Marchena: "Seeing the fans supporting the team is a great morale booster"

An interview with Valencia CF's assistant coach and former VCF player Carlos Marchena.

"It's a long battle and there are a lot of teams involved. It's going to be tough to get out of it, but there is no other way than to work day after day, be optimistic and prepare for the present as best as possible; the future will come. That's our path and our objective, and we can only do everything that is in our hands so that the team improve, the players feel better and that we are more of a team than ever. That's the objective of our daily work and we can't stray from that for anyone.
A team can't change completely from one day to the next. This takes time. We are taking on teams who have spent a long time with the same coach, assimilating their ideas. We've come in and we've got to adapt very quickly. We told the players when we arrived that they have to be very focused in order to assimilate concepts very quickly -as there is little time. We're happy with how they're assimilating things, with how they are taking ideas on board, and enjoying our job.
Having a stadium like Mestalla supporting you means that in down points in games, moments of doubt that are in every game, the crowd spur you on and you feel their affection. It's like playing with an extra man. We've experienced this as players and we know what the fans are capable of at this stadium. That's what we intend to have and it's what we've been getting. We're very happy with the response from the fans and we hope that everybody continues like this. This isn't a question of one day or one person: It's a question of a lot of time and many people, combining to achieve our target in the end."