Unai Emery has conceded that Sevilla are in “a state of emergency”, making Saturday’s encounter with Rayo Vallecano a must-win.
The Andalucians find themselves bottom of La Liga, having picked up just two points from their first five matches, including Wednesday’s 2-0 defeat at newly-promoted Las Palmas, and the Coach admits his side need to adopt “a winning mentality” as soon as possible.
“We’re in a state of emergency, but the defeats only affect me for a few hours. We must look forward and remain stable,” he said at a Press conference.
“We’re only thinking about Rayo. We can’t think about what comes after tomorrow. Everything is currently geared towards Rayo.
“Still, I don’t want the squad to always feel this pressure. It’s only imposed on them [for this match] so they give their all.
“The team are aware and accountable [for their poor start] but also looking for solutions and hoping to transfer them to Sanchez Pizjuan [on Saturday].
“We need the three points and strength of the Sevilla fans. The team have what it takes [to climb up the table] and I’m convinced of it.
“One of the things I’ve learned here is that, besides hard work, you also need a winning mentality.
“We need everything to come together, and that’ll confirm we’re heading in the right direction.
“There are things we must improve on that we’re working on. We’re confident that the results will follow.
“We’ll approach [Saturday] with pleasure because we want to reverse this situation as soon as possible.
“When you give things back to the fans, the fans will back the team. We plan to give our best in front of our fans [on Saturday].
“The win would give us confidence and a boost, and they’re what we need right now.
“We’ve experienced the good face of football [more under my reign], but now we’re experiencing the bad face.
“We want to move forward and recover from our poor form, but that can only be obtained from hard work and a winning mentality.
“We should all be together in difficult times, and it’s now that time to appeal [for solidarity].
“[Yevhen Konoplyanka] had a fever before the game against Las Palmas. He’s trained since and, in principle, we believe he’ll be in a position to a feature [along with Mariano].
“[On criticism on social media], they demonstrate the team’s responsibility and union [between the fans and players].”
