Nuno Santo has urged his Valencia players to become ‘more clinical’ in front of goal after their slender 1-0 victory over Getafe on Sunday.
Alvaro Negredo’s late penalty secured a second straight win for Los Che, who consequently moved up to fourth in La Liga, above Champions League rivals Sevilla, but the Coach was disappointed his side failed to kill off the game sooner.
“We had some good chances to extend our lead and see out the game,” he said afterwards.
“I think the match was totally ours, and we had more chances but I think we should’ve been more clinical.
“We won a difficult match against a team who had just beaten Sevilla.
“Quique [Sanchez Flores] is doing a very good job at [Getafe] and I think we deserved the win. I left [the game] with the feeling that we should be more clinical.
“I understand that you [journalists] continue to insist on [picking out problems with] our [4-3-3] system, but the game is dynamic and the team are prepared to adjust to any situation they find themselves in.
“It’s not the first time that we’ve suffered in the final minutes. We need to be smarter and hold onto the ball more.
“We need to adopt the feeling of being at zero in those final minutes and improve our consistency in those moments. Unrest doesn’t allow you to control the match.
“We passed the ball well at first, but we lacked presence in the area. We tried almost everything, maybe we missed, but overall we had chances.
“I value the three points more, but [a clean sheet is] very important. I repeat, Getafe came [into this match] on the back of beating our direct rivals Sevilla.
“They’re a great team, so I [must] congratulate [my players].”
