Villarreal striker Roberto Soldado has put his goalscoring renaissance down to Coach Marcelino. “He told me to look at the net more…”
After managing just 16 goals in two seasons at Tottenham Hotspur, Soldado has already managed one shy of half that tally in Villarreal colours thanks to his winner in the 1-0 victory over Malaga on Saturday, plus 11 assists – one less than his overall return for Spurs.
“[On Napoli in the Europa League next week], we’ve been given a thrilling tie against one of the strongest teams in the Italian League.
“They’re very tough opponents but it’s a competition where we’ve placed high hopes of being able to do something big.
“Now comes a series of very tough matches, and to have won this game gives us great peace of mind to face them.
“In this second half of the season, every game is tough. Against Malaga, we suffered to win, like we have in almost every game.
“They were compact, as seen by the shortness of the result, and that posed us some uncertainty.
“We’re still failing to kill games off [on the side not taking enough chances]. If we did, we’d close games more easily.
“[On his first goal in 800 minutes], I’m happy that my goal served to win us the game.
“I may have changed a bit mentally. [Marcelino] told me to look at the net more and not pass [to a teammate].
“I’ll be looking to hit the target more often, and hopefully the goals will follow.”
