Sergio Pellicer: “Mel is the most experienced coach in the category, he knows them all”

Have you had seven days to prepare for this game. Complete week. How have the last arrived coupled? “We are in the fifth day and I am grateful for having the group already and being able to have a clean week. We have worked very hard and, above all, the players who have arrived in the last stage find improvement every time and some will be in the game longer. We will adjust. They are prepared and have supported well the training loads that have been high, both physically and technically and tactically. They have endured it well and for us that is the best news. The little positive from the other day is that players who have just arrived are having minutes ”.

Las Palmas is the team with the highest score and goals in the category. “We are facing an opponent who has just won the first victory. It has a very clear DNA of what Las Palmas is. Young people, a lot of game inside. Interior passes to later generate space and search outside. Much dynamism. It is intense in pressure. We are in that process, the Rayo game has to serve us as learning. We want to be protagonists, stay away from our area. We have to manage the phases of the game. We have to generate much more in attack, we cannot maintain that efficiency of Castellón or Alcorcón. We have to be a team together both in attack and defense, managing those critical moments. A fundamental aspect will be to control the set piece. Our idea, playing in our stadium, is to be protagonists and stay away from our area and play in the opposite field. They have scored several goals in the last minutes based on second matchdays ”.

Assessment of how you see that drawing of the team. “I think we continue to have, as Manolo (the team's sporting director) said, that handicap of 18 chips (professionals), but it doesn't have to be an excuse. We already had it last season. It is a group that gives us a lot of choice and we have two players per position. The branch players make us a much larger squad. We believe in them. The past has to serve to improve the present because in the future everything that comes will be better. If injuries respect us, I see many possibilities for the team's players. I am happy with the template there is. These are our players and they are the best. That must be our message. The demand is not negotiated and they know it. The group is absorbing everything that is Malaga. We have a more balanced squad by position. The key will be for the chips that we respect injuries so as not to have to be with the tena of the chips ”.

Will there be changes or revolution in the eleven? “In football there is no revolution. Since we have arrived few times. The line-up has been repeated, we always try to look for changes to improve. There will surely be changes. It is not going to be a revolution. We won in Castellón and there were changes, we won in Alcorcón and there were changes. Many times we look at the initial photo but the most important thing is the development of the game. For 70-80% of matches the balance becomes unbalanced in the final stretch of the match. The final photo is more important than the initial photo ”.

The lack of a shot on goal. How can you improve on that? “We will be above all balanced in the situation we are in. We are not prepared for a 90-minute high-block game. We want movements in the offensive phase. From there you have to transport the ball to talented players, have a little more freedom and prevent further action. Right now we cannot take many risks in the starting area, when a team pushes us we have to have clear mechanisms to be able to arrive and have more depth on the outside. It is what we have worked on this week, surely we are going to improve ”.

How do you see Joaquín Muñoz? “It can give us a lot of versatility, verticality for both bands. Player of the profile that was needed with a chip remaining, with the loss of Hicham we need imbalance on the outside. I suffered it when I was at the Fabril, in Second B it is difficult to stand out and he had a brutal season, with Cristian, at Atlético de Madrid B. He gives all the players a lot of competitiveness, it is a pity that he came with those little annoyances because surely tomorrow I would have participated. He came from doing preseason. He was the player we needed, he's a Malaga player, he has that sense of belonging. It can be developed on both bands and as a second point ”.

About the goal. Dani Barrio or Juan Soriano? “If injuries respect us, we have two players per position and we have that blessed problem that year together with Gonzalo, that we must not forget about him. They will have their chance. I have told them. Tomorrow we know which goalkeeper is going to play but for us it will not be a debate. Sooner or later Juan Soriano is going to have his chance. With Dani we are happy. It does not have any errors. Is growing. It will be a blessed problem and not a debate. We have a guaranteed goal ”.

Pepe Mel has said that Vallecas' 4-0 is misleading and called the penalty 1-0 “of those modern who are whistled. “The analysis of the games often does not depend on the result. The other day, until that penalty action, the team was fine. They were five bad minutes for us because it was that action of the penalty, a little doubtful for us. You have to be careful in the areas, especially with your hands. And then came the unfortunate own-goal action. From there another scenario opened. Everyone who has seen Malaga in these four days has seen a team that is very hungry and that is solid despite the other day. For us that has to be the way. Pepe Mel is the most experienced coach in the category and he knows them all. They are going to fight to be on top ”.

How has the matter of the captains been? “We have discussed it with the group and we have all reached an agreement. Beyond voting we have given common sense of the things that are sorely lacking. The captains are clear: David Lombán, Luis Muñoz, Alberto Escassi and Ismael. From there we have a player like Orlando Sá because of his experience and what he can transmit to the group. It is common sense because it represents everything that Malaga is. People who have already been here last year, who came from below and have grown with the team, a new player who is from Malaga, like Alberto, who has been away for 12 years and may be in his team and a young boy who comes from below , working and transmitting the values ​​we want. More Orlando that has been international ”.