Mendilibar: "We can't afford to gift Villarreal anything, we'll have to bite into them and not let them play with freedom"
The Armeros' boss revealed that he's set to make changes to his starting line-up
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Speaking today in his pre-match press conference ahead of tomorrow's clash against Villarreal CF at Ipurua, José Luis Mendilibar insisted that "We can't afford to gift Villarreal anything, we'll have to bite into them and get amongst them so that they aren't able to play with freedom".
The Armeros' chief, who has named all of the available players in his squad list (Fran Rico, Sergi Enrich and Iván Ramis are all ruled out through injury), revealed that he will shuffle his pack given that this is a three-game week.
"There will be a few changes. I think that we need to recover, rest up and be at 100% for this game. We head into this one having had a day's rest, but then in the next one the exertions start to build up and it becomes more of a struggle".
"I think that the reverse fixture in Villarreal was our worst performance of the season, it was a game in which we failed to do anything. They put three past us and we failed to pose any sort of threat, they moved us around well and played their game. They're not performing as well as they were then and we're quite a bit better than we were at that stage. Let's hope that it turns out to be a completely different game to that one, that we have our chances to win and that it's us that make the running".
"In their last match their goalkeeper saved two penalties and one goal was enough for them to win the game. In their last few matches their performances haven't been so good but they've got quality and sometimes that's enough to win football matches".
Mendilibar is confident that his side can turn their form around after having slipped to back-to-back defeats. "We've lost two in a row, but they were tough games. We're fine mentally and the players know that they've done some really good things. This doesn't bear any resemblance to our poor run in the first half of the season and I hope that we can continue to play as we have been but achieve better results".
"Against Barcelona we did everything right, but weren't clinical. We created some chances and it's no mean feat to do that against Barcelona. We'd be hard pushed to perform any better than we did against Barça".
"In the Celta game, we saw how we can't go out to settle for a 0-0 draw, we have to keep on playing our game. If we drop deeper, we aren't usually capable of defending well. We defend better by pushing forward and playing in their half. If the ball stays far away from our area, all the better".
Mendilibar believes that his Eibar side can secure their league status with one more win. "Given that those teams that are down there are struggling to win games, I think that we'll be safe if we pick up another three points. If we get them tomorrow, we'll then take each game as it comes, not switch off and look to achieve our weekly targets, rather than focusing on any long-term aims. It's down to me to ensure that the team doesn't ease off once we've achieved the club's main objective".