Week of three matches
“One week, three matches, nine points. Practically a third of what’s left. We face it only thinking about the first match. We cannot allow ourselves to think about rotations or beyond the immediate future, which is tomorrow. We’re going to San Mamés with a winning mentality, with a lot at stake, and we have to give our fans something more so they keep believing in us. If we achieve a victory, I’m sure the fans will respond with a capacity crowd in the midweek match against Sevilla, and we would be closer to the next victory. I think we’re growing, the team is giving out better sensations, but the all-important win we all want hasn’t arrived”.
Athletic
“We must only think about ourselves. We’ve thought about the rival, but we have to focus on continuing to grow, and taking a step forward. We need to go out there with the mentality we had against Eibar, not like the first time in Las Palmas. We have to go out thinking that a win is just as necessary for us as it is for them, they’ll have the support from the crowd, but we’ll have the support of necessity, which needs to manifest from the start of the game”.
Foothold
“We’re not deserving of what we’re getting. We’ve faced the second and third-placed teams in LaLiga, and neither one was better than us. The normal scenario is that these teams are superior to you. In the first moment, after losing, you feel crushed as you haven’t won something so crucial, but you always look for a foothold to grow in the face of adversity. We know we’re working well, but there are times in life when you don’t get what you deserve. Perhaps in the future, based on effort and perseverance, it’s always said that the results will come”.
The team transmits
“This team does not lack intensity, effort, work and unity…it would be logical for a team in these circumstances to be something else. Anyone looking at the standings would say this team is dead, yet I think none of us feels like that. The team still conveys it can get out of this situation. I tell them that. If we’d won the game, we’d be thinking we’re four points away, we’re alive, in a good dynamic… Our state of mind cannot depend on whether you foul or not. That can happen to amateurs, but we are professionals, and have to see things with more clarity. My state of mind is marked by the League standings, but I have to keep believing in what we’re doing”.
Points for salvation
“Permanency is becoming very cheap. Under normal conditions, we’d be dead with 13 points, and although we’re in a very bad place and need to be realistic, there are positive precedents. I have personal experience of this in Granada. I arrived five points away from salvation with eight games remaining, and we were saved a matchday in advance. It’s important to think positive, know that we can do it, perhaps we’ve not scored more points due to the rivals we’ve faced, but not all will be second or third-place opponents. There will be other important rivals who may not have a chance, which will spur us on”.
