"We have had better weeks, but we have to keep going"

Ernesto Valverde spoke to the media ahead of the Lions' match against Girona FC at San Mames following three consecutive defeats.

"We are trying to recover from the effort of the other day and preparing for tomorrow because there is no letup in the competition.

"We have had better weeks, but we have to keep going. In previous years, there have also been times when we haven't been at our best, but I'm not worried.

"If you look at the matches we've lost without taking into account the scoring, you don't think we've lost them because we dominated most of them."

For the Zurigorri coach, there have been no notable differences so far:

"All the matches have been decided by small details, sometimes in our favour and sometimes against us. No draws. We haven't won comfortably, nor have we been comfortably beaten. I think that's going to be the general tone of the season."

Finally, regarding the opponent, Valverde does not believe that their delicate position in the table will affect them:

"Girona will come, knowing that they are in a difficult position, to play a tough game and try to take advantage of the weaknesses they have seen in our team.

"They play well, if they can cope with the pressure they can go far, they never give up on taking risks with the ball and they have technical players who dominate the game.

"There is still a long way to go in the league, it has only just started and we are all finding our feet.

"They haven't had a good start, but they have enough talent to get ahead. We rate them highly and we must remember that two seasons ago they were fighting to win LaLiga.

"All opponents always have something to prove and it's good that they feel that pressure. We must show that too."