Guede: “This is how we are going to fight King Kong in the jungle”

Pablo Guede was proud of Málaga’s performance against Eibar. Despite the defeat, Málaga was close to a draw until the end against the leader of the Second Division. “You have to congratulate the players,” said the Argentine.

Good start until expulsion: “You have to divide the game in two, but the result is one. We started well, where we wanted, attacking where we wanted and defending how we wanted. But in five minutes, everything planned goes away. The expulsion, the penalty… but this is football. It is not a complaint. I said it the first day, from then on and we continued to climb little by little on the issue of intensity and not give up. You have to congratulate the players. It is not easy to play against the leader with ten players for 70 minutes, because I did not forget that he added nine minutes in the first half. And do it where we did it. We had our chances with ten. They are leaders for a reason, they come to the area and they don’t forgive you. We have to keep going”.

Message to the team: “There was a time when La Rosaleda exploded, that’s because the players transmit to the people and it’s to thank. I told them that this is how we are going to fight King Kong in the jungle. This is Malaga. People responded wonderfully because the players, wonderfully against the leader, dropped everything. That’s why I’m proud of the players.”

Ovation to the players and discomfort with the referee: “I’m not talking about the referees. His problem is and it will be on his conscience whether he did it right or wrong. If he expels Escassi it is because something is there, not because he wants to. It is very difficult to be a referee. I understand them and they may or may not be wrong, I don’t know if they were wrong. You don’t have to rely on the referee. If we are left with ten, we have to see why we are left with ten. And if there was any mistake on our part, we have to analyze it so that it doesn’t happen again”.

Team errors: “I do not agree. When we make mistakes to lose, I will say so. It was much more merit of Eibar than our mistakes. They had one more player. Either we covered ourselves inside and unprotected ourselves on the outside or we protected ourselves on the outside and discovered ourselves on the inside. He put it on his head, our center back stuck to their striker, it’s totally their credit. If there’s one thing I ask of my players in the penalty area, it’s to stick to the mark. Genaro was where he had to be and he jumped to head as he had to jump. But he put it on his head and nodded like the gods, that’s not the fault. It was a lot of merit for Eibar”.

Many forced decisions: “Mixed feelings. Hot and happy. It was a maelstrom. Between the change of Javi Jiménez, the expulsion and the penalty, everything was very fast. I couldn’t make any more changes and what I wanted to do was never give up on winning, even with ten, that’s why I brought in Kevin and Paulino. He didn’t want to give up the attack. I made the change of Vadillo for Roberto to continue staying up there, but at times it was crazy”.

First loss: “How he ran and scored the team… And he is the leader. And we had it there in Roberto’s header. Negative is the result, because we all play to win. But you can always get positive things and I think that the attitude that the players had to defend and try to attack Eibar was the right one, but this is football”.

Brandon: “He scored a good goal, but the play is how we had worked on it, that’s why I highlight the team before the individualities. For this we work. He finished very well, but the team’s work is what makes me the happiest”.

Danny Martin: “I decided that he should be the goalkeeper and he is doing what he has to do, which is to stop the difficult ones. Rival goalkeepers also stop. We have two great goalkeepers. I decided on him and he is responding. It is a detail that we have to analyze, after our goal they always reach the goal. That’s a bug. With Valladolid he saved the first hand, with Leganés the header from the post and now the first play after the goal… ”.

Next step: “To rest tomorrow and plan the game in Las Palmas, which is going to be totally different from today. We are going to the field of one of the teams that plays the best, that attacks the opposite goal and we are going to try to attack them”.

Javi Jiménez injury and numerous cards: “It’s to analyze, but the game leads you to that. Ramón’s was for cutting off a play and he did very well. Then there were a lot of protests and we have to improve that, but the game leads you to that. There is a lot of emotion, more how the game was experienced and I can’t tell you anything. I don’t know what Javi has, the doctors will tell me. We have Cufré”.