RCD / NEWS
Mel: “Giving away half an hour in a match like that, gives them advantage”
RC Deportivo coach, Pepe Mel, expressed his disappointment because he considered his team “took the liberty to nap throughout the first half hour” against Granada CF, and he hopes that this changes for Saturday’s game against Sevilla, where he hopes they will show “what they’re playing for”.
The blue-and white coach stated, “today was the day, and I think we have taken the liberty to nap throughout the first half hour. That was not the plan; that was not what we wanted to do. I don’t understand why. We weren’t in the game. Giving away half an hour in a match like that, gives them advantage”.
However, he dedicated a few good words to his lads: “I’m more satisfied with the second half; we dominated and Granada didn’t create any threats, in fact, they didn’t create anything during the whole match”.
Regarding Dépor’s scoring difficulty, Mel said “we’ve had three games where we’ve missed clear chances. We’re generating the chances to score, so I’m less worried, because the real problem would be if we didn’t reach the other box”.
Pepe Mel also spoke about the amount of penalty fails: “I’ve never been through anything like that before. Seven games and three penalty fails. This one would have been determining for us. We now would have had the seam problems, but with a different outlook”. He then added, “it’s not something we ignore, we practice it. We rehearse penalties every Fridays and Saturdays. And we score all of them. Anyhow, I hope they continue giving us penalties”.
Speaking about Saturday’s game, the Deportivista coach was blunt: “If we go out in Seville and do the same half hour as today, we won’t stand a chance”. He then added, “every team struggles to win at the end of the season, but I want this team to show in Sevilles what they’re playing for, because I only saw that after the 46th minute”.
Granada’s coach, Lucas Alcaraz expressed his disappointment in today’s draw in Riazor: “It’s another point, but we needed to win today”.
“The team has suffered little, but it’s also true we created few threats. We’re finding away matches difficult, today is the first time we don’t concede a goal”, Alcaraz said.