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He said: 'I said to the players at half-time that we were hugely disappointed in the first half and if we weren't careful we could get a severe hiding here.
'But we needed to try and win the second half. We did that, which is something, but it's not enough, obviously.'
Chelsea star Levi Colwill to miss almost entire season as he undergoes emergency ACL surgery in huge blow to Maresca
Besiktas boss Solskjaer was also delighted with the performance as he insisted that the first half performance was something he knew his team were capable of producing.
He said: 'To win 4-1 away in Europe is never easy, we see in the second half what could have happened in the first half, if we didn't start properly, but we did.
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'We played really, really well, in the first 35 minutes, controlled the game, took the game to them, created chances, could have scored six or seven.
'But in the second half, when they played towards their fans they get the goal, get the momentum and you are always under pressure.
'That will always happen in away games in Europe, I was pleased with the way we took control back, overall I was very pleased with the performance.
'I know what my team is capable of, when they are 'on' and they are focused. It's a great feeling when I see them being 'on' like this.'
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