Corberán: "We have to make the most of our needs to perform at our best" | OneFootball

Players in for the game

Julen Agirrezabala is back in the squad, will travel with the team, and will be available to play. We haven't brought anyone else into the squad compared to the previous callup. Lucas Beltrán continues to train separately from the rest of the team, recovering from his injury, as does Thierry Correia.

The current position in the standings

I feel a responsibility; we're part of a great club, and we have to give our all for it. We're eager to earn points and eager to bring joy to the fans, while also being aware of our current situation and approaching it with a great sense of responsibility.

I don't particularly like to talk about numbers and stats. The fans want to see their team compete, perform, and win, regardless of the numbers. We can improve in some areas; we need to see where we can get better. That's the challenge, the drive for us, and we have the desire to improve. Offensively, our numbers in the second half of the season are better than those in the first. If I had to look at one concept, I would prefer 'Expected Goals'; it's the metric that best measures what you create in attack and what the opposition create against you. I don't like to talk much about numbers because they seem like excuses right now. The fans want to see their team perform.

Defending against Athletic Club

They're a very complete team, and right now they've brought back important players they had lost during the year. We know the intensity the game will have, and we're capable of playing with that level of intensity. We're focused on giving the competitive response we need to have.

Days off

I don't think we've had too much rest. That's based on the facts, not anything else. We always plan according to the schedule. We see which game we're playing, where we've been playing before, and how many days we have in between. If we focus on the latest plan, by the time we get to the match against Real Sociedad, the team will have only had two days of rest in the last 20 days. That’s not the entire squad either, because some players have been doing specific training or recovery work. If I extend that further back, out of the last 31 days, the team will have had 4 days off. That's what Valencia CF will do in this last month of competition. From the game against Real Sociedad backwards, it will be 2 days off in 20 days. That's determined based on the workload, the accumulated fatigue, and in agreement with the fitness coaches. I can tell you about games where we've come into them after 10 days without a break, like the RC Celta match at Balaídos, and we lost that one. I can also tell you about the Girona FC game, where we came into it after 10 days without a break, and we lost. There's no correlation with the results. The videos, the training sessions, and the workload are all done the same. The team have looked at the game. The training sessions have the intensity they need to have. That requires rest days too. I prefer working at the training ground to working at home. Everything is important. Mental rest is important, just as the work itself is important. No decision is made randomly. It responds to a mental, physical, and physiological situation.

The need to improve

The team have shown significant improvement from the first to the second half of the season. We are the team that have generated the sixth most expected goals, and are fourth or fifth in the ranking for teams against whom opponents generate the fewest expected goals. This is an average for the second half of the season. We want to have games where we create a lot of chances. Creating chances doesn't guarantee scoring, as happened in Elche, where we created a lot, but we couldn't convert them. In the end, football isn't about quantity, it's about quality. The data shows that the team have improved, but the league table shows that it's not enough. Every match is a challenge, and offensively and defensively we must try to be at our best.

Tactical, technical, or psychological work

Separating the emotional side from the tactical side is very difficult; they are intertwined in the game. Matches aren't won through sheer force of will. But without that push, they are difficult to win. Nor is it simply about knowing where the advantages lie in a given match; you also have to impose them in tense situations. We must seize this opportunity to do our best and achieve our peak performance. We need to ensure this makes us better, to bring out the best in ourselves as a team.

The position in the table

We need to pay attention to our position in the table. I said we would need many more points, that we had to accept that, and that's what we're doing. Nothing has changed. The group are mature and aware. We understand the need to get points, and we must use this opportunity to bring out the best in ourselves as a team.