Reyes: “We're the ones responsible for everything; there’s no one else to blame”
“Zaragoza has a lot on the line, but we have more”
José Antonio Reyes was the player in charge of attending to the media after Thursday’s training at the Majadahonda Sports Complex. The ‘rojiblanco’ footballer spoke about the importance of the fixture against Zaragoza and stated that the only ones guilty of Atlético de Madrid’s current situation are the players themselves.
This Saturday’s match is against Zaragoza, a tough team in need of points. “It’s a pretty complicated moment for us, but we have to go out with a winning mentality. La Romareda is quite a tough stadium and Zaragoza has a lot on the line, but we’re playing for more than them. We have to go out with the mentality that we’re going to bring home the three points, which is what we need.”
With respect to how they’re going to pick themselves up out of the recent spiral of negative results, Reyes highlighted that they need to “win games. We’ve spoken quite a bit about these four matches that we lost and we came to the conclusion that we need to go out to win on Saturday to change our mentality.”
Regarding the responsibility of the players on the squad’s current situation, the winger was honest and categorical. “We players are the ones responsible for everything. We’re the ones who have to show face on the pitch. I don’t think that anyone else is guilty. We’re the ones who want to bear the responsibility on our backs and all be men right now.”
He made it very clear that “nobody wants to arrive at this situation. But there are circumstances that have brought us here. The team didn’t deserve to lose certain matches but this is football and we can’t do anything about it.”
The bad patch has coincided with a run of good form from Reyes, who has scored three goals in recent games. “In the end, what matters to me is the team. I can have either three or ten goals, but if the team isn’t winning it doesn’t matter. The positive thing has been the players’ attitude. We’re trying to give our all on the pitch but there are days when you’re unable to achieve that. The players’ attitude has been to not drop our heads at any time.”
To finish, touching on his manager, Quique Sánchez Flores, he said that “we all have the coach’s confidence. You feel more relaxed when the President says that the manager is going to continue. We have confidence in the gaffer and he has confidence in us. That’s fundamental in the dressing room.”
This Saturday’s match is against Zaragoza, a tough team in need of points. “It’s a pretty complicated moment for us, but we have to go out with a winning mentality. La Romareda is quite a tough stadium and Zaragoza has a lot on the line, but we’re playing for more than them. We have to go out with the mentality that we’re going to bring home the three points, which is what we need.”
With respect to how they’re going to pick themselves up out of the recent spiral of negative results, Reyes highlighted that they need to “win games. We’ve spoken quite a bit about these four matches that we lost and we came to the conclusion that we need to go out to win on Saturday to change our mentality.”
Regarding the responsibility of the players on the squad’s current situation, the winger was honest and categorical. “We players are the ones responsible for everything. We’re the ones who have to show face on the pitch. I don’t think that anyone else is guilty. We’re the ones who want to bear the responsibility on our backs and all be men right now.”
He made it very clear that “nobody wants to arrive at this situation. But there are circumstances that have brought us here. The team didn’t deserve to lose certain matches but this is football and we can’t do anything about it.”
The bad patch has coincided with a run of good form from Reyes, who has scored three goals in recent games. “In the end, what matters to me is the team. I can have either three or ten goals, but if the team isn’t winning it doesn’t matter. The positive thing has been the players’ attitude. We’re trying to give our all on the pitch but there are days when you’re unable to achieve that. The players’ attitude has been to not drop our heads at any time.”
To finish, touching on his manager, Quique Sánchez Flores, he said that “we all have the coach’s confidence. You feel more relaxed when the President says that the manager is going to continue. We have confidence in the gaffer and he has confidence in us. That’s fundamental in the dressing room.”
