The Spanish coach, Luis Enrique, has no doubts about his pupils despite the two draws in the first two games of the UEFA Nations League, first against Portugal (1-1) and then against the Czech Republic (2-2). The Spaniard especially defended Eric Garcia, singled out for an error in the Czech’s second goal, and will continue to rely on his performance this Thursday against Switzerland in Geneva, a decisive match for the red team to continue dreaming of reaching the final four.
“If you are a professional player you have to be prepared for everything. It is also true that there are players who make journalists and fans horny. Eric is a wonderful player. He has made a mistake just like everyone else. There are mistakes that he likes certain sectors and this is going to make him stronger. I am going to withstand the pressure and he is more than seasoned. Eric Garcia knows that if there were one or two better than him, he would not come, but there are none. I love Eric, so go ahead with mine”, explained the coach at the press conference prior to the match against the Swiss.
Luis Enrique indicated that he “liked the vast majority of the players” in the previous games, but acknowledging that the “results have not been as expected.” “It is evident that we need to win to have options to be in the final four. I don’t even know the line-up that I am going to make. I have a general preconceived idea that I usually change after the last training session”, explained the one from Gijón, who hinted at a new substitution of Ansu Fati, still without minutes in this call. “He is improving when it comes to training dynamics and competition rhythm. I can’t tell you if he will be in the squad. The level and quality is unquestionable. We will go little by little”, he said of the Barça player.
The coach once again took advantage of his appearance to praise some of his players, especially an ‘unknown’ Gavi: “Pedri has a style like Iniesta who seems to be dancing. You still don’t know Gavi. It’s a project still, you have to go little by little. I don’t see any player from the past who looks like him”.
As for Switzerland, everything was praise despite the fact that they have zero points. “The first game against the Czech Republic they didn’t deserve to lose but they conceded two goals on two throw-ins that were hardly acceptable. They have a very high physical and defensive level. In the other game, Portugal took an early lead and from then on everything got complicated. I liked the Petkovic’s Switzerland and Yakin’s. It’s an attractive team, it has a bit of what our team has in terms of dominating different aspects of the game,” he analyzed of the Swiss.
Lastly, he recognized Spain’s difficulties in dismantling highly defensive approaches, such as against the Czech Republic, a problem for which “not even the best teams find solutions.” “In Gavi’s goal there are seven Czech players in the area. That is very difficult to attack. There is no space, there are no meters. We look for different solutions as a team and any striker from the national team is capable of resolving that situation. It is the phase difficult thing in football”, he concluded.
