Approaches for this duel. “Our first objective was to recover. The second, see what availability we have for the meeting. We are working on the game plan and the details mainly by video. We will try to manage it in the best possible way, because the efforts in Eibar and León, with the weather, conditioned the games against Barcelona and Osasuna ”.
Valuation of the Navarrese team. “Osasuna has a potential similar to ours. We rose together two years ago and they are always very even matches. It is a team that knows each other well and exploits their weapons and their arguments ”.
New reunion with Jagoba Arrasate. “It is not usual and it is good news for both clubs, but we assume it naturally. We know each other well. And in our games it is the success that unbalances the balance. But football is for footballers. Coaches have a more secondary role. Jagoba is a great coach and his team has a very defined style. He has been doing very good games. He usually puts pace and intensity and we will see if we are both able to do it as we would like to compete. It will be an exciting challenge, difficult but very beautiful ”.
What version of Osasuna? “It is true that he has been playing with a lower-middle block and with three players on the inside in the last games, but I expect anything. During the matches they can vary in two ways due to the circumstances, starting in one way and ending in another because they have records in their game. Last year he was one of the most competitive rivals in LaLiga, and also this year, beyond the results, that all the teams went through moments of greater or lesser scoring pace. We expect a very competitive and difficult game like all the ones we have had against them. The most important thing is that we are in our best version ”.
Count on recovering players. “In order to be competitive we need our players individually to be in an optimal-plus form, like gasoline. We must be outstanding to be able to perform at our best collective level; if not, the slope becomes more difficult. This also depends on whether players like Fede Vico or Ramón Azeez are in full swing and others can catch air. Even so, where the disposition does not arrive, the motivation will do so ”.
Management of minutes against Barcelona. “There was a case that we were going to do yes or yes, regardless of how the game had been. But it is clear that not only because of the intensity of competition that we have had since matchday one. You never know why we were not counting on the expulsion of Vallejo. But it happened. This is soccer. That is why it is so beautiful and difficult at the same time.
Víctor Díaz, Gonalons and Quini. “Victor is out. Gonalons and Quini no. Victor has logical muscular discomfort after a knee operation and another normal ailment after a time stopped for an intervention. We must be patient with their evolution beyond the fact that we would like to have everyone available, something complicated with this rhythm of competition when it comes to fitting all the pieces ”.
Luis Milla. “He responded well, nothing remarkable happened to him, but it is on the second day when the blows and the sensations of inflammation, the fatigue are noticed. We have a lot of experience in this and each case is very different: some get fatigued, others gain ten beats per minute at rest, others go without symptoms, there are those that fall again in a couple of weeks. I can say that his attitude is one of maximum professionalism ”.
The storm Filomena. “Pure and hard adaptation, as we did and continue to do every day, although these are difficult circumstances. We have been since the season began with very little time between games and we have to prioritize much more. It's like when you prepare for an exam, you can't study all the topics and you trust your intuition for the most relevant ones. We had to adapt and reinvent our methodology, but it is what we want. So many official games at this point is something very motivating because it speaks very well of the team. Everything we are experiencing is extraordinary and wonderful. The team is giving everything, it is emptying itself in each training session and in each game. The situation we have is a luxury ”.
Tactical layout. “In these three years I have used all possible game systems. The disposition of the insiders varies during the game, we have played several times with two wingers and also the profile of the wing or the centrals changes. Except for the goalkeeper … When we try to be chameleon we refer to this type of nuance. Let there be no doubt that we will use all the systems, all the profiles and all the possibilities to try to beat Osasuna because it will demand a lot of us. We will need to deploy all our tactical resources ”.
Transfer market. “But in the end, I always say 'little virgin, leave me as I am.' That, the first. Our best winter market, in addition to the possible incorporations in which the sports management is already working, is that we are all available, which is not that the players can enter the call ”.