Valverde unhappy with Bilbao showing

Ernesto Valverde declared himself unhappy with Athletic Bilbao’s performance despite the 2-0 win over Numancia in Soria.

Second-half strikes from Kike Sola and Ibai Gomez proved enough to give the Basques victory over their Segunda Division opponents, although Valverde was critical of his team afterwards.

“We can’t be very happy with the game, only the win, which brings to an end a run of games without a victory. Except for the latter part, which we dominated, we were not particularly good,” he told reporters.

“In the first half we didn’t do anything early on and Numancia started well. We were closer to conceding than scoring, a little off colour, although after the first goal we improved and began to dominate.”

Valverde recalled last week’s loss to Real Zaragoza, saying he felt his players had performed better in that game than against Numancia.

“If you are asking me about the result tonight then I’m satisfied with the win. The other day we were convincingly beaten by Zaragoza, but beyond that I was happier with that display than what I saw here,” he explained.

“I try to see things from a different perspective. Numancia squeezed the play and knew how to go about their business, so you can learn a lot from these games.

“They say there are many ways playing and you must adapt to each of them, because if you don’t and are not prepared then you are going to lose points.”

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