Marcelino is hoping to boost confidence with another win against a Panathinaikos side “used to winning”
Villarreal CF head coach Marcelino García Toral spoke to the media ahead of the UEFA Europa League match against Panathinaikos, which will be the Matchday 5 of the group stage.
The Asturian coach analysed the Greek side in detail: “I’m expecting a complicated game. They are a team used to winning. They are competitive and play with experienced players. They have a clear idea of how they play and they never give up”..
In the same vein, the head coach from Villaviciosa has set the course for the victory: “We must approach the game with the objective of winning in mind. We’re playing at home, we have to create chances and be solid at the back. We’ve been conceding a lot and we want to stop those negative numbers that are weighing us down and then recover our determination to achieve fluency in the game and get closer to winning.”
Marcelino also acknowledged that there will be no change in the starting eleven against the Greek side: “We’ve had time to work until now. From tomorrow onwards we won’t have it. We’ve just come back from the break and we won’t have so much work to do. We’re not going to make many rotations. Winning means we almost qualify mathematically. What you can do today, don’t leave for tomorrow. I don’t want to say that we’re going to win, but they’re a tough team to beat and we can’t rotate. We’re playing at our ground and we want to win and get the three points that would practically qualify us.”
Finally, he stressed the need to have a winning mentality: “We always attach the utmost importance to the next game. That brings us closer to victory regardless of the opponent and the competition. We must be winners and have that mentality to be close to winning. I come to a club which has had three head coaches. It’s not the norm and now we have to get back to normality and rebuild as soon as possible.”
