Forlán: “Last year we were in a worse situation and moved forward”
“There’s no explanation for this, but we have to be patient”
Diego Forlán was the player in charge of appearing before the media after the training held on Monday the 6th, Constitution Day in Spain. The Uruguayan commented that there’s no logical explanation for what has happened to the team in the last three matches, two in La Liga and one in the Europa League, all which they lost.
To begin, Forlán highlighted that there are no easy matches on the schedule on paper. “We knew that all of the games were going to be tough. There’s no explanation. Football is like that. I’ve been through moments like this in my career and I’ve already been through similar situations at Atlético. We have to be patient. Everyone knows what they have to do and we have to keep working the same way. We’re a grand team and with a large media impact and they have to fill the news section and the radio. But we have to keep working and that’s it,” he stated.
It was mentioned to him that the President, Mr. Enrique Cerezo, had said that if he was Quique Sánchez Flores he would gave given the players a scolding at halftime against Levante. “Those are things that happen in the dressing room. If you knew everything that was said in the locker room… We’re used to these things happening, whether they’re good or bad, you have to accept every one of the mistakes that you make on the pitch as a footballer, as a professional and as a person. Everyone has to know how to accept it both when it’s criticism and when it’s a compliment. The coach knows what he has to do, he has experience as he’s managed many teams. One has to accept it and he has more experience and more years in football and you have to listen to him,” he stated.
When asked about whether the team is depressed about the recent results and whether there might be a break with the manager, he replied that “shortly it will come out that players are fighting with each other. And I’ll be the first. We’re used to it. They’re things that are going to be written. There’s so much talk and this is a big team and those things have to come out and be commented on. People look for explanations everywhere, where there aren’t any. Our relationship with the gaffer is the same as always, it hasn’t changed. We were in a worse situation last year and we moved forward. It was one week, that’s it. It’s true that we’re a step from being eliminated from the Europa League and, in La Liga, there’s plenty of time left and we still have a chance to fight with those near the top, although right now we’re falling off the pace. It was a very bad week, but we hope to turn things around.”
Concerning the message that he’d like to send to the ‘rojiblanco’ supporters, he stated that “sometimes the people are the ones who have no patience, but we understand the fans. Most of us have gone through this situation and a lot of us experienced last year, which was quite tough, and we know how to get out of this and what we need to do to do so. We have to keep working and think from match to match.”
Regarding the inconsistency of the team in league play and the changes in the starting line-up, the ‘charrua’ pointed out that “there is a large number of matches and we’ve changed quite a bit. You have to try out certain players and the manager is doing it that way. We haven’t been playing well and we had the change to earn three points against Espanyol and in the game the other day they were better than us in all facets and deserved to win.”
The squad has conceded eight goals in three matches, but the Uruguayan doesn’t believe that the problem is only in defence. “It’s not the defence’s fault. This is a group and we’re all guilty. Even though we’re strikers, we have to help the team to be more compact. It’s not that the defence was bad, but rather that the team was bad. None of the three lines played well. We have to keep working and improving to turn this around. Hopefully we won’t ever play like we did in the match against Levante again. The was fine on the pitch against Aris and Espanyol in spite of giving up few attacks, but those led to goals and everything became complicated for us,” he concluded.
To begin, Forlán highlighted that there are no easy matches on the schedule on paper. “We knew that all of the games were going to be tough. There’s no explanation. Football is like that. I’ve been through moments like this in my career and I’ve already been through similar situations at Atlético. We have to be patient. Everyone knows what they have to do and we have to keep working the same way. We’re a grand team and with a large media impact and they have to fill the news section and the radio. But we have to keep working and that’s it,” he stated.
It was mentioned to him that the President, Mr. Enrique Cerezo, had said that if he was Quique Sánchez Flores he would gave given the players a scolding at halftime against Levante. “Those are things that happen in the dressing room. If you knew everything that was said in the locker room… We’re used to these things happening, whether they’re good or bad, you have to accept every one of the mistakes that you make on the pitch as a footballer, as a professional and as a person. Everyone has to know how to accept it both when it’s criticism and when it’s a compliment. The coach knows what he has to do, he has experience as he’s managed many teams. One has to accept it and he has more experience and more years in football and you have to listen to him,” he stated.
When asked about whether the team is depressed about the recent results and whether there might be a break with the manager, he replied that “shortly it will come out that players are fighting with each other. And I’ll be the first. We’re used to it. They’re things that are going to be written. There’s so much talk and this is a big team and those things have to come out and be commented on. People look for explanations everywhere, where there aren’t any. Our relationship with the gaffer is the same as always, it hasn’t changed. We were in a worse situation last year and we moved forward. It was one week, that’s it. It’s true that we’re a step from being eliminated from the Europa League and, in La Liga, there’s plenty of time left and we still have a chance to fight with those near the top, although right now we’re falling off the pace. It was a very bad week, but we hope to turn things around.”
Concerning the message that he’d like to send to the ‘rojiblanco’ supporters, he stated that “sometimes the people are the ones who have no patience, but we understand the fans. Most of us have gone through this situation and a lot of us experienced last year, which was quite tough, and we know how to get out of this and what we need to do to do so. We have to keep working and think from match to match.”
Regarding the inconsistency of the team in league play and the changes in the starting line-up, the ‘charrua’ pointed out that “there is a large number of matches and we’ve changed quite a bit. You have to try out certain players and the manager is doing it that way. We haven’t been playing well and we had the change to earn three points against Espanyol and in the game the other day they were better than us in all facets and deserved to win.”
The squad has conceded eight goals in three matches, but the Uruguayan doesn’t believe that the problem is only in defence. “It’s not the defence’s fault. This is a group and we’re all guilty. Even though we’re strikers, we have to help the team to be more compact. It’s not that the defence was bad, but rather that the team was bad. None of the three lines played well. We have to keep working and improving to turn this around. Hopefully we won’t ever play like we did in the match against Levante again. The was fine on the pitch against Aris and Espanyol in spite of giving up few attacks, but those led to goals and everything became complicated for us,” he concluded.
