FCBARCELONA.CAT

02.11.2007 15:06

Márquez: "Sooner or later we will find the balance"

Berta Brau

Rafa Márquez laid out his plan for FC Barcelona start winning more league games away from home. "Maybe we have to make more sacrifices and have to put in more effort and increase the pressure," he said-

Reflecting on the problems that the Blaugrana have faced so far this season on the road, he has spelt out the reasons why he believes results are proving difficult to come by. "Sooner or later we will find the balance between playing at home and playing away," he continued. When asked whether it was a hangover from last season, Márquez said: "For me, last season has gone and it has not affected us this year."

Finding the rhythm

The Mexican defender then recognised that the Barça defence still has a few problems when playing at other teams' grounds. "There is still a long way to go in the league and we will not stop working and cannot worry about the results that we have picked up. We have to try and find our rhythm and the correct mentality to apply pressure and win back possession if want to avoid seeing the ball played behind us, which has hurt us a lot."

Rijkaard’s chat

During training on Friday morning Frank Rijkaard called his player together and spoke to them for a lot longer than is usual. Asked whether the coach had any harsh words or criticisms to make, Márquez explained that the Dutchman "always supporters the players so that we work well and always talks to us when he sees things that he does not like during training as we have a lot of games to come and we have to make the best us of this time to recover".

Márquez then added that the coach had not "punished" the players with extra physical circuits.

Playing in the same way

On the subject of performing well in away games, Márquez continued: "We have to become accustomed to playing in the same way that do at home and to pressure the opposition more, especially to recover the ball when we lose it. Other teams are learning how we play and know us well and they keep things tight at the back to make it difficult for us to attack. We need more effort and to sacrifice outrselves more."