Rubi: 'We could’ve taken another step up in the standings'
The UD Almería head coach admits lackluster performance in home defeat to Burgos CF, but finds a silver lining in rivals’ results
UD Almería head coach Joan Francesc Ferrer Sicilia, known as Rubi, expressed his frustration following his side's disappointing 1-2 home defeat to Burgos CF. The loss prevented the Rojiblancos from moving into the automatic promotion spots in LaLiga Hypermotion, but Rubi found some consolation in the results of their direct rivals for promotion.
‘We’re very frustrated because we could’ve taken another step up in the standings,’ said Rubi, reflecting on the impact of the defeat on his team's promotion push. Despite the loss, he acknowledged that the results from other teams in the promotion race worked in UD Almería’s favour: ‘On the bright side, none of our rivals above us won this week.’
The Catalan was critical of his team’s performance, admitting that it lacked the quality required to secure the three points. ‘We played a very lackluster match. We created very little in attack, although we had a couple of chances from set-pieces to take the lead,’ he explained. ‘Then they had to slap us in the face with their goal to make us react, and although we equalised, the second half was a case of wanting to but not being able to.’
Rubi acknowledged that Burgos CF took advantage of UD Almería's mistakes, although he gave credit to the visitors for executing their game plan effectively. ‘They beat us with very little effort,’ he said. ‘But at the same time, we have to give credit to Burgos CF because they minimised our presence and this was key to winning the match,' he added.
The Vilassar de Mar native also pointed to his team’s inability to find the form they had shown earlier in the season: ‘We're at a point in the season where we don't have the inspiration we had a month ago and we have to work to recover it.' He also noted that the goals conceded were a result of errors that could have been avoided: ‘We made mistakes on both goals we conceded.'
In his concluding remarks, Rubi touched on a broader trend in the league, where home teams have found it increasingly difficult to secure victories: ‘Nowadays, home teams are finding it very difficult to win. This is how unpredictable LaLiga Hypermotion is.'