FC Barcelona goalkeeper Víctor Valdés admits that the players didn’t do what coach Josep Guardiola had asked for in yesterday’s game away at Numancia. “We’ll need to do a whole lot better if we want to win,” he commented.
Valdés said that Pep Guardiola’s game plan for the match at Soria was to play the ball wide
and keep the lines closer together. However, this was something which in the end the players failed
to deliver.
“The players are at fault”
“We didn’t do what we’ve been practising in the preseason,” said the
Barça custodian. “So what we need to do is to put right the mistakes we made
yesterday.” He was also clear about who was to blame for the defeat: “It’s the
players who go out on the park and work for 90 minutes. That means that here we are the only people
to blame for the result.”
Unexpected defeat
Víctor Valdés admitted that they hadn’t been expecting to lose
away at Numancia: “Neither the players nor the fans saw this coming. I can only hope that
members and fans will remain as hopeful as they were before the match at Soria.”
“We’re all part of the defence”
When asked about the performance of the Barça defence, Valdés said that he was very happy
with the way things had gone. “However, you have to remember that the defence consists of
everyone from the guy leading the line to the goalie,” he added. “We’re all part
of it.”
Maximum concentration
Valdés made it clear that the players were fully focussed on the job at hand and were giving
100%. He also discussed the question of tactical changes against a team that scores first and then
parks a bus across its goal. “Numancia scored early doors and we fell into the trap, and we
didn’t have much luck in front of goal,” he said. “The system isn’t the
same as last year.”
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Not looking at other teams
Real Madrid’s defeat away at Riazor also came up at this morning’s press conference in
the Camp Nou. “The most important thing is looking to what we do,” said the Barça
keeper. “It’s always handy when a rival for the title drops points but the thing we
need to do is to do our own jobs well, and yesterday we just didn’t do that.”