Athletic Club, currently preparing to face Valencia at Mestalla on Saturday, are a side that are suffering from a good deal of noise at the moment.
The Basque side are 14th in La Liga having played eleven games, winning four, drawing one and losing six. They currently sit two points clear of the relegation zone but just a point behind Barcelona in ninth.
Many have begun to ask questions about the direction the club are going in as well as the job security of Gaizka Garitano, their coach.
Captain Iker Muniain, however, speaking with Marca after training on Wednesday, refused to get downbeat about their situation. “In the dressing room we’re very calm,” he said.
“People are eager to get a good result and a winning streak, more outside [the club] than inside [the club]. They talk about a crisis as if it were the end of the world.
“We feel the confidence that the coach has in the team and in the players, because he has always transmitted that to us.
“We’d like to be in a more privileged position than we are in the league table, but this is something for everyone at the club – young people, veterans, those who play more and those who play less.
“We beat Betis well and earned a valuable point in a difficult fixture away at Getafe. The defeat by Celta was painful, but we did a lot of things well and I think the game could have gone either way.
“Very few teams are achieving consistency this season.”
After the trip to Mestalla, Athletic face Real Madrid, Huesca and Villarreal, before the all-important Basque derby with great regional rivals Real Sociedad.
Their fans, and Muniain, will be hoping to arrive for that clash in better form than they currently find themselves in.
Featured image courtesy of Sports Finding.
