Ibiza is an adversary with aspirations. “He is a recently promoted, but has a compact and solid block with players who repeat from the previous season, with the same coaching staff. The automatisms and the knowledge between colleagues is great. And then I think it is a team that is a difficult rival at a competitive and structural level. You can play with a line of four or five. In the center of the field it has many variants and upstairs the way of defending also changes a bit depending on the game and the interpretation of the players. A hard-working team that is going to make things for us sure that they are complicated ”.
Víctor Gómez and Antoñín, this week's Malaguista signings. “Antoñín already know him well. You can play in band and above. We will use it depending on what we see. It comes with a lot of desire and hunger. We hope you have a good season. As for Victor, he comes to complete that right-back and increase competitiveness on that right-back. He is a player we know well because he was one of the best right-backs last season (they agreed at Mirandés). And we hope it can deliver performance to us.
In the right-back position, in addition to Víctor Gómez, Alexander, Ismael Casas, Ale Benítez, Iván Calero and another youth squad, Bilal. “There are many players whose processes have been accelerated due to the situation at the club and who need to play games and continue with their individual growth. The only way for them to grow is by having minutes and matches in official competition. We have different possibilities in this position. Each of them knows the individual reality that we think about them. We will have to sit down with Manolo on Monday and make decisions ”(Door open to a possible transfer or departure of any of them).
How about playing at five in the afternoon in Ibiza and in August? “I will never use the schedule of a game as an excuse because I think we have a team capable of adapting to any situation. But it is true that it makes little sense to play a game in Ibiza at five in the afternoon in the middle of August. Last week we saw in the First Division the postponement of an Osasuna-Espanyol, a match in Pamplona, from five to ten at night. I think that we should take it more into account because we have to protect footballers in the First or Second Division.
Are you clear about the eleven you are going to draw? “I have things clear. If we had them the day before, we would have a problem. We have a clear team. The first ones who do not know who is going to play are the players. And they will always be the first to know it ”.
Casualties of Hicham, Roberto, Loren, Benkhemassa or Jozabed… ”Some will be recoverable. They will never hear me talk about the calls or particular situations about players in the previous ones because it is to give information to the rival. It is very difficult for us to obtain information from the opponents in the week or in the previous weeks and I believe that we should do the same. We are clear about which players are going to count and which are not, and that the decisions we make are the best ones ”.
Why not facilitate the calls? “I understand their work, but they must understand ours, which is to try not to give clues to anyone. The calls for many teams do not appear until the day of the match. We are not going to give clues to any rival. I do not think it is so important as to generate a debate ”.
Hicham situation. “He is recovering (he was injured). He has not had any injuries. We have simply decided together with the medical services that he has an important rehabilitation process and a demanding day-to-day job apart from the group so that, when he returns, he will do so in the best possible conditions. The player progresses adequately and we hope that in the coming days or weeks he can join the group with full security and without doubts about his physical condition so that he can give maximum intensity. And with the certainty that it is well ”.
Some conclusion after the match against Mirandés. “The idea is to be the team that we were during the first 60 or 70 minutes of that game. From minute 70 the game changed, but it was more because of our physical condition, because there were certain players who had problems from previous weeks because they had not completed training and had had few minutes in preseason. We know that our proposal is very demanding. We are one of the teams that covered the most kilometers of the previous day. That effort and without having had a prize, we paid it in the last 20 minutes. Little by little, with the passage of the competition and the integration of the injured and new players into the group, I think we will be able to maintain that rhythm during the 90 minutes.
Quarry role. “We, and we have always shown it during our trajectory, always like to bet on young people. And then there is the issue of performance. We are not going to look at the age or origin of the players to make the lineups. The appearance of Roberto and Kevin was two very good news and their individual performance will be what makes them stay in the team or lose their place. Everyone is pushing hard on a daily basis and the work sessions are being excellent and making things very difficult for us. Whoever makes a mistake a bit or who relaxes, there will be another partner going to overtake him ”,
Are Victor and Antoñín there to compete? “They are to compete. In the case of Víctor I can anticipate that he will not be there tomorrow because I think he will arrive on Monday and for the next day I hope to have him. The two come from training and having regularity in their preseason. They are in perfect condition to play ”.