Security and conviction
“I think they have been able to understand and translate everything from training to the pitch; playing with this level of security and conviction, and remaining focused during games. All rivals are demanding, whether it’s Alavés, Leganés or Barcelona. When we have achieved this concentration and the way of transferring what we do in training to matches, the results have been better. A coach cannot make so many changes to a team. The foundation and quality is in the players”.
Deportivo de La Coruña
“It’s an example similar to ours. They were a team in difficulty, more due to results than gameplay, because the work of Garitano was as good as Pepe Mel’s now. They had a major rebound. Now the team has returned to a more negative dynamic, which is a good example for us. In the final seven matches, knowing we’ve achieved moral salvation, we’re already beginning to construct next season. These seven matches are added to the 38 of next season. We don’t want to waste a single match or a single minute, in every aspect. We’re already building the team mentality for next year”.
Giving 100 per cent
“The result was outstanding, but the team we want to build for next season can’t just be celebrating the match against Barcelona. The players have only been wrong in one facet, in showing us in the weeks we’ve been here what they’re capable of doing. That means that the players must give 100 per cent in each and every match, when they’re in action and with the systems that we use. Here everyone will participate, and we’re going to see everybody play in these last seven games, as we’ve seen in previous matches”.
Continue playing the same
“In four days, we managed to convey on the pitch what was in our heads, and what we wanted to translate from training sessions. I think we’ve got a great distance in these seven matches. In reference to the upcoming calendar, and all those questions which I was against, they’ve come to be right. I don’t want this, as I’ve said to the players and as we’ve seen in training, to be an excuse to say our situation has changed and we’ve finished with the season. In the final seven matches, we have to continue trying to return all the confidence people have shown in us since the beginning. We need to do this both for prestige for the Club and in the interests of moving up the rankings. We must play on Saturday as if we were in serious danger, as before”.
