Baraja: "We have to be a strong team at home"

Ahead of a Monday night fixture at Mestalla against Cádiz CF, Valencia CF coach Rubén Baraja talked to the media to give his thoughts on the LaLiga Matchday 10 fixture.

The squad’s fitness

The break has given us the possibility to bring back players who were injured. The waiting time has given us the possibility that there are players who had discomfort and are now fine. Tomorrow we will decide and look at the options. Sergi is better, he has a good dynamic and can participate at any time. The player who won't be there is André because he continues to have back discomfort and we have to be patient with it.

The ‘Secret VAR room'

Honestly, I don't have the information to be able to give an opinion on that situation, I wouldn't be able to tell you, I don't know if it was there, if it wasn't there or what it is for. When I don't have information I don't usually give an opinion.

Alberto Marí's recovery

He is doing fairly well according to our planning. He is training on the pitch and having sessions with a high intensity. He is in the final stage, coming up to being able to shoot and do everything related to football, to join back up with the group.

We think that between the end of this month and the beginning of November, he will be able to start doing things with the squad. From there, it's about picking up the pace. We are optimistic, everything is going well and we hope that he is ready in this timeframe -or even before.

Mestalla

It is not a question of our fans, who know that it is an important game for us. We have the hope of having a good game against Cádiz.

Playing at Mestalla has to be important, we have to feel, from the energy from our fans and their drive, that these are important points for us. We can't ask for more than for them to continue supporting us, helping, and understanding the moments in the game.

There are difficult moments when they support you. Then we have to give them a recognisable, intense team that looks to control the game and tries to repeat performances. We have had two defeats: Against Osasuna, we deserved more and against Real Sociedad the sending-off affected things. It's no excuse, as we have to be a strong team at home. We are going to try to work hard and I am sure that the fans are going to be fundamental. We need them to be at their best.

Gayà and Canós

The case of José is a specific fullback position. If he is out, Jesús Vázquez had to be available to step in, and since Jesús was not there we had to look for alternatives. José gives us more defensive and offensive benefits.

Tomorrow we will decide on Canós depending on the situation that he is in and what can we work with him.

Team's growth

One of the fundamental things when you have to build a team is how you see the improvement process of your players, within the margins that the team can give you.

The team are showing attitude and compete. We are a recognisable team in terms of intensity, who work well defensively and keep up our intensity.

We have to improve our ball management and attack better. We can go further in this sense and we are analysing some facets to carry out. The players look confident that they can do it.

Tomorrow's opponents Cádiz know how to retreat well and in some aspects of the game, we have to take a step forward to win.

 Assessment

In this process we want the team to finetune details to improve individually and collectively. The growth of the team involves competing, growing in terms of fitness and improving certain aspects of the game.

We do that on a day-to-day basis and then transfer it from training to the game to achieve the result, which is what all coaches want.

The importance of picking up points at home 

A win is worth three points. We have to try to give it the importance it has because home games are essential for us. We are going to play with the support of the fans, it is a game that has a lot of value. On Matchday 9 or 10, talking about turning points is a bit of a stretch. I don't know what will happen. If we win by playing badly, does it have more value than playing well? I believe in the process.

Winter Transfer Window 

I'm not into that right now. I save the energy that I have to focus on Cádiz. We haven't competed for a long time and there have been players away with their national teams. The winter transfer market is very far away, and there will be time to think about these situations later. I am focused on the game we have to play tomorrow.

Cádiz CF

They have been working with Sergio, who is a very recognisable coach. He uses a 4-4-2, an intense style and lots of sacrifice and effort. They don't give anything away for free and they are an aggressive team without the ball. They are dangerous from set pieces and on the counterattack after you lose possession. We have to be attentive to these situations, as these two things are something that we have to control so that they do not harm us. And then we have to arrive in their area and create situations to score a goal.

Cádiz coach Sergio González

He already has a very good track record. He was at Espanyol, Valladolid, and now Cádiz. He has a very clear, very orderly way of working and always puts together very competitive teams. This is what I expect tomorrow from Cádiz. Last year they took the three points here and we have to think that we are going to face good opponents who are going to make it very difficult for us. We have to do many things well in order to win the game.