Chus Mateo: “We have to keep picking up victories in the league”
“We need to recapture the energy with which we have played some of our home games,” said the coach ahead of the Real Madrid-Dreamland Gran Canaria match.
Chus Mateo spoke to Realmadrid TV the day before the Liga ACB game against Dreamland Gran Canaria, which will be played at the WiZink Center (Sunday, 12:30 pm CET): “We like playing at home. Obviously, we're not having the luck we'd like to have away and we're not playing as well as we do at home. However, the last Liga Endesa win was away, in Murcia, and we have to continue picking up victories. It's important to be as high up as possible in the standings when it's time for the Copa del Rey. We're going to try to keep racking up victories little by little and, in this case, against a team that is doing very well.”
“We need to recapture the energy with which we have played some of our home games. We've played at home with more energy than we've shown away, but we're not looking for an excuse. Injuries mean that rotations are shorter and with games on the calendar like the ones we have coming up we can't lose energy. Even if the rotation is shortened, the players who are on the court need to be fresh.”
Dreamland Gran Canaria
“They're a team that are very well drilled defensively. They have great defensive mechanisms, the ability to anticipate and rebound very well at both hoops. Defensively, they have resources in terms of generating play. They possess inside players who are capable of opening up and moving ahead. They have a lot of resources. We hope we can play well in defence and start to be able to build our attack from the defence.”
Key points
“It will be in defence and rebounding. At home we have been reasonably strong, defending well, and away we have been weaker. We need that energy, defensive toughness and solidity in rebounding to allow us to counter-attack.”