MENDILIBAR: "EVERY GAME IS VITAL, WINNING TOMORROW WOULD GIVE US A SENSE OF CONFIDENCE"

José Luis Mendilibar spoke to the media in his pre-match press conference ahead of the clash away to Cádiz CF. The Sevilla coach commented on the fitness of his players: "The squad is in good shape, and we've been recovering the players who were injured little by little. The international players and other teammates who stayed here are ready to compete. They have trained well, with full and demanding training sessions... I'm happy with the training sessions. It's my first game as Sevilla coach and I hope it goes well."

He then spoke about a couple of names in particular, saying, "Marcao hasn't had any contact with the group yet, Tecatito is with the group but today, for example, he didn't finish training and we'll see what the doctors say and Rafa Mir has trained well, he's the striker who has been with us the longest and I think he could be good for us at getting on the end of aerial balls and because he can play in space. In that respect, he could be good for our style."

As for the goalkeeping, he left it until tomorrow's game to reveal which goalkeeper will start, but he showed confidence in both: "I know Dmitrovic very well, but I also know Bono. Tomorrow you'll see who plays, otherwise, the group is fine and accepts the adjustments I make at certain times, but sometimes it all depends on the result, which is what counts. We will try to win so that what we are doing during the week can be seen in Saturday's match."

Regarding the game at the Nuevo Mirandilla, he said that "We're going to play a tough game against a very competitive opponent who have a style of play that makes it difficult to create chances against them. We have to believe in what we do, we have trained to compete tomorrow and in that sense I think the players are ready, we have been lucky enough to have almost two weeks of work to prepare for it."

As for the opposition and their run at home, he also indicated that "It's true that when you've been playing one way for a long time it's not easy to change, some need to be improved more than others, but what we have to try to do is to show that in training. They want to change and that's good. Cádiz are strong at home, although they didn't start the season well. Let's see if we can win there. All matches are vital, they're all worth three points. Winning tomorrow would give us a sense of confidence."

"The players are ready to compete"

The Basque coach also spoke about his excitement ahead of his debut: "I always get butterflies in my stomach before a match. Some people are very competitive, if you're not feeling this way it's not good either because you're missing something. It's an important game, we're going to make our debut on the Sevilla bench, but we'll be ready for tomorrow's game."

And whilst talking about Pape Gueye, he referred again to his style as he did in his presentation: "The idea is to play simpler, full stop. If you play simpler it will be more difficult to make mistakes, if you complicate a short pass, doubts start to creep in, I try to get the players to play an easy game and not to make mistakes in difficult places for us, as there may be players who don't make mistakes and the nerves don't just affect one player, but the whole group. They all have the ability to play this way too, we will demand that they have a bit of everything, there are moments when you can link up and there are others when you have to play longer and further away from your goal."