MENDILIBAR: "WE ARE POSITIVE, BUT WE HAVE TO KEEP PLAYING WELL LONG-TERM"

José Luis Mendilibar will make his first appearance as manager this Friday at the  Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán, yet he made it clear that the players are the most important: "The players are the ones who have to go out onto the pitch and do as well as they can. They are the main actors and I come second."

He was also asked about Celta's injury problems, with Viega out: "It evens out when both teams are missing players. The players we have back from injury have only been with the squad for a week. We hope that this has not been too much for them as they have been out injured for a long time. The importuning this is that they spend time with the group, that we don't push them too hard, because with a new coach the mindset can change a bit. Hopefully they are back soon but don't get injured again, so that we don't have to call in people from the academy to have our training sessions. Hopefully, things get better on this front." 

On a more direct style of play, he recognised that in football only one thing matter: "If it ends with a goal, it doesn't matter to me whether it has been three touches or sixteen. I am not against anything in football, but there are certain thing that I prefer to others. I don't want to take too many risks in our own box but do this in the opposition's, and this is what I have always wanted, not just now. I want us to figure out whether we can do things more quickly or sometimes more directly, because it will help us."

On Celta, there was a message he came back to frequently: "It will be a very difficult match because they don't play like Cádiz at all, neither better nor worse. Sometimes they want possession and at other times they don't so they can counter. If you leave space for them, they take advantage of it, they are compact defensively but also look to score. We can't switch off because they try to create space between the defensive lines and we can't let them do this."

"We can't switch off because they try to create space between the defensive lines"

Speaking about the players returning, he was asked about Fernando: "His work is crucial for the team. When you watch him train when he's not even able to play, you think to yourself how good he is going to be when he is in a match. His return will be great for us". On the development of the team, he was cautious: "Our streak is very short, and if you don't extend it it means nothing. The change of coach beings this about, but we have to look at the longer term. We hope that the players like what we are getting across to them. We have very good players who have spent a long time playing amongst the elite. If we fight and we run like the teams I have managed previously, with these players we will be better than these teams. This needs to be the case not only on a match day but training too. If the standards are set high during the week, I will be happy and I am sure that the matches will go well." 

"If we work like the teams I have managed previously, with these players, we will be better"

From now until the end, every game will be vital: "The next game is always going to be key. If you win you'll be closer to Celta, who are neither in nor out of form. You always have to be ready because every opponent will have a different style and we'll have to see how well we perform."

"In Cadiz, we struggled with balls into the box and through balls and here it will be with balls between the lines to drop the shoulder and come out with pace. If we do well, we'll take a step forward. I never do the maths. I know we play against Celta, Manchester United, Valencia and Manchester United again. I don't want to look beyond that because they're all miles away, and if we drop the ball, they're all worthless."

He was also asked about his first encounter with the city: "I knew Seville but not the Semana Santa. Everything is impressive, first of all the city. The people here are nothing like those from the north, neither for better nor for worse. You imagine Semana Santa in one way but it's not what you imagined, it's much better."

"This is the club with the highest sporting level that I have been in and as you arrive there are different things than in other clubs. In all of them they have looked after us wonderfully and we have had people looking after us, but here I don't know if it's because it's a club that has been in the Champions League and Europa League for so many years, it's a bit more. We don't lack anything and we are delighted with the coaching staff. We haven't had any problems or made any calls. It's true that we're normal people and we don't ask for too much, but everything we've seen has been good."