José Alberto attributed the final result to “seven minutes of disconnection. From the expulsion until the second goal. The player getting sent off relaxed us somewhat, the first goal threw us whilst the second made us step up the fight again. However, giving a two-goal advantage to a rival like this makes things very difficult,” he stated.
Despite the 2-0 defeat, the Malaguista coach is happy with the team’s image during the majority of the match. “Despite those seven minutes, I think the team played a very good game. They tried everything and I believe the best player tonight was Fernando, the Almería keeper. Except for that section of play, I’m proud of the team I saw today. This is the Málaga that is moving closer to what we want, knowing that we need all 23 players to be connected during the 90 minutes. We have to learn from this and move forward.”
The coach of the Blue and White squad, today dressed in black, was also asked about the effectiveness of the team in front of goal. In regard to the lack of goals, José Alberto was clear: “There’ll be a game with fewer, clearer chances and we’ll get the goal. That’s football. The important factor is that the team generates opportunities and is clear on what we want. We played a complete match, complementing the previous one, but we can’t afford to have these disconnections. In seven minutes we lost the game.” Nevertheless, he said this is something to improve on. “We have to be more accurate in front of goal, more effective. It’s no good us arriving at the area16 times and not score a goal. We’re working on that,” he added.
Given the numerical superiority and the locals’ two-goal lead, José Alberto talked about what a hypothetical first goal for the Malaguistas would have meant to the final result. “When there’s a two-goal difference it’s important to score the first one as it generates uncertainty in the rival. They end up defending closer to their goal, with more imbalances, and greater fear that they’ll lose what they’ve achieved,” he said during the press conference.
In addition, regarding the absence of Sekou amongst the 16 players who took part today, the coach said, “he didn’t play as he had some discomfort.”
