Javi Calleja was self-critical but “optimistic” after the defeat vs SD Ponferradina
The Villarreal CF Manager, Javi Calleja, was self-critical but also optimistic after his side’s loss against SD Ponferradina in the first leg of the Round of 32 of the Copa del Rey (1-0). For the Yellows boss, his team did get better as the game went on: “The team struggled to get into the game at the start. In the first half we lacked rhythm and initiative. We were all over them in the second half though, doing everything we could to score, but we didn’t manage it”.
The Submarine had plenty of chances to score. “We needed to start with more conviction. When you go out there too relaxed you end up paying for it. In the first half the tempo was not satisfactory. We tried to react after going 1-0 down, but we weren’t clinical enough in front of goal. We created plenty of chances”, Javi Calleja commented.
The Villarreal boss also wanted to praise the work of the less regular players: “We tried to give more minutes to the less regular players and we musn’t drive ourselves crazy because of the negative result. They didn’t create many chances against us, but we did give away too many fouls in our half that we should have avoided”.
