Corberán: "We gradually lost control of the game"

Valencia CF coach Carlos Corberán talked to the media after the 2-3 defeat at Mestalla to Celta Vigo.

Analysis of the game

The match demanded that the team be competitive again. In the first half the team were solid defensively, but we gradually lost control of the game.

The start of the game was exciting, with good play and the team eager to win,but little by little we faded and lost momentum. We conceded possession, giving Celta Vigo control of the ball. It's true they weren't hurting us, but it's also true that we lacked the attacking continuity we should have found in the first half.

The start of the second half wasn't bad for the first five minutes, but from then on the team didn't give the same impression we did before. The opposition adjusted their positions on the field, switching to a back four instead of aback three, and they were finding the flanks beyond our midfielders more effectively. The match called for a back four.

We held on to see if Eray could continue playing or not, because he felt some discomfort at halftime, and to see how he would react. In those first 15 minutes of the first half, the game completely slipped away from us, and we didn't know how to manage the lead we had.

From then on, it was a case of wanting to do it but not being able to, because the team had the will and created chances, but with Celta's third goal and with us not taking advantage of the opportunities we had until the end of stoppage time, it became very difficult to achieve anything positive.

The team wanting to win

Nobody wants to lose games, and even less so in front of our fans, and even less so with the support we received from them today -on a Bank Holiday. Mestalla was packed again, and they were really pushing the team forward,giving us a lot of support in a first half that wasn't good from an offensive point of view, and maintaining that support until the final whistle. Therefore, it's disappointing for us not to have risen to the occasion.

Key takeaways from the match

I'd say that throughout the entire match we struggled to understand our attacking game, we struggled to overcome their pressure, and we struggled to maintain continuity and extend our attacks.

We rushed some chances, and there were some free kicks that we sent long instead of starting to play out from the back. We also took some shots from positions where the chance of scoring was very slim, and we should have attacked more and created more attacking opportunities. That's what we didn't do in the first half. The team were compact defensively, but we didn't have the ball enough to take the game to where we wanted it.

In the second half, the attacking dynamic was the same, but defensively we didn't show the same solidity we had in the first half. The team improved with the substitutions, but by then we had already had the game turned against us,so the result also reflects the performance of both teams.

Objectives

What I can analyse today is today's match, and it's true that it was a match that would have allowed us to add another three very important points, which was what we wanted and the commitment we had. We were outplayed, especially in the first 15 minutes of the second half, by opponents that didn't allow us to win the match.

 There's no point in talking about objectives when you can't win matches.