TORO: "SINCE JANUARY THE SIDE HAS UPPED THEIR GAME AND WE ARE LEFT HAPPY AT THE END OF THE SEASON"

Cristian Toro appeared on 'Solo el Sevilla', with Sevilla FC Radio. A few days after the end of the season for Sevilla FC Women, the coach first spoke about his general feelings: "We have ended feeling better than we did at the start. The side has been more competitive since January and we are happy with what we have done this season."

In this sense, he spoke of the maturity of the group after it took them a few months to adapt to the new season: "Sometimes, you have a tricky year. There were many new players and many situations which had to be managed on a daily basis, and during pre-season our expectations were very high. Champions of Andalusia, we won all of our friendlies playing very well and then the league began. We lost to Atlético de Madrid and Valencia, and then you have to have the confidence to come back. We didn't have that at the start of the season and we had to mature as a group, as this competition is going to challenge you and we learnt a lot in the first four months. Then the team started to turn things around as had been expected, given the quality of the squad and what the club has provided for us."

Speaking about the results and the statistics, Toro acknowledged that maybe his team didn't do as well as they should have done away from the Estadio Jesús Navas, but he noted how they were always competitive: "We ended with 10 victories, 10 draws and 10 losses. It's clear we need to improve our away form, as we drew a lot. We weren't clinical enough in key moments, no matter how competitive we were and whether we deserved more. At the start we had to adjust various things, we conceded many goals in the first few matches, when we had started prior seasons being very strong at the back. We then kept ten clean sheets, at home we were very good, scored goals and climbed up the table. Before the start of the season we hadn't thought about qualifying for the Champions League, but being around 5th and 6th when we faced Granadilla in the last match, if we draw, we would have finished sixth and we would not have been sixth and not far off the goals that we had set ourselves. It can be difficult sometimes to turn things round, we were in a difficult period and I think that we achieved it. It's worth praise."

"We ended not far off the objectives that we had set ourselves at the start of the season"

With respect to what is to come, the Argentine stressed how he wants to keep a sense of continuity from the start of 2023: "As we approach this year, the squad isn't going to change too much. There will be tweaks, but not like last year and and from there we can set a base for next season. There will be things to improve, things to learn... I think that next year we will see a more mature group. In general terms we have to continue what we have done since January. Let's not forget that before the match against Madrid CFF we were two points off relegation and we ended up finishing above Real Sociedad, Athletic and that is because we did things well."

On a personal note, he is happy despite recognising that there were tough moments at the start: "I am content. It's clear that this year was hard at the start, at a personal level too because we weren't getting the results and the expectations were above what we were doing... it was about adapting, making changes, but I learnt a lot for sure, more than in other seasons. I am excited to keep on growing and I hope that next year is better than the start of this year with everything I have learnt."

To end, he was asked about the fact that this season might have ended at a time when his side were doing very well: "Maybe it was the best part of the season for the team with the results and the feeling amongst the group, but we will also learn from this. Sometimes there are up and down periods, things change... the difficult thing is being able to keep on the right path. Coaches will be judged on results. Against Athletic we dropped two points, against Real Sociedad something similar happened, but this all has to do with learning. At the end of the day, to do well or to get better you have to start off poorly. I think that we were able to analyse this objectively and we hope that these lessons will mean that things are tilted in our favour. The fans analyse results and I understand, but a closer look at our performances reveals many things to be positive about."