Sampaoli: Sevilla can’t always attack

Jorge Sampaoli admits while “the intention is always to attack, it can’t always be carried out” after Sevilla were accused of being overly defensive at Juventus.

Sevilla were set up in a 4-2-3-1 with Franco Vazquez as a false nine for their midweek Champions League trip to Juve, but their goalless draw in Turin was met with surprise, given Sampaoli’s reputation as an attacking Coach.

“Time is very short and we try to build on our work for each game,” he said at a Press conference ahead of Saturday’s trip to Eibar in La Liga.

“I only talk about what concerns me, and that’s this season. History doesn’t affect us because we’re a new squad and we look for what we need.

“Of course we want to be leaders, but we play in a very complicated League and there’s a large number of games. It’s not going to be easy.

“The objective is [based on] what the team give. We have to see if this group is capable of maintaining a high level of performance.

“Opposing teams also play [football]. We have a new team, to whom I want to instil an idea, but we’ve encountered stadia like those of Villarreal and Juventus, where we can’t create what we want due to the strength of our rivals.

“The intention is always to attack, but it can’t always be carried out. There will be situations in games in which we’ll be superior and others when we’re not, and in this case, we have arguments to defend ourselves.

“We’ll rest players who aren’t at their maximum, but we’re not doing it for the derby. Nasri hasn’t recovered, Vitolo is tired and Pareja can’t play many games in a row.

“[Ipurua] is a different stadium, but the length won’t be one metre smaller than Sanchez Pizjuan.

“The match is very important because we can become leaders, but we’re facing very strong opponents.

“The truth is that none of us are thinking about [Real Betis], only Eibar.

“I know it’s a very special match, but the one at Ipurua is worth the same number of points. Thinking about something else would be irresponsible.

“[The false nine] was the idea we had for the game [at Juve]. It was our strategy and we went with Franco Vazquez.

“It depends on each team we face. At Eibar, we’ll equally play with two or three forwards. We always look for our best version so we can find our rivals’ goal.”

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