Sarriugarte: ‘The team are concentrating on bouncing back’

Félix Sarriugarte offered a press conference prior to the match at the Sporting facilities of Paterna. Where he stated: “The team are concentrating on bouncing back, more united than ever and willing to respond to Valencia tomorrow” and that tomorrow’s rival “is a qualified opponent with a good team on field and on the bench, with a clear way of playing, a rival to be reckoned with”.

Concerning what the team needs to get out of the situation the team finds itself in, he said “there are things we need to improve, but we are using sufficient common sense in order to get better. Evidently, there are a series of factors, I don’t think it’s just one thing, but after the fall the team will get back on its feet again”.

Regarding Iraola and Sarriegi who had to leave the field during the training session, he revealed: “Andoni is injured, I don’t know if it’s serious or not, he was having problems during the last training session and Josu is also having problems, we are waiting till tomorrow to see how their injuries are going, we hope that at least Josu will be fit enough to play”.

Asked about whether he feels he’s being questioned, he affirmed: “the issue of me being questioned comes from the Media, and not for losing in Majorca but from the very first day and it’s something we are putting up with, it does not condition us because this has been happening since the beginning”.

About his state of mind he emphasised: “the truth is that you have questioned me a lot, you have questioned me on different levels, you have talked about me because of my personality, I think my decisions speak on my behalf, you have branded me as soft. I can accept that there may be disagreement about things to do with football: line ups, call ups etc but I won’t permit the manipulation of me as a person and why do you want to push the idea of me being a softie which in not true, you all know who I am, at least those of Bilbao, and I have worked with some of you a long time.”