Simeone: “João Félix will continue to be angry with me, but one day he will thank me”

What has changed since Levante?

It’s hard. The dynamics appear and solutions are sought to get the team back on track. I have no doubt that there was a great movement on the part of the club in the post-match against Levante for all this to happen. The boys are doing very well, with a noble spirit, healthy, wanting to compete, today difficulties arose from the game and injuries, we started winning early in a great transition, then we were subdued by a Betis team that is spectacular. Still, without a good transition in the first half we were able to find one with Carrasco. We talked at the break, but we saw that we needed a faster game with Lemar in the middle and to return to Carrasco, where he played last season. The second half was different, we saw that with quick transitions what happened could happen.

People enter very motivated.

Determined by the forms, I say that the bodies speak. Seeing Suárez, with all that Suárez is, enter 15 minutes and leave everything is not easy. And he is leading it with a great personality, commitment to his teammates and the group and great respect for the coach. He makes us have alternatives, compete with each other and gives us possibilities. The changes in the first half changed what Llorente gives us in the middle, that’s why we thought of Lemar at the break and luckily he turned out well.

Injuries changed his pace.

We had to make two changes, Manuel also had to make one and we didn’t have many variants. We changed the system and we saw in the second part that we could hurt them. We won on a difficult pitch, tough and against a team that is playing very well.

What has changed in João Félix?

All people need time and what we demand of him he is doing and he adds the goal, talent, one on one, vision of the game, speed, header, works the area defensively and everything is great for him. He’ll get mad and he’ll keep mad at me, but one day he’ll thank me.

Did the effort in the Cup weigh on Betis?

I did not see fatigue reflected, there were six or seven players who changed and I did not see that. We knew that after 60 minutes changes were going to come in, like Guido, the two forwards were going to appear, it’s a very good squad. It was a dynamic, tough match, with complex situations for the referee and we got an important victory.

What do the injured have?

Sime is a blow I don’t know if it was to the hip or the buttock and Ángel has a very swollen ankle, he is strong and we hope his ankle is noble.

Previously attended Movistar LaLiga

Difficult match. “They are a rival in a very good moment, today they repeated again, they pressed high, they left us without counterattacking due to their good pressure and it was a match where we lived the goal, we were able to score the second, then they besieged us in the first half. second was more divided, more expectations of hurting on a counterattack and we ended up defining a match against a brilliant rival”.

Goalscorer. “I think the team has a very good transition, very fast, which was seen in the goals and it gives us many alternatives. We have to continue with the same spirit and in this 14-game League that we started three games ago, we want to continue game by game” .

Two injured. “These are complex plays, they collide in the air and they are sore, they grab Correa’s ankle and it is swollen. We need everyone to continue in this dynamic.”

Champion positions. “We don’t have to look anywhere, just try to keep improving. The spirit is what I like the most, the people who came in speak of the good group there is and that we’re all looking for the same match”.

John Felix. “Impressive, he was able to score the third and Griezmann was called for a foul, which for me was not, but he scored a great goal”.