“Shakhtar put us in trouble and the end of the game was not what we wanted”
BARCELONA, 6 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
FC Barcelona player Jules Koundé commented that the team has “disconnection” problems at certain moments in some games and that they are working to solve it and be “more concentrated”, something that they will try to show against Shakhtar Donetsk, in the second round of the group stage of the Champions League, which put them “in trouble” in the Blaugrana’s first-leg victory.
“From my point of view it is perhaps a little more disconnection throughout the game. Sometimes we lack, yes, we need to be more concentrated. I have the feeling perhaps that sometimes we open ourselves a little, we open ourselves too much and we concede more than last year,” he acknowledged at a press conference from Hamburg.
However, the French central defender assured that there is room for improvement. “It is something we are working on because we are still a young team that has an important margin of progression. So we have to correct these details,” he said.
Despite suffering a lot against Real Sociedad at the weekend, with a victory ‘in extremis’, he believes that the locker room is “happy.” “We know that we have to improve, but the locker room is good. We want to win tomorrow because it is a super important game and we always want to give our best version. We have no doubts,” he assured.
“Real Sociedad made it very difficult for us to get the ball out, perhaps we have also lost quite a few balls on throw-ins. And I think so, it is a matter of communicating, of always being in motion, and I think that, well, it is also a matter of intensity. These are things that we have to improve and that we will surely improve tomorrow,” he noted.
“We have to continue working as we do and it is true that throughout the season, there are some games like this where you are not feeling well and you are not playing well and you are faced with a team that plays very well, so you have to get the three points and “This is what we have done. In the end it also shows that the team knows how to suffer and respond to difficulty,” he added, positively.
Looking ahead to the ‘Champions’ match in Hamburg against Ukrainian Shakhtar Donetsk, he assured that they must improve compared to the first round clash. “Against Shakhtar we did very well in the first half and perhaps in the second a little less, and they gave us problems and scored a goal. The end of the game was not what we wanted, it was not a comfortable game and well tomorrow we are going to try to play a complete game, put pressure on them well and not leave them time to play,” he said.
On a personal level, he claimed to be fine after his injury and celebrated having extra competition with the arrival of Iñigo Martínez. “I am very happy to have Iñigo and to have so much competition in defense, I think the most important thing is that the team is stronger. Regarding my recovery, sometimes there are deadlines when a player is injured and I felt very Well, I worked very hard to come back as soon as possible and well I came back when I felt comfortable,” he said.
And he celebrated not being playing at right back. “It is true that last year I played quite a few games at right back, and I am always at the coach’s disposal. It is true that we had a conversation at the end of the season, because, of course, I wanted to play in a central position in which I “I feel more comfortable. But the coach knows very well that I am available and I will never refuse to play at right back,” he said.