Mel: "We need to go on and help our fans to keep on being optimistic”

Real Betis first coach has given a press conference today at Luis del Sol Training Centre prior to the match against RC Deportivo de La Coruña on Thursday.

Players out: “Alfred N’Diaye is out and Molinero will be out as well. Digard is going through his recovery process and we’ll see tomorrow how the rest are. Let’s hope there won’t be more problems.”

Five points in four matches: “It does not matter where we get the points. When we heard that our two first matches away were in Madrid and Valencia we thought it was going to be tough but we got one point. We deserved that point in Mestalla and we are playing well at home but the league has just started. We need to go on because we know what happens when you don’t have a positive dynamic in a long competition like this. That’s what we want, to go on and enjoy. If we enjoy is because we are doing everything well.”

Shareholders meeting: “Before a match I care about if Piccini or Vargas are going to be available, or how the players are in a week when we have to play three matches. That’s what matters to the players and the technical staff. We have no saying in matters that are not playing football. In a football club football is what matters.”

Fans excitement about the first matches: “That’s positive, their happiness depend on us. We have to make them be excited. Our fans are great, they are always supporting us. This has just started but it’s important that our fans feel optimistic. We nned to continue, nothing has changed.”

Are you worried about who is going to be the next chairman?: “I’m not going to talk about that. I’m worried about RCD Deportivo’s starting eleven, we don’t care about the rest because it’s beyond our grasp. We can’t waste energy with this because it doesn’t depend on us.”

RCD Deportivo de La Coruña: “They’re playing well. Since Víctor Sánchez del Amo arrived RCD Deportivo de La Coruña is playing with four defenders and five midfielders that work very hard. It’s a difficult rival. They have obtained four points in two matches away, and they won in Estadio de Vallecas, a very difficult stadium.”

Ricky van Wolfswinkel has not made his debut yet: “You never know how the matches develop. If somebody told me that we were going to play two matches in a row with one player less I wouldn’t believe it, but it has happened. That changes all the plans you have beforehand. We expect a hard match, we’ll choose the ones that we think are going to make us win.”

Players sent off in the last two matches: “We are not going to play softly because of that. I want my players to be strong and go for the ball. They were sent off because they were playing football, not because they were arguing with the referee. The players did what I asked them to do, pressing hard and not letting the rival think. That’s the team I want.”

Matches played so far: “We played a very good match against Villarreal CF. All the matches they are playing since then are proving it. We had ball possession, we crossed more balls and shot more than them against a team that is performing amazingly. Against Real Sociedad we played really well; and in Mestalla we were going for the match when we had eleven players on the pitch. When Ceballos was sent off it almost killed us, but we came back again. We have to be prepared for all the unforeseeable things that can happen in a match. Our feeling is that we have a serious team willing to make things well. We have the necessary ingredients to make a good year”.

Ruben Castro’s defensive work against Valencia CF: “Rubén needs the defensive work of his teammates so he can score. When needed, he helps a lot in defense. But not only Rubén, I’d outline Rennella’s work when he came on. He did what he asked him to do. Having said that, we have a difficult match tomorrow, we play against a team that gets better results playing away that in their stadium. They are always difficult, so let’s hope we can make it work and continue with this optimistic trend.”