Real Sociedad striker Carlos Vela believes his teammates will get through the bad run they are suffering at the moment.
La Real have slumped to one point above the La Liga relegation zone and have lost both their opening Champions League group fixtures, to Shakhtar Donetsk and Bayer Leverkusen respectively, yet Vela feels there is too much quality in the squad for it to continue.
“I’m not worried, but neither do I like the situation. Now is the time to see who will stand up, not only when things are going well. We need to be brave and show we are a good, strong team,” he told a Press conference.
“In football teams go through cycles, so it is important we continue to create chances. We can pull through this because there is a lot of quality here and we have good players up front.
“As soon as things improve and the goals start to go in we will be the same team that has always looked to score at every opportunity.”
The Mexican believes the break for international matches is a good chance for the players and boss Jagoba Arrasate to take stock and get things back on track.
“It will be good for everybody, mainly because it allows us to rest after a series of so many games, but also to analyse what we’ve done and also to improve.
“We need to switch off but at the same time be thinking of how to do better in the League, because you need to be fresh mentally to go out and win matches.
“Things can go right or wrong but we are aware of the importance of the next few weeks. The team is still the same. Don’t forget that not many years ago it was in La Segunda and accustomed to losing.”
The former Arsenal man acknowledged that the recent amount of games had probably taken its toll.
“It’s been hard and to play in three competitions is difficult. It’s no excuse but it’s certainly affected us. However, we are not going to hide behind that and must move forward.
“After what we did last year our opponents now play differently against us. They know where we are dangerous and try to stop us playing at our best, so we must look for other options,” admitted Vela, who says the San Sebastian outfit has still not given up on the Champions League.
“It will be tough because nobody gives you anything. We are in the top club competition [in Europe] so we will fight to the end.
“We’ll be going to Manchester [United] looking to win and get ourselves back into contention. It’s an extra motivation as, at the same time, it’s also a competition we may not play in again,” he added.
