Miguel Álvarez has underlined the difficulty of the trip and the necessity of keeping their identity to get a good result against the Catalan side (Saturday, 5pm CEST)
Villarreal B head coach Miguel Álvarez has analysed the upcoming match against Cornellà (Saturday, 5pm CEST). The Mini Submarine manager underlined the good form his team are in, but recognised that it will be one of the most difficult away trips for his side. Here are the standout aspects from his press conference:
Being loyal to their style
“When we’ve gone there recently, we understood the message well, but in pre-season, playing well, we lost 1-0. We need to have two things clear: first of all, to be ourselves, we shouldn’t give up our playing style, even though it’s an artificial pitch of small dimensions. And second, we need to adapt to the pitch and the dimensions. Cornellà play a very effective style of football. They don’t gift you any points at home, they play a direct style of football and they try and capitalise on the second balls. The most important thing is for us to not be scared of the pitch and to play our football.”
One of the best teams at home
“There are a lot of things that will condition the game, such as the artificial pitch. I’m not complaining, it’s something we need to adapt to, just like they need to adapt to grass pitches. They’re one of the best teams at home, they’ve got nearly all their points there. Where they have had more problems has been away from home, but with their new manager they have had good results, both at home and away. They haven’t lost in four. We’re going to find it very tough to win, but we’re going to try and solve any problems we fase, adapt to the artificial pitch and control their strengths to get into the play-offs, which is our aim.”
Good feelings going into the closing stage of the season
“I said it a few weeks ago, the best piece of news is that we’re back. Important players have returned, as has our football. We came away from Barcelona with a defeat, but we felt good and we could have got a better result. The results we’re getting is because the team is playing at a high level. It’s important to be where we are, but competing in important games also is important.”
Short-term objectives
“We’re going to put short-term objectives which we can achieve. The first one was to stay up, our second is to be in the play-offs, which we can do. If we’re able to secure that, we will try and fight to finish first, and if w don’t do that, we’ll be very happy after a great season and then playing the promotion play-offs.”
