Mendilibar: The points give you that boost to keep working hard in training
Goalkeeper Markel Areitio and Nano come into the squad
Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of tomorrow's clash against Sevilla FC at Ipurua, José Luis Mendilibar declared that, "The points give you that boost to keep working hard in training".
For tomorrow's game, Mendilibar will have to contend with the absence of the suspended Asier Riesgo in goal, whilst Iván Ramos, who is recovering from a muscle injury, also misses out. Meanwhile, Adrián González is currently sidelined with muscle discomfort. The coach has decided to leave David Juncà, Cristian Rivera and Takashi Inui out of the squad.
The 18-man squad list is as follows:
Goalkeepers: Yoel and Markel Areitio
Outfield players: Capa, Arbilla, Dos Santos, Lejeune, Gálvez, Antonio Luna, Escalante, Dani García, Fran Rico, Jota, Bebé, Pedro León, Rubén Peña, Sergi Enrich, Kike García and Nano Mesa.
The Eibar boss underlined that, "Sevilla are tough opposition and they've got a very strong squad. Despite them having played in midweek, they've got the players to be able to rotate and they've had enough time to recover. We'll be looking to continue our good run of results".
"I think that they'll make quite a few changes and will play with one or more out-and-out forwards. Given how early in the season it is, there have been a lot of changes to the way they play. After the Espanyol game, where they surprised us by being so open all over the pitch, they've become more defensively-minded. They like to play with a lot of players in front of the ball and pack the central areas and I imagine that they'll continue to do that".
When quizzed about the impact that the last-gasp win in Granada is likely to have on his side, Mendilibar remarked that, "We had some luck, but then again you earn your luck. Perhaps had another team been in the same situation, you wouldn't have seen four players pushing forward, given that we were down to 10 men and had another player injured. We proved that a lot of the time it's your head that dictates what you do. Very often we listen to our bodies and it's as if that ends up holding us back. Our bodies are capable of giving more than we think".
"We've been lucky in our last two games. In the first game of the season we didn't perhaps deserve to lose, but in our second match we maybe didn't do enough to win it and in the third one we won it in the manner we did. If we were sitting on two, three or four points right nobody could have had any complaints. The good thing is that the points give you that boost to keep working hard in training and believe in what you're doing. By getting the points, the players see the rewards of the work they put in during the week".
In terms of areas for improvement, Mendilibar insisted that, "We need to be more aggressive, put more crosses into the box and play closer to the opposition's area. I want the team to play more in the opposition's half, be it with or without the ball. Preferably with the ball, but if we regain possession it's better that it be in the opposition's half".