The microphone in the press room was already turned off… Elche coach Francisco Rodriguez bid farewell to the reporters and wished them luck: “Good luck, because my luck is mine and mine is yours,” he said as he left the room. That’s how it is and that’s how the Almeria coach has always considered it, since coming to Elche he has integrated all levels of the club, including the press, into a “perfect” union.
Elche isn’t having her best moment. One win in the last five games. And Francisco admits this, but he also thinks we can’t make the mistake of “being results-oriented and thinking we don’t have enough resources to get out of this situation. The stronger you are mentally, the better your chances of achieving the goal. “I don’t usually look at stats, but this week, out of the nine teams battling for permanence, we’re the fourth team to score the most goals in the last six games,” he said.
Franjiverde coach phrases: “We trust our people completely. We have a large and qualified workforce. What we have is very and good”. And he said much more: “I think we can achieve permanence with two wins, but for that we have to compete and win. “38 points is a number that I think will help us, so we are in a situation that allows us to be optimistic and confident in our luck.”
The coach of Almería says: “Dynamic breaks down when bad”. It is especially dedicated to “being balanced, believing, persuading each other and being together”. Everything is achieved by hard work. “Mental strength is very important and I am completely confident that we will achieve our goal.” The next opponent for this is Real Sociedad.
“We faced great teams, competed and scored. The most important game is the next game, with all due respect to a big opponent who wants to enter the Champions League, we will go out to win. I don’t know if we will win, draw or lose, but I can assure you we will race on Sunday”, explains the coach.
Competitiveness is exactly what Francisco’s team has been missing in recent games. The coach himself admits: “We must return to being a competitive and ambitious team”to pretend.
And Lucas Boyé will be missing. We will miss him, he is a great actor. but we have to be realistic and think for example against Espanyol or Granada that he wasn’t there and we won. And don’t forget that Carrillo, who hasn’t had much of a chance lately, gave Martínez Valero a standing ovation. We must trust what we have, which is much and good”.
Elche’s reference scorer is struggling to play more this season. “We hope he can come back, but we have to be careful. “He needs to recover safely, especially for himself, but we hope he can return to the final games.”
To cover the fall Boyé, Carrillo or Eze Ponce they have options. “We can change the way we attack a little bit, but we have a player profile that adapts when Lucas is not there.” When specifically asked about Ponce, the coach understands that “he is a player who has been inactive for a very long time”. Logically, it “takes time to adapt. He is a player we love and this will bring great happiness to our fans.”
Bilbao’s bad image has done a lot of damage to the team. “We were so devastated at the beginning of the week, but we took responsibility for it and are determined to return to being the competitive and ambitious Elche of before”, explains the coach. Thus, the next match against Real Sociedad is “time to give it all and be 100%”.
About the competitor, Francisco highlights his potential“It’s great for the players, the coaches and the bench. “It’s a team that is very close to the Champions League places and likes to have Barça or Villarreal possession, so we have to be very regional and cover the fields well.”
For Sunday (18:30, Martínez Valero), Elche will be able to count on “almost all security,” according to Francisco. Josan and mojika. Both are inconveniences. The Crevillent man is in the calf where he took a heavy hit in training Wednesday. The Colombian spent a lot of money throughout the season, “but I think they’re both going to go there. His mentality is to be and that is appreciated. “It’s hard to find a player who is not sick at this point in the championship, but it’s time to give it all.” Those who are not will be injured male and John and approved ShepherdFrancisco also said about it that he “has had some discomfort in the soleus lately that has not allowed him to train with the group.” Let’s hope he recovers in the final part of the championship.