Quique S. Flores: 'We should have put things away before halftime”
The manager stated that Almería goal cooled off his team
Quique Sánchez Flores assured that his squad should have closed out the match before the end of the opening 45 minutes. “The equaliser right before the half left us cold and we were unable to play as we wanted to in the second half; the match got tough on us. We had to have put things away in the first half, as we had lots of scoring chances,” he pointed out.
“When the team doesn’t start off well the players get nervous, as happened to us last year. It seems like we have to play well for the full 90 minutes and not just 45,” he stated.
Regarding the performance of Filipe, the coach said that “I’m pleased with his participation in attack, although he wasn’t as good in defence. Bad luck prevented us from scoring more. We had to have killed things off before the break.”
Diego Forlán was back in the starting line-up, although he was unable to score. Concerning this point, Quique said that “I said it before the match; goals aren’t the only important things, as they’ll come, but the feelings given off are also important. He had scoring chances and I’m happy; he looked good. Diego Costa, who’s the team’s leading scorer, came on. No matter how many strikers you send on, that’s not synonymous with having more scoring chances, and that’s why I decided to take off Forlán.”
With respect to Perea, who will miss out on the derby against Real Madrid, the head coach stated that “that’s our fate. We’ve been like that all season. We began with Agüero, then Godín, twice, and now Perea. We’re always missing an important player in each match, but Atlético has enough good players to face the fixture at the Bernabéu in good shape.”
“When the team doesn’t start off well the players get nervous, as happened to us last year. It seems like we have to play well for the full 90 minutes and not just 45,” he stated.
Regarding the performance of Filipe, the coach said that “I’m pleased with his participation in attack, although he wasn’t as good in defence. Bad luck prevented us from scoring more. We had to have killed things off before the break.”
Diego Forlán was back in the starting line-up, although he was unable to score. Concerning this point, Quique said that “I said it before the match; goals aren’t the only important things, as they’ll come, but the feelings given off are also important. He had scoring chances and I’m happy; he looked good. Diego Costa, who’s the team’s leading scorer, came on. No matter how many strikers you send on, that’s not synonymous with having more scoring chances, and that’s why I decided to take off Forlán.”
With respect to Perea, who will miss out on the derby against Real Madrid, the head coach stated that “that’s our fate. We’ve been like that all season. We began with Agüero, then Godín, twice, and now Perea. We’re always missing an important player in each match, but Atlético has enough good players to face the fixture at the Bernabéu in good shape.”
