Villarreal’s head coach describes Sunday’s match against Cadiz as ‘very important’
Villarreal CF manager Marcelino García Toral said this afternoon that his team will need the support of the fans more than ever in next Sunday’s ‘important’ match against Cádiz at the Estadio de la Cerámica (2pm CET). The Asturian coach also analysed the winter transfer window and the recent signing of Bertrand Traoré.
The backing of the fans
“Against Cádiz, the support of the fans will be very important, it’s a plus we’ll need. We know that the time is complicated, but we ask them to be with us. Against Mallorca they helped us and made us feel better, and we can feel it. We need them. We’re going to try to respond to the confidence and support that our fans always show us with good results at home.”
A difficult match
“The match is going to be very difficult, regardless of the classification of the opponent. We mustn’t make the mistake of thinking that because we won at Barcelona we’re going to win every game without doing anything. Either we put in the intensity and compete, or we won’t get a good result. We have many examples of situations that have happened to us this year and they must not be repeated.”
Not making mistakes
“We need to minimise mistakes and not make it easy for our opponents to score because of our mistakes. If we don’t have defensive concentration throughout the game, the opposition will end up penalising us, because they’ll be waiting for us to make a mistake and punish us.”
A crucial match against Cádiz
“We are facing a very important game. A win would serve, on the one hand, to distance us from Cádiz, and on the other it would allow us to look upwards. It would also be the first time we have won two games in a row and taken seven points from nine. Perhaps the Cádiz game is more important than the Barcelona game, but it would give us the chance to string together three good results and take seven points from nine. We have to transform the joy that came from the win against Barcelona into good play, good football and a good result.”
‘Healthy’ revenge
“Cádiz beat us 3-1 in the first half of the season and as part of our sporting revenge we have to show that we are a better team. We have the opportunity to show that we are better than them. We must look for and find our best performance. The second half of the season is more complicated than the first, everything evens out and we have to think that to beat such a needy opponent we have to do things very well: not concede, minimise mistakes and try our best in the duels and be accurate in front of goal.”
Full focus
“It’s crucial to stay focused for the full 90 minutes. In this league, any mistake you make penalises you and throws away all the good work you’ve done. We have to avoid conceding three goals in 11 minutes like we did against Barcelona, but above all we have to avoid conceding the first one. We have to be very strong in defence and not concede comfortable finishing situations to our opponents. If we find that defensive reliability, the positive results will come.”
The arrival of Traoré
“We wanted to complement the squad to have a variety of players in each of the positions and Traoré strengthens the right wing, where he is a good player and we believe he can bring us a lot of things and offer us competition and other arguments in attack. Traoré has a chance to prove himself and revalue himself and we have a chance to enjoy his quality. The winter transfer window is very complicated.”
Analysing the market
“We have brought in four players that we are satisfied with, that have the right level and that help us to improve the squad in terms of numbers, so that there is more competition and it is more difficult to make decisions about who should play. We are satisfied with the winter transfer window, because, despite the difficulties, we have strengthened the areas in which we believed the team had the greatest need.”
