Álvaro Cervera: “I hope we give Levante war”

How does the team arrive?. “If I were a marathon runner or something individual, I would know how I got there, but being a collective I think we have taken a little step forward, but we do not know what we are going to find in front of it. I hope we get there well, but it also depends on how the others get there. We have a handicap for me, and that is that we arrived with too many unemployed people, with injuries and very important people that we had in the preseason and that would be important for the start of the season. We will see how the team handles tomorrow, but I hope we make war ”.

Market valuation. “Important and different players have arrived from the additions that have been made in other years. It is the club's policy to look for people with a projection rather than established in some cases. I am happy because I have seen that everything possible has been done. The squad is what I have and I will be happy if the team wins. If the team loses and does not compete I will be angry. The squad is what I have and there are things that I like and others that can be improved ”.

Reinforcements in the center of the field. “What happened to Garrido had nothing to do with it. If we have gotten a little nervous, it is with the injury of José Mari because he is a very important player for us and he has an injury in an area that we do not like because it can be prolonged. The arrival of Alarcón is positive and that of Calderón, if he knows the club that is coming, is a player who can be good for us. That demarcation, while José Mari is not present, will not be complete for me ”.

What game do you expect against Levante?. “We have given it a lot of laps with the preseason games and it is a team with a lot of ball possession and that forces you to go very forward. They look for problems for you there because the forwards are very fast and the players inside are very good. They are a very good team and teams like us are good for them. We have to try to be very close together and we cannot think about the game they are going to play because then they beat us easily. The idea is to play our way and put them in trouble. “

Low. “The casualties are José Mari, Garrido, Nano Mesa, Arzamendia… and someone else who is touched and who will go with problems. Cala will be called up, but he has trained for three days and will hardly be able to play ”.

Last two additions. “Álvaro Jiménez is something different from what we have. We have speed and depth, but with him we have skill and overflow. And Chust is different from our current center-backs, who play face-to-face and are first-touch. Chust comes from the Madrid quarry and can give us something more if he is able to unite a good defense with the exit of the ball. That is what we are looking for, to make him a better footballer by adding records to what he has ”.

Change of plans without José Mari. “The idea we had of Levante was one and now it is another because the consistency of the team with José Mari and without him is different. Then the game can be the same, better or worse, but the consistency and positioning without it is worse and it makes us change the way we play ”.

Iza or Akapo? “The right back is a problem for me tomorrow, because I have the position fully covered and I have to decide. For me I would put both of them. Iza is a very good soccer player, he is the typical soccer player who does well where you put him because he knows how to play soccer. He plays as a winger because that is where he has played the longest, but he can play anywhere. Akapo has other features, perhaps it is faster than Iza and now it is very agile. It has more depth. The conjunction of the two is the perfect winger ”.

Future of Nano Mesa. “The market is open. All those who come have the same options and try to convince the coaching staff. When the market approaches we already communicate our decisions to the sports management. Nano is here for the moment and until the 30th we will decide what to do ”.

Opinion on the arbitrators. “The coaches will be persecuted more, which is the easy thing, and you will never see if they are right or not. We will try to be quiet, which is how they want us. We will try not to go out and not to protest. I am not going to start the first day, but since they are always right, then let them punish us more if they can. Someday they will not punish us alone, but they will do something else to us. If they think that it is the solution, then very good ”.

Message to the fans. “That they understand their team, their coach and their people, who are in the First Division, competing in one of the best leagues in the world, before it was the best, not anymore. That they help their team and that they support us, that we will try to make them come out happy “

Messi's departure from Barça. “People as a coach tell me that I already have one less problem, but Messi is not a problem, when you play against Barça you look at the rest, but he does whatever he wants. It is very bad news for the Spanish League. He is the best in the world and for years he has been putting people in front of television and that he leaves the League seems very bad news to me. I wish him good luck and I am grateful to have been in the same league as him ”.

List of called

This is the list of those summoned by Cervera: Conan Ledesma, Jens Jonsson, Fali, Marcos Mauro, Haroyan, Salvi, Álex Fernández, 'Choco' Lozano, Alberto Perea, Álvaro Jiménez, Tomás Alarcón, David Gil, Carlos Akapo, Juan Cala, Álvaro Negredo, Iza Carcelén, 'Pacha 'Espino, Juan Flere, Chapela, Martín Calderón, Milutin Osmajic, Bastida and Víctor Chust.