Jagoba Arrasate has spoken to the media in his pre-match press conference ahead of our hosting of Girona FC. Find out what the boss had to say below:
On Samu Costa's absence: It is true that until now he has been an important player. Whenever he has been available he has been on the pitch. Along with Raíllo, he is the player with the most minutes and neither of them will be on the pitch tomorrow. He has a soleus injury, I can't tell you how long, but he will miss several weeks.
On Copete: He has trained well all week and is ready for tomorrow. We have to make a decision due to the absence of Raíllo who was playing all the time.
On confidence: We have 24 points and although we would like to have more, I think we are doing well. We have to go out with confidence and show what we are. It should never be a negative thing to have 24 points, but the other way around. We have two consecutive defeats and we have to get back to the path of being that competitive, reliable and recognisable team. With confidence, everything will work out better.
On losing Samu Costa: I don't know how his absence will affect us. It is true that he is a very young player and that he has a great margin for improvement. In that margin there are mistakes that also penalise us, but within a process of learning and improvement I think he is having a very good season. We want him to be more regular in his performance.
On match preparation: I always pay more attention to away games. Then, everyone always likes to analyze the tactical disposition of the opponent they play against.
On defensive solidity: That has gone a bit wrong: the issue of the goal average as you never know if it's going to be important or not. We have to get back to that solidity. In the last few games, between penalties and expulsions, we have made it easy for our opponents.
On Valery's clause: In order for him to play there was a fee and we have decided to leave him out of the call-up list and not play in this match. It is a mutual decision.
On Marc Domenech: He started La Liga with minutes, it is true. There were also people who arrived very late, there were people injured. I think that in those positions we are now covered and what we don't want is to slow down his progression by putting him in a list of 23 when he won't have many options to play. What he needs is to train with us and play with the reserve team.
On the objective for the end of 2024: Win tomorrow, that's the objective. We are on 24 points, but we want to improve those numbers.
On Michel at Girona: He is a person I appreciate because I am fortunate to know him. I think that as a coach he is also one of the best. He has evolved on an idea and has perfected it.