Gattuso: “Small details took the game away from us”

Valencia CF coach Gennaro Gattuso analysed Valencia CF’s 2-2 draw with UD Almería on LaLiga Matchday 18.

Suffering excessively

I think that it is a problem when you take the lead twice in a game like today, and we got the two goals as we wanted, for it to then be very easy for them to equalise. They had a dead ball and other chances and they hurt us with very little.
 
The team’s performance

The first person responsible for everything is me, as it is I who decides who plays. When a coach sees a team that hurts his side by doing very little, he has to reflect and at this moment it is not correct to talk about the squad or the players. The first person responsible is me and I have to work and assume that responsibility.
 
A mental or sporting problem?

Is the same thing. When you talk about a footballer, you talk about mentality, about being ready, and it's not just a technical, tactical or mental problem, it's all going in the same direction. What we are seeing is that from little the opposition cause us a lot of damage. We had the game under control and they scored from a set piece. I had gone over that this morning and we conceded the goal from it. Almería are a team that play with everyone, but today we didn't let them do that in the first half because we put good pressure on them, but we lacked continuity because the games last 90 minutes.
 
Changing from one competition to another

If we look at the game, we did well in many phases. In the first half I liked the way the team played. I am concerned about the fragility that we have, which meant that from very little they scored a goal against us. The game was also a brave one, we didn't do well in the second half and after we made it 2-1 we didn't press well and lost some easy balls. I don't think it was a bad game from us.
 
A record of 1 win in 9 games

I'm worried because I'm the coach. If you don't win a game like today you have to worry. I just want to thank the fans: 34,000 people came out today, despite how cold it was. I'm worried because when you don't win this kind of match the coach can't be anything but worried.
 
The transfer market

It’s a question for the club or for the Sporting Director. I don't want to be controversial right now. It is a difficult moment and my priority is to make the team better, to give the team more consistency.
At this moment it would be easy for me to say “I don't have players” and stir up controversy... but right now the club know that I respect what they tell me about Financial Fair Play. We have looked at players and the club know what we have to do, but I have to respect the economic situation. It would be very easy for me to talk about what I lack, but I am the main person who has to be held responsible and that is the reality.
 
How to improve
We work on things during the week, but we have to think about doing different things, like we've been doing for the last two or three weeks. We want to find a new solution to give the team more strength.
 
The plan at 2-1

It depends on how one looks at football. If they have players behind the ball and you don't press well, they can easily score against you. We lacked pressure, because if you press the ball well and it's always covered, it's difficult for the opponents. Today after we made it 2-1 they played 4 or 5 balls in the middle that hurt us. We have to press better. If we stop pressing we have problems.
 
Solutions

The solution is about improving the level of fragility we have, because the problem is not unique to today; it has happened to us at other times when we were leading. At other times this season we have been in the lead and the opposition have scored a goal. The team have to improve this. It has happened to us on more occasions, when we have the game in hand and from a small thing we lose the advantage.
 
The Copa del Rey

The priority now is the Copa del Rey quarter-finals, and then we will think about Real Valladolid. When you have a problem you have to think short-term. We will prepare the game against Athletic Club with what we have, and then we will think about Real Valladolid.