José Gomes: ‘Las Palmas are very tough opponents to defeat’
The boss talks about the difficulty of Sunday's game and stresses that ‘we have to avoid imbalances in defensive transitions’
‘Las Palmas are very tough opponents to defeat’, exclaimed UD Almeria head coach José Gomes. The Portuguese looked ahead to the next game against in-form adversaries in the championship, who will be hosted by UD Almería this Sunday at the Juegos Mediterraneos Stadium (kick-off 4:00 p.m. Spain Time).
The Lusitanian boss spoke to the press via video-conference and he pointed out that ‘we’re going to face a very well organised and intense team who usually makes you feel uncomfortable with their pressure because they tend to stay deep inside their own half whenever opponents strive to play out from the back. In addition, the two centre-forwards are very well coordinated, the wingers drop back so the full-back rivals go forward. They break the lines effectively in the heart of the pitch. It’s going to be a tough one. We’ll have to be firmly focused at all times. We must bear in mind that they’ve collected quite a few points against top teams in the table standings.’
José Gomes fully believes in his players and expects them to become the best version of themselves because ‘we have to go all out to win every single game.’ In the first half of the competition, Almería lost two-nil to Las Palmas. The head coach recognised that ‘it was one of the worst games we’ve ever played’. However, he made it clear that ‘now the game will be rather different.’ One of the key aspects to improve in the encounter is ‘to avoid imbalances in defensive transitions. We have to be more intense. We must keep a well-structured defence as we really know how to do it.’
UD Almería's top scorer Sadiq will miss out on the involvement in the match. On this matter, José Gomes said that ‘we have alternatives to replace him and I’m very happy with the work that the players have been doing during the week.’ He also spoke of Cuenca, who is feeling some muscular discomfort: ‘It’s all about muscle fatigue. We’ll not take risks because we have two more games coming after this week. Anyway… we’ll wait until the last minute to make the right decision.’