Adams rues Granada ‘nightmare’

Tony Adams admits he is relieved that his Granada “nightmare” is over as “nothing was going to work with this group of players.”

Granada lost 2-1 to Espanyol on Friday, having fallen two goals behind in the opening eight minutes, ensuring they finished bottom of La Liga and that Adams lost all seven of his games in his caretaker spell.

“Hopefully all the negativity stops now and we can put that to bed, close the door on that chapter, that disaster… and learn from it,” the former Arsenal and England defender told the Andalusians’ official website after the game.

“[We must] learn from the mistakes and make sure we never repeat them again.

“I think nothing was going to work with this group of players. I think we’ve tried every formation, just like Lucas [Alcaraz] did.

“We’ve had three Coaches, and we’ve had the same results, so you have to look at the players.

“Formations and selections are just the symptom. The root cause is the recruitment. That’s where we’ve made the mistakes with the players in the first place.

“Once you get that group of players, then you try to do the best with them. Like I said, three Coaches have tried.

“Many different permutations, many different selections, many formations, and none of them have worked.

“We saw today that we gave another two goals away, own goals, and last week from two corners, to set-plays.

“It’s a catalogue of errors. The players make mistake after mistake, week in week out. That’s why you’re bottom of the table.

“Pereira scored the goal and I said to him at half-time, give me another twenty minutes Andreas and he did.

“He worked hard for another twenty minutes, but I wanted the kid to experience some LaLiga football.

“He looked like a kid, but I’m pleased that I did it, pleased that he got a little bit of experience playing here in this stadium.

“It’s a nightmare, thank you for putting words in my mouth. I think I’m going to get another heart attack! Working with this group of players isn’t easy.

“But I’m thankful, I just want to say that personally, thankful that I’ve had the experience. I can’t say that I’ve enjoyed a lot of it, but I’m thankful that I’ve had the experience.

“It’s a tough league. There’s not much defending going on in this league, especially in our team.

“To see goals go in so easily, it breaks my heart. I wish I could have had the team in pre-season, to stop this. I’m sure I could have got them a little bit more organised.”

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La Liga - Club News