Granada coach Aitor Karanka did not hide after the closing duel of his team’s pre-seasonthat it still needs maturing. “We have a lot to improve. We have been training for two weeks with, more or less, enough people for the first team”, expressed the rojiblanco coach, who, however, also calls for calm. “The important thing is in May and June of next year. The marks are given to you in June. It is clear that it is good to start well and to have the whole team at work from the first day, but also to have clear ideas”, he defended himself, after making sure that he was “satisfied” with the preparation of his students.
“The squad has improved over time. Those who were there gave it a hard time, and that’s good for those who come. A squad in which there is competitiveness between the players, for me, it’s essential”, influenced the coach of Vitoria, who considers that the rojiblancos have “clear ideas”, although he still doesn’t see any similarities with the Granada who faced Athletic at Los Cármenes last year, his role model. “That doesn’t seem like a lot. This game the team pressed very high and had a lot of intensity. Physically we couldn’t and because of Malaga’s style of play it was complicated. You should take it slow. The important thing is to know what we want, and that with the team we have and, God willing, improving it, we will have many alternatives“, he explained.
In this sense, he avoided indicating “a certain number” of signatures he expects, although he stressed that “outputs will depend on what happens”. In this appendix, he elaborated on the situation of Isma Ruiz, who was dropped from the team due to “a problem with the patellar tendon”. “This year he will surely play more,” Karanka said, although he later clarified that “If someone perfect arrives to complete the squad, we’ll see what we do with them.”
In the satisfaction of the coach, only an annoyance suffered by Miguel Rubio slipped. “Let’s see how it is tomorrow. He was going to play longer, but he had a knee problem. Hopefully it’s not too much,” he explained. Beyond that, he insists he is “happy”. “Even with the people at the subsidiary, we have always been competitive. The day we lost in Cordoba, the team competed with boys from the quarry. It lacks a lot of notions, things in attack and defense, that we take what we do in training”. Melendo will soon join these, on which Aitor Karanka was asked. “We are delighted that a player of his quality wants to be with us”.
Next week, the rojiblanco team will travel to Ibiza, where they expect ‘a match in which, in principle, Granada will have to take the initiative’. “I haven’t analyzed Ibiza in depth either. Today we found a team that has been with these players for a month or so. We will have to see how we can contrast their virtues. We have to improve a lot with the ball, we have very fast people with whom we can do a lot of damage“, he underlined. “The objective is clear to all of us: to give the best of everyone. It will put us where we need to be. This ends in June. Just because we start winning or losing in Ibiza doesn’t mean we’re going to be in the Premier League now or that we’re going to stop going up. People are excited, which I think is most important. Given that we are all demanding in the dressing room, things will come out,” he concluded.