Baraja: " The team competed until the end, showing pride, grit and heart "

Valencia CF coach Rubén Baraja gave a post-match press conference following his side's LaLiga Matchday 7 defeat at home to Real Sociedad.

Details deciding the game

It's football and details make the difference. The match was affected by the action in which they got behind the defense and made it 0-1, and the sending off. It affected our possibilities of changing the game. Until that moment, although Real Sociedad were ahead on the scoreboard, they weren't the better side, nor had they generated much. Even in the second half, the team competed until the end, showed pride, grit and heart. We had our chances. We knew that if we kept the score at 0-1, we could find an equalizer from a set piece. We had some situations. We have to learn that, in these types of games, against teams of this quality, we cannot be caught by surprise by an unexpected move.

Thierry Correia's condition
Thierry Correia had already come into the game with discomfort. We tried to hurry him up because he felt fit to participate and during the break, we tried to reserve him, because it had been taking a strain. From there, we have tried to recompose ourselves. I think we did that. With a man down, we tried to prevent Real Sociedad from creating chances. They are a team that had just scored 4 goals in their last game, and not giving them chances makes me happy. Regarding the injury situations, we are going to see what we are left with, but we cannot complain, we have to learn, move forward and recover well. We have four days until the next game and this is the mentality. Let's keep fighting. If we compete like we did today, we will continue to have the chance to win games and score points.

The effort made in the game
I can only applaud my players and recognize the tremendous effort they made until the end, also the support of the fans, which has helped us a lot to believe that we could equalize from any situation. We have to try to recover well, think about the next game and learn from what we have seen today: That a detail makes the difference. We have to be aware that to score points we must do many things well. Today we had that action that made everything more difficult for us.

Amallah's sending off

Regarding the topic of Amallah, the first incident was a soft yellow and on the second he sticks out his arm. It is a mistake you shouldn't make. If in a game that you are losing you go down to ten men, it becomes much harder. With 11 men you still have a chance of finding the equalizer in the second half. These are things we have to learn. We must try to end the game with 11 men. He must learn that there are certain actions in which you cannot make a mistake. It made the second half more complex in terms of our efforts and in terms of what the game asked for.

Positives from the game

We know our limitations. What I like is the response that the team made in that sense. We have to be ready to compete. We have had two games which saw two huge efforts and we will try to get the team in the same shape that was seen today on Sunday, to be a team that work hard. Logically, players will come in because we need to freshen up the team, and there are players who are prepared and are pushing to take advantage of their moment.

Having a small squad

That assessment no longer makes sense to make. The situation is what it is, the players are who they are and the squad is what we have. Once again, going back to what we have talked about for so long is absurd and I don't come here to lament anything. I have to come here to analyze the game. My assessment of the match is that the players tried until the end and I did not feel at any time that Real Sociedad were the better side, although it is true that they knew how to handle the scoreline. For me, they gave us chances because they didn't kill the game off, and we tried to take them. It didn't work out and now everything else is just analyzing what we can improve and trying to take that into the next game. We have to think that the competition is difficult and a detail can make the difference. We tried to prevent Real Sociedad from generating chances, but that action led to them making it 0-1.

Refereeing decisions

It was a difficult game in many decision-making situations. I am not going to make any assessment about the referee.

Making four changes

I think the team were playing well and competing until the end. Maybe you bring a player on for the last 6-7 minutes and he doesn't get into the rhythm of the game. I don't think there is anything more to it. There are players who were not starters today, who are going to play on Sunday. We tried to hang on to options for everybody in the squad until the last minute and we don't have to give it any more thought. It's a tactical decision and that's it.

Jesús Vázquez' condition

It is a matter that had me very worried. He is an important player for us. He is young and has a good future ahead. We have had some very difficult days because we did not know the reason for his discomfort. Plus, he's a phenomenal kid and he deserves the best. Once a complete study of all possible situations has been made, we will have a starting point. We will try to get him back with us as soon as possible, but it is a difficult problem to manage because it is a health issue. We hope he recovers soon because we are going to need him. We also have to treat these things with a lot of respect and with a lot of care, because he is a young kid who we have to try to help. I want him to know that we are going to be with him and that I hope he will be back with us soon.

André Almeida

He is a very important player for us. He is good on the ball and he knows how to play good passes in the final third. There are players who find it difficult to find form. Last year he performed at a good level and we are working to get him to that better level. Today we tried to refresh him a little. He is an important player for us and we want him to recover his form, because he has quality and he has to take on more prominence within the team's offensive play.
 

Free agents available in the transfer market

I'm not thinking about this. I think about the day to day work, about trying to get the most out of the players, about trying to use the tools that I have, and I have players that can participate at any time. We have players in the second team who are already working with us, who know the dynamics of the first team, and when their time comes they will have to do well and try to contribute. Let's focus on the players we have, those who can offer us things, and support them and applaud them like we should do today. We didn't achieve the result we wanted, but by staying on this path we will be close to scoring points.