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Ramos Praises Real Madrid For Valencia Win
Having masterminded his first league victory for Real Madrid, Juande Ramos was full of praise for his troops.
Dec 20, 2008 6:42:53 PM
Having seen his side obtain their first league win under his tenure, Juande Ramos has praised Real Madrid's players for their performance against Valencia.
Speaking at the post match press conference, Ramos blamed a "lack of precision" for his side's failure to score more than the single goal, despite their flurry of chances. "There was a lot of responsibility. We had the three points in the bag," he continued, "and a tie would have been a problem. Therefore the players were a bit confused. You are always worried that the opposition will tie the game and earn a point."
Last week, Ramos was criticized in some quarters for allegedly asking his players to foul Lionel Messi, but this time around, he was asked whether he felt that Arjen Robben had been unfairly targeted. In response, the Real Madrid boss said "Robben is an individual player and we have to grant him that possibility, so he controls the ball more than most people on the pitch. It is normal that players like Cazorla, Villa, Messi and him will receive more fouls, because the opposition wants to stop their style of play."
Ramos agreed that the match deserved more goals, saying "There were less goals than the chances both teams created deserved. The pitch did not help a lot. We would have liked a more extensive victory, but it was not possible. But what is important is that we won the three points."
"The forwards could not have done more," Ramos continued. "Sometimes we lost the ball too easily. We played well, but we did not finish our chances. But I liked the effort of the players."
Ramos then went on to explain his substitutions of Royston Drenthe and Marcelo, saying "I like to use the wings, but Valencia had three central midfielders, so we had to sacrifice a winger to control that situation. Marchena had just been sent off, Marcelo had one card and against Joaquin he ran the risk of another, so we wanted to avoid that."
The controversial refereeing inevitably came up, but Ramos was diplomatic in his response, simply stating "The referees have an extremely hard job. I have an opinion but I am not going to make it public."
--Arjun Miglani, Goal.com
Speaking at the post match press conference, Ramos blamed a "lack of precision" for his side's failure to score more than the single goal, despite their flurry of chances. "There was a lot of responsibility. We had the three points in the bag," he continued, "and a tie would have been a problem. Therefore the players were a bit confused. You are always worried that the opposition will tie the game and earn a point."
Last week, Ramos was criticized in some quarters for allegedly asking his players to foul Lionel Messi, but this time around, he was asked whether he felt that Arjen Robben had been unfairly targeted. In response, the Real Madrid boss said "Robben is an individual player and we have to grant him that possibility, so he controls the ball more than most people on the pitch. It is normal that players like Cazorla, Villa, Messi and him will receive more fouls, because the opposition wants to stop their style of play."
Ramos agreed that the match deserved more goals, saying "There were less goals than the chances both teams created deserved. The pitch did not help a lot. We would have liked a more extensive victory, but it was not possible. But what is important is that we won the three points."
"The forwards could not have done more," Ramos continued. "Sometimes we lost the ball too easily. We played well, but we did not finish our chances. But I liked the effort of the players."
Ramos then went on to explain his substitutions of Royston Drenthe and Marcelo, saying "I like to use the wings, but Valencia had three central midfielders, so we had to sacrifice a winger to control that situation. Marchena had just been sent off, Marcelo had one card and against Joaquin he ran the risk of another, so we wanted to avoid that."
The controversial refereeing inevitably came up, but Ramos was diplomatic in his response, simply stating "The referees have an extremely hard job. I have an opinion but I am not going to make it public."
--Arjun Miglani, Goal.com
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