Escriba rues fixture pile-up

Fran Escriba has hinted that Villarreal’s fixture list, which “isn’t the best”, is to blame for their poor form ahead of their match against Alaves on Sunday.

Villarreal have won just one of their last five games and lost three in that time, which has left them at risk of dropping out of La Liga’s top four this weekend and not qualifying for the Europa League knockout stages, despite previously going 11 unbeaten.

“The calendar is what it is and not the best,” the Coach said at a Press conference.

“The calendar is what we’ve been given, but I think we’re well-prepared for everything to go well.

“Our ambition and demand seem fine to me, we’re aware of them and we’re the first to have them.

“That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be aware the difficulty that every game and every team pose, so we must think Alaves are a great team and that despite being a newly-promoted side, they’re difficult to beat.

“They’re a team that fight and compete at a high level, so it’d be a mistake to think that it’ll be an easy game.

“It’s true that they’ve played in two different systems, so we have doubts about how they’ll play, whether they’ll play with a back five or back four.

“Still, in any case, we must take into account the issue of space, something that since the match against Osmanlispor we’ve worked on and improved.”

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La Liga - Club News