Baraja: “It was a close game and the sendings-off hindered us”

 Valencia CF coach, Rubén Baraja, spoke to the media after the loss to Getafe CF in LaLiga.

The match

“We were intense and consistent, and even with 10 men, we defended well. Getafe are a pressing side, they have a lot of second balls and they took their chance. Going down to 10 men hindered us. We have to defend those crosses better.”

The changes made

“Getafe weren't overwhelming us, they weren't shooting much. Many times you struggle when you bring a player on if he isn't in the rhythm of the game... I think we were defending well when a man down and the goal was from a specific action. We were in a 4-4-1 and we had to make a change to our centre-backs.

The two fullbacks were fine, Foulquier was physically fit today, Diego was a little more tired in the final stages and then Hugo Duro was able to give us a boost by going on the counter. We considered that the team were doing fine. We didn't need to freshen things up. Everyone has their own opinion. There are things we have to improve.”

The sendings-off

"I prefer not to say anything. There are things that I cannot understand, but I prefer to remain silent.”

The winless run

“We are competing with the tools that we have. We know the difficulty of this stadium and the competition. We knew there were going to be streaks and we have to be prepared for them when they happen. In both Girona and Getafe we had chances, and Getafe when we had 10 men didn't create much against us, even with an extra player. It is evident that when a team have not won for 3/4 games, they need to win.

Anger at the result

"I'm angry, because we did a job for 88 minutes and we went down to 10 men, after a situation that could be greatly improved on by us. We can make excuses and blame the referee, but the first yellow card is interpretable because it's for protesting or for talking to him -as he was the captain- and the second yellow was something we talked about at half-time: You cannot offer the possibility in which they could send you off.

It annoys me that we recovered with the 4-4-1 and I think we defended well, and then on that action for the goal we got it wrong. The referee also gave me a card for asking him the reason for that card.

It annoys me that the team put in a lot of effort, and gave everything and then other things different to what happened in the game are evaluated. I have to talk to him about Guerra's sending off.

If he said something, then there is no justification. When he tells me we will evaluate it. The important thing in these games is not to get carried away. Everyone must assume their responsibility.”

Defensive actions

“I didn't see Getafe overwhelm us. It was a close match and in that specific action, they got a goal. Being a man down less affects you when it comes to modifying or counteracting these types of actions. It is an action where a player got into the area and we needed to set our markers out well because these points have a lot of value and dropping them like this makes you very angry. The match was very close and without a clear dominating force. That's the way I see it."