Press conference
Rubi: 'The team won the game fairly in the second half'
The UD Almería head coach was self-critical about the first half against Albacete Balompié and admitted: 'After the goal, we played the worst 15 minutes of this season,' but he positively valued the reaction after half-time
UD Almería head coach Rubi went to the press room at the UD Almería Stadium after the game against Albacete Balompié to share his post-match thoughts. This victory, is the second on the spin of the season. 'We put in a good performance, the team started the game on the front foot. They scored the opener, but then we played the worst 15 minutes of this season. Alba [Albacete Balompié] have come out on top taking advantage of plays that we didn't know how to complete and some doubts at the back, although Fernando has helped us get through that rough patch.'
'At the end of the first half, we had already recovered and in the second half, for me there's no doubt that we outplayed them and we won the game fairly.,' he added.
The Catalan gaffer spoke about one of the protagonists of the match, Baptistao: 'Leo played a great game. He was very close to scoring in the last few games, but for one reason or another he didn't manage to. He has helped us a lot in attack and also in defence, by blocking the wing in the second half. I reckon he's game has been decisive and I'm very happy for him.'
Rubi recognised that one of the keys to the triumph was the substitutions made at half-time: 'I knew it was going to be difficult for us to continue winning the ball back, but I wanted to have more of the ball and that's what I was looking for with the change of Melero. I also noticed that Nico Melamed and Arribas felt more comfortable playing with the right foot and we needed to open spaces, so that not everything depended on Pubill or Centelles. It was clear to me that Arnau had to come in, as he's the most specific player in that position.'
The Vilassar de Mar native, despite the two back-to-back victories, does not relax, highlighting the difficulties of the second tier of Spanish football: 'I still have a lot of respect for the Segunda division, all the teams show a lot of things. It seems harder to me than two years ago when we were here.'
On that note, he added: 'It's very difficult to win two games in a row, but we're only going to enjoy this victory now, before going to sleep, because in two days, we'll be in Aragón fighting against SD Huesca.'