The ‘Malaguista’ coach talks about tomorrow’s difficult rival: “We can’t really go by statistics, every match is different. It’ll be a tough game as Osasuna are a different rival compared to what we’ve come up against before. They focus on a very direct style of play, which makes it hard to pile the pressure on. It’ll be a very hard-fought game tomorrow so we’ll need to keep our wits about us. It won’t be easy. It’s important that we don’t get complacent or make any mistakes. I always keep my feet on the ground, with my weight I can’t help it! (laughs). The team need to keep focused on the work we’ve been doing to maintain a strong defence and upfront attack, and improve wherever possible. Keeping the three points at home tomorrow is so important. We need to stay on our toes.”
Schuster talks about some of the players: “Angeleri will get to play tomorrow. He’s been working well and I don’t really want to change things. I’m sure he’ll be fine, as we’ve got two weeks to recover afterwards. Weligton will also be available. Juanmi has been training well and I’d like him to be part of the team tomorrow, he really deserves it. Santa Cruz will be a great help against Osasuna because of his height, and we’ve also got the option of Mounir, although we won’t be playing them both from the start. Pawlowski scored an excellent goal last weekend, but he still needs more time to reach the standards he’s capable of. He’s really eager to play, but I don’t think he’ll be a part of the starting-11. He’s be an option though throughout the game.”
The German-born coach knows how keen his team are to achieve a home win tomorrow: “Osasuna will make it difficult for us to maintain ball possession. We need to improve on our previous game play. Every player is full of motivation and working on improving as much as possible. Osasuna perform well from set pieces, so we need to be on guard. The draw against Valldolid doesn’t concern me, perhaps after the second goal we conceded, but I’m not too worried.”
Bernd Schuster is confident about the team’s capability, but isn’t too happy with the average number of points gained so far: “We’re settling for draws when we should really be winning. I don’t really like coming away with a draw, and every match we’ve played up to now, we’ve felt like we should have won. I always prefer to come away victorious.”
Finally, the Blue and Whites’ coach analyses the work of referees, as well as how football coaches adapt to foreign leagues: “I’ve been studying other leagues and I’ve seen the same things and a similar style of play to here. I think it’s very difficult to change your way of work. Everyone is trying to improve and do the best they can. Before I started coaching, I noticed a lot of importance was given to negative comments from referees. However, everyone makes mistakes.”
