Gracia: "It's an important victory and we want to keep improving"

Valencia CF coach Javi Gracia gave a rundown of his team's 1-0 win over Elche CF at Mestalla in his post-match press conference.

Analysing the match

"Despite having taken the three points, I think that our objective is to continue improving and try to do things better.

What's my analysis of the game? In the first half we dominated more. The opposition played with three centre backs and we dealt with that well, with a high press, recovering the ball a lot and having more possession. We had some chances -above all the penalty- from which we could have killed the game off with a bigger advantage. That would have allowed us to be calmer in the second half, and I'm convinced that it would have allowed us to score another goal as well.

That wasn't the case, so in the second half the opposition switched to four at the back, with Cifuentes at right back, and they felt a little more comfortable. Despite that, we had a chance through Carlos Soler and a few more opportunities."

Not killing the game off

"We didn't kill the game off, and that always leaves you a little exposed; the opposition had a little more of the ball and forced us into defensive situations. We defended set pieces and corners, which allowed us to show that -in contrast to the last two games, in which we conceded from corners- we can defend very well from them, like today. The team looked solid in defence, and were very responsible and consistent, keeping a clean sheet."

Tactical changes

"There were two moments in today's game in which we moved Wass's position. We started with him on the right wing, but because of the three centre backs in Elche's defence, we thought he could do damage between the lines. He also gave us some width on the right. In the second half, we were losing the ball more in midfield, and we believed we should strengthen it -and that is why we brought Wass inside, together with Soler and Racic. Having Racic close to defense gave us more presence in the air."