Corberán: “We fought until the last second”

Carlos Corberán spoke to the media after the Matchday 2 defeat away to CA Osasuna.

His assessment of the game

When you defend at a ground like this, against a team with this style, without being aggressive, you know you're going to have to deal with crosses. We allowed them several of those, they managed to take the lead, and then the match was defined by Gayà's sending off. It was an accident, or an error. The team then gave their all and fought hard... That's what we ask of them every day.

Why he replaced Raba after Gayà's sending off

We switched to a different formation: We took off a player who had been inside and brought Jesús Vázquez on out wide. The change meant taking Dani Raba off in that area.

The team coming close to an equaliser

I saw the players' commitment to trying until the end of the match. We narrowly missed out on a draw. We fought until the last second.

How comfortable he was with the team bringing the ball out 

Depending on the players you have, it's more beneficial to do one thing or another. Danjuma is a player who attacks spaces; we could have done more damage behind their defence. I didn't see any advantage in bringing on a player to create disputes and second balls. It has nothing to do with the outcome of the match; I don't see the game as having been determined by the way the ball was brought out. We definitely want to do that better, and we have players capable of generating that advantage. I think there was some very good play right from the start of the match, in which we overcame the press. We lost the match when we still had 11 men on the pitch, but I don't attribute it to the way the ball was brought out. I don't feel like the team should stop doing the things we're doing.

Whether the team struggled to defend in the first half

The first half doesn't allow me to draw the conclusions that you journalists do. We weren't as aggressive or solid as we should have been when Osasuna scored. We should have defended the move better, and we didn't put enough pressure on Budimir, who is a specialist in the type of move that led to the goal. It’s a move we could have defended better. What the team did well was providing commitment: Giving their all, fighting until the end. That's what got us close to scoring the equaliser.

The feeling he takes away from the game

 We had a difficult start, and then the team rallied. We're hurting right now."