José Alberto López appeared before the media at the ‘Juan Cortés’ press room at La Rosaleda, to analyse the Malaguista squad before #MálagaLugo tomorrow, Saturday at 20:30 at Martiricos.
Kicking off his press conference the coach talks about the upcoming rival, CD Lugo, which he says is “a team that feels comfortable without the ball, moves fast, with a very direct gameplay and with very physical, fast players on the wing.” He added that the team “has a lot of resources, has improved compared to other seasons and, as the results show, is very competitive."
In regard to the Blue and Whites, he said “we need to see a good Málaga again, the team continues to grow with every match. We’ve been performing well in defence, but we need to improve our effectiveness on the attack in order to score more goals.”
Kevin, who sustained an ankle injury in Huesca, “is in doubt for tomorrow’s game. He’s received 15 fouls in the last two matches.”
In terms of the referees and being aware that “it is very difficult and they try to make the best decisions,” José Alberto said that “at the start of the competition there have been actions that are hard to explain.”
The Malaguista coach had a few words of praise for his players: “Everyone who joins the team is responding at a good level. We’re pleased with the players and the squad we have. There are players who I asked to take a step forward, which they’re doing.”
Analysing the team’s current 13th place in LaLiga SmartBank, he stated: “Of course we’d like to be higher up the standings and we’re ambitious. But this is a process, the most important is matchday 42. We have to realise where we’ve come from, we’re a new, young team, and we’ve had to redirect decisions.”
To conclude the press conference the coach sends a realistic message: “Malaga have to be at the top because we’re a historic side and we have to be aware of where we’ve come from and where we want to go. We have fewer points than we deserve, but that means nothing, we’re determined to get all three points tomorrow.”
