Garitano: “In the match against Tenerife, we’ll need personality and we must know how to compete”

Eibar coach Gaizka Garitano has previewed this Saturday’s game away at Tenerife and stated that “we’ll need personality and we must know how to compete”, while he added that the team must approach the match with “the aim of winning, which we’ll need to show on the pitch by going forward and by being brave”.

Speaking on Thursday in the pre-match press conference, Garitano also mentioned that he thinks Tenerife’s Heliodoro Rodríguez Stadium is “one of the most difficult grounds in the division”.

ON TENERIFE

“They are one of the best teams in the division. I think they’re doing well. They were on the brink of promotion last season and this year they have the same aim. They should be able to make the top six, as I see their potential and style as the same as last year. We have some very difficult games remaining and if I had to name one of the most difficult fixtures we have left then this is undoubtedly one of those most challenging matches that we’ll have between now and the end of the season.”

“They are a team that defend very well and concede very little. Last year they were the team that conceded the fewest goals and this year they are also conceding very few goals. If they’re not the best-organised team, then they’re up there as one of the best. We’ll need to put in a good performance to have a chance of winning. Away at Tenerife, you need to play really well to take a victory.”

ON PLAYING AWAY FROM IPURUA

“Our away form is always compared to our home form and we’re always going to lose out in that comparison because we’ve won a lot at home in the last year and a half. But, if you look at Eibar’s results away from home in the last year and a half, they’ve also been great, as we’ve won a huge number of games. We’re doing well on the road too and I think we’re competing very well, which is seen by the fact that we’re winning games and picking up points. We have the ability to win away from home, even if it can be very difficult. When you play in Tenerife, you know that you’re visiting one of the most difficult grounds in the division.”

“We will go there with the aim of winning. That's the way we play, as want the ball and we want to attack and to set out to win games. We’ll have phases when they’re going to push us back, which is logical, but our gameplan is always to be on the front foot, and we’ll play to win in Tenerife too. This is a game where we’ll need personality and we must know how to compete and how to get through bad moments because they have very good players. But, we’re going with the aim of winning, which we’ll need to show on the pitch by going forward and by being brave.”

ON HAVING SO MANY MISSING PLAYERS

“It’s going to be this way for a few more weeks and we’ve already had a few weeks of this special situation, I’ve never experienced something like this before. But, in such a long season, it can happen to everyone and we have to try to solve the problems we have in those positions with other players. I think we are coming up with good solutions at the moment and we will try to continue like this because we have a few more weeks of having to play like this. We’ll try to be positive and to look at the solutions we have rather than the problems. We are a team that looks forward without making excuses.”

“Those who are playing at full-back are coping very well despite the fact that they are not in their natural positions. The second division is a marathon and you always have to deal with problems. It’s not just us, as other teams will also have other issues. It’s the ability to adapt to these situations that makes you better. I often think that the teams that are at the top aren’t much better than others that are lower down, but we’re there because we have a greater capacity to adapt, to suffer and to be more competitive than other teams.”

ON HOW TIGHT IT IS AT THE TOP

“Tenerife are also a team that always set out to win and they are going to make things very difficult for us. Our rivals are taking a lot of points, as they are winning, and they’ll be saying the same about us. It’s going to take a lot of points, but we just have to keep going.”

“The season is reaching the final stretch so every game you win is a step forwards and every game you don’t win is a step backwards. We are playing for something very difficult, which is promotion. There are 14 or 15 teams who started the league with that objective and eight or nine still have that objective. At the moment, we’re in that group at the top, but we have to keep going, we have to keep pushing and we have to try to keep winning.”