Athletic coach, Marcelino Garcia Toral, reviews the performance of several of his pupils, who cement the current status of his team in the absence of nine finals to try to sneak into the Europa League. Starting with the talented Sancet, U21 international, in the prayers of Luis Enrique, and that he seems ready against Elche after overcoming some pubalgia discomfort: “In him his quality and the need for attacking players come together. I knew him very little before working with him, he has a great oriented control that allows him to overcome players and lines, he is very coordinated for his size, he has a good vision of the game, then the closer to the area the better performance he would get out of his qualities”, he points out about a player accustomed to acting as an 8 in the lower categories and who has recycled to second tip.
To the Navarrese midfielder, with which they work individually in Lezama to enhance their innate qualities, recommends that “you should not only participate with the ball in comfortable areas, you have to make quicker decisions, all of this entails its difficulty and the youngsters are gradually settling in. We are very satisfied with their performance despite the fact that there are stellar moments and others less good , as happens with all young people,” he adds. Another youth squad like Oier Zarraga is joining the rotations, but an external meniscus injury delayed his projection: “He missed four months and on top of that there is competition in a position where two players do the work of three, it is normal for him to find it difficult. He must get used to making and recovering efforts, but he is in very good condition and is going to be very useful for Athletic” , concludes Marcelino in an interview on Radio Nervión.
LaLiga Santander
*Data updated as of March 30, 2022
At the opposite pole is Unai Núñez, who does not fit into his plans and he was about to leave on loan in January, with Benfica and Valencia attentive: “It is difficult to give a reason for his situation, an important factor is that the central defender is the most competitive position in the team with Iñigo Martínez, Yeray, Unai , and Vivian appears, that makes it difficult to play. There are those who accept competitiveness as a stimulus and for others it generates insecurity and lack of confidence. It is not easy for the coach, but he must decide, even if the player believes that it is not fair to him”, he reviews the bravo Portuguese central defender.
De Vivian reveals that “he was surprised, we knew him little and arriving from Second and settling in First is not easy, and more than central defense. There, if you fail, you appear in the photo and its performance has been extraordinary. Dani trains very hard and focused, he doesn’t give anything away,” says the Asturian coach, who comes up against the vaunted word ‘failure’ that some wield if you don’t enter Europe this year: “I never use the word failure because I have the clear conscience that I have always carried out my work with all my honesty, with all my honesty and with all my dedication to try to optimize the results. From that point of view I will never accept failure as mine. Disappointment, disappointment, sadness. You live it, you feel it because we are winners, but there are times when you have a rival who can be superior to you and can beat me”, he explains.