MENDILIBAR: "OUR STYLE OF PLAY IS TAKING SHAPE"

José Luis Mendilibar was delighted with his side's performance in their 5-1 win over Almería, but didn't want to get carried away: "Five goals is fine. We had more chances to score, but you can't convert them all. We had 25 minutes of pressing hard against the opposition and everything went our way. Other times we've done that and then suffered." Yet he underlined the great work put in by the team in all areas: "It's not easy to do what we did tonight. You can put it in the same kind of performance, like we did against Girona, but our gameplan wasn't as well-drilled as theirs, so we lost. What I want is for my ideas to stick. They're the same as last season, but we just need the new additions to buy into them. A lot of them have featured over the last few games and we're now unbeaten in four, which means they're adapting well. 

Unsurprisingly, the manager was asked about Lukebakio: "He played really well, scored one and then had another ruled out - I have no idea why. He contributed hugely in attack. Let's hope his form continues and the rest of the team help him to push on. Players have different roles and have to work hard for the team, but when he plays like he did tonight, Lukebakio's sole responsibility is to provide us with attacking threat. This was a great collective performance and the chances he had came from the team winning the ball back in the opposition half. What is most important is how we worked as a unit and not individually." Lastly, Mendilibar looked ahead to Montjuïc: "We must recover well, see how the players pull up. We have 72 hours and then another tough game against a top side. They face the same challenging timeframe so we will see how people feel after some rest and it's possible there will be changes while equally some will stay in the team."