Pepe Mel has heaped praise on his players following their 2-1 win over Barcelona and believes the club’s fans ‘have regained their enthusiasm’.
Depor collapsed to a 0-8 home defeat to the Catalans last season and it was their first home win over the club in ten seasons and the former Betis and West Brom Coach believes it’s down to a change in the club’s mentality.
"We are very happy and we have to enjoy this win, I have to congratulate my players, they did a great job,” Mel told Onda Cero radio.
"For the first time since I arrived, I was able to have three days to prepare for a game – when you have time to work, it's great.
"We had practised two different tactics depending on whether Barca would play with a back three or back four and my players executed our play to perfection.
"I loved the way my team reacted after Barca scored. Had that happened a few months ago, Depor would have lost that game. Now we believe we are capable of anything.
"Since I arrived, I have worked on our strategy play. We already took advantage of that against Atletico, we won at Gijon because of it (a Pedro Mosquera header following a corner) and again we have won like that.
"Since I have come here, I try to talk about the positives – we try to solve the negatives but not to dwell on them too much. This team had been stuck on a pessimistic loop that didn't allow it to perform.
"That we are eight points clear of the drop zone is something that appeared unthinkable several weeks ago.
"But in the last two weeks between all of us, the fans, the team, the coaching staff, we have all worked together to come out from that situation.
"The fans have regained the enthusiasm."
