LOPETEGUI: "VALENCIA ARE CANDIDATES TO BE UP THERE, AS THEY PLAY ONLY ONCE A WEEK"

21/09/2021

"We have little time and much to do, and there are always areas for improvement, whether you win or not"

Julen Lopetegui, Sevilla FC Coach, gave his pre-match press conference today ahead of tomorrow's visit of Valencia CF. He started by emphasising that "the team is currently competing basically every three days and they're excited and keen to focus on each match, one at a time. We're focused on tomorrow's big, attractive match, they're on a very good run of form and they've started the season very well with their new manager's philosophy. Also, they're only playing once a week, so they are candidates to be up there, I'm sure".

"Everyone has absences. They played very well against Real Madrid and they will have excellent players in every position on the pitch. I'm expecting a strong Valencia side, as they have been demonstrating in the first few matches of the season. It will be a very even match, as it usually is between Sevilla and Valencia", responded the coach, when asked about Valencia's injury problems.

"Right now the team aren't at the same stage of preparation, we must reach that point"

Regarding his own team, Lopetegui stated that "we have to improve in many aspects, like everyone, we're only heading into our fifth match of the season. There's a long way to go. Preseason was how it was and right now the team aren't at the same stage of preparation. The competition does not wait, we must reach that point and we will do, but it's not particularly unusual at this stage of the season".

The coach was then asked about possible absences tomorrow, due to players not training today: "Suso, Fernando, and some others... We'll wait until tomorrow, we'll see how everyone is before deciding on the best eleven, but we'll have players missing for sure".

"We're doing lots of good things, but there are always areas for improvement, whether you win or not"

"We are focused on the work we have to do, not worried. We have little time and much to do. There are always areas for improvement, whether you win or not. That's what we work on behind closed doors. We're also doing lots of good things, of course, we've only conceded once in four matches. We've got new players in the squad, some have arrived with different fitness levels etc. Those are the circumstances and from there we have to build what we want", continued Lopetegui, when analysing the team's fitness and form.

To finish, Lopetegui stated that "the fact that there are so many injuries now could be due to many factors, you'd have to analyse many things, such as the number of matches, but I'm not able to answer exactly. Even though it adds up, it's only a probability".