‘If we want to continue at the top of the table, we have to be very solid at home’
José María Gutiérrez, who does not trust Racing, says that achieving a victory is very important because ‘The fans deserve it and we need it’.
José María Gutiérrez, head coach of UD Almería, has held a pre-match press conference before taking on Racing Santander this Friday (9 p.m.) at the Juegos Mediterraneos Stadium. The appointment comes after being defeated by Elche two weeks ago and drawing in Soria last week, so the head coach has not hesitated to say that ‘we cannot wait to return to our stadium and achieve a victory that would be very important.’
Racing Santander are visiting us with a new head coach in the driving seat. This situation happened before when the rojiblancos faced Lugo with a new head coach in charge of the team. In this sense, the Indalicos’ head coach believes that José Luis Oltra ‘is a coach who knows how the Second Division works’, what means that he has got wide knowledge about the Almeria’s playing style.
José María Gutiérrez stressed that the Cantabrians are complicated adversaries: ‘Racing are a team who play football very well and I think they should have got more points this season because they have played brilliantly in many games. I don't think they won the points the side actually deserve’.
When it comes to how UD Almería should perform on the pitch, the coach wanted to make it clear that ‘his side are doing good things when having the ball but right now, it is time to improve our defensive game’. He mentioned that the key to winning this meeting is staying focused from the very beginning.’
‘We must start dominating because we are playing on home turf and the fans will lead us to do it. If we manage to score the early opener, it will be the best scenario for us because they really need the three points; so that they would have to change their playing style’, said José María Gutiérrez. However, he pointed out ‘I am more worried about my team and I want to see a real team. We have not made it in the last two matches and our mindset must be relentlessly focused on the game as soon as we walk into the pitch’.
To conclude, the head coach said that ‘we are always on about our objective, which is great, but we have to move forward step by step, game by game. We are going to pull off a win this Friday and from there, keep on focusing on winning because our fans and supporters deserve it. We have to be very solid at home if we want to continue at the top of the table’.