Villarreal face Las Palmas this Saturday at 2pm CET in Gran Canaria
Villarreal CF head coach, Marcelino García Toral, spoke to the media ahead of the match against UD Las Palmas, which will take place this Saturday at 2pm CET at the Estadio de Gran Canaria. The coach stressed the need to maintain the level of performance already achieved at certain times throughout the 90 minutes in order to win.
This is what he had to say:
Opponent’s style of play
“You never know what will suit you. To feel good we have to look at ourselves more. We know that Las Palmas are a great team who are having a great season, but we have to raise our level and reach performance points that we have achieved, but that we have lacked continuity and from there try to win. We have the second half of the season to vindicate ourselves and improve the negative numbers we have. There are 57 points ahead of us and tomorrow it’s the first three. We have to play a complete game, 90 minutes”.
Pedraza and absentees
“He will be available because he has trained normally all week. We have a new absentee, Ramon, who has a lateral meniscus tear and will have to undergo surgery. Raúl and Foyth are also out.”
Possible departures
“We need to be all committed to a collective idea to get out of a delicate situation. During the transfer window there may be new arrivals and departures and the managers are looking forward to it closing, but before that there is competition and we have to demand the maximum from ourselves.”
Plague of injuries
“We’ve had a lot of injuries and two very important players with long-term injuries, but this is football, this is competition, this is life. You have to overcome the difficulties that come your way and not make excuses for them. We believe in the players we have, they have the ability and they have shown it. They have to try to recover their level. They are the first ones who want to. If at the same time we have fewer injuries, it’s also a favourable factor because it’s less complicated to look for that performance.”
Psychological level
“We are privileged. We have the great fortune of working in what we like since we were children, we are well paid, we are in a great club, a model entity in terms of management… I don’t use the psychological aspect, that’s an excuse. We work less than the rest of mortals, we have the job we want, what we have to do is find solutions to adverse situations. We don’t have to recover anything in terms of spirit, we have to prove ourselves. We have to be more demanding if that’s possible and not hide behind injuries, mentally, that I’m not well if I lose… We have to find a way to enjoy ourselves.”
Keys to the match
“I consider our reliability and our competitive sense for 90 minutes to be important. Las Palmas go for a combinative style, they have one of the highest percentages of possession in opposition play and they are also powerful in pressing for a loss. We have to be very intense, very close together. They have a very good goals conceded percentage, the team with the second fewest goals conceded in the league. We have to be intense to win the ball back, see the predominant areas to do it and when we have it, have energy and the ability to get there. They invite you to attack the spaces and we have to be aggressive enough to do that.”
