The Submarine head to Pamplona with players returning to the squad ahead of the exciting match against a competitive team
Villarreal head coach Unai Emery appeared in front of the media ahead of the match against Osasuna (Saturday, 2pm CET) at El Sadar, where nearly a hundred Yellows fans will cheer on the Submarine. Here are the key moments from his press conference:
Feelings
“We’re focused on the match and the idea of how we can keep the consistency we’ve found in recent games, by adapting to each opponent and performing consistently. It’s something we’ve demanded from ourselfs since Matchady 1, and we’ve always responded well.”
Injury situation
“When you’re in a number of different competitions, there are always injuries and this year, we also had that mixed with COVID. Getting players back is always something to be happy about, especially seeing Coquelin again after his operation. Now he needs to start getting the right feelings back and to return progressively to avoid another setback, but he will be important from now until the end of the season. Regarding Gerard, we’re being cautious. Once he has done the right work physically, he will be back in the matchday squads. This weekend, he won’t be there. Paco Alcácer won’t be there also, because of his calf injury. No we’re focused on finding the best performance from all of the players who are available, and that makes us a lot more competitive.”
The match at El Sadar
“It’s a great stadium with fans close to the pitch cheering their team on. There is a lot of noise supporting them during the matches. It will be a great, hard-fought game. We know what Osasuna will offer on the pitch. In the first meeting this season, we saw them at their best, and we’re expecting the same. We’ve seen different tactical changes during the season and we need to be ready for that. They’re a team that gives everything and plays from the heart a lot, as well as having very good technical footballers. They’re an opponent who will demand a lot from us. Teams like Barcelona and Sevilla were unable to win there.”
Competition to be at the top
“If we want to be there at the top, we need to win a lot. Every year, getting into Europe is even tougher. A lot of teams who are not traditionally at the top of table want to be there, but they know it is tough. Now, we need to win, because we’ve dropped a lot of points along the way. Barcelona and Real Sociedad are winning a lot of matches now.”
