Chus Mateo: “We'd like to head into Christmas with a good feeling”
“We're back playing on our home court and we'll look to make the most of it”, said Williams-Goss.
Real Madrid will take on Asvel Villeurbanne on Thursday in round 15 of the EuroLeague 9pm CET. Chus Mateo and Williams-Goss talked ahead of the game with the coach explaining: 'We like playing at home. We've had a tough week covering a lot of kilometres and with changes in temperature, and we're suffering for it. We'd like to head into Christmas with a good feeling'.
'Asvel started slowly at the beginning of the season, but they've won their last three games: at the Palau and against Partizan and Olympiacos. We have to judge them on these three games rather than on their start. They're doing a very good job and they have important players'.
'We started off trying to find ourselves as a team, we've had some inconsistency, which an be expected at the start. We'll have good and bad periods, winning games and losing games, but we can't lose our focus on trying to finish as high as possible in the regular season in both the league and the Euroleague'.
The difficulty of the Euroleague
'We've always got a game plan and when our opponents have someone to focus on it's more understandable and more straightforward. We always have the same objective, to not turnover the ball, to not allow uncontested shots, to try to get to everything... We sometimes succeed and sometimes we don't, but Euroleague is at such a high level that you can lose to anyone'.
'Asvel started slowly at the beginning of the season, but they've won their last three games: at the Palau and against Partizan and Olympiacos. We have to judge them on these three games rather than on their start. They're doing a very good job and they have important players'.
'We started off trying to find ourselves as a team, we've had some inconsistency, which an be expected at the start. We'll have good and bad periods, winning games and losing games, but we can't lose our focus on trying to finish as high as possible in the regular season in both the league and the Euroleague'.
The difficulty of the Euroleague
'We've always got a game plan and when our opponents have someone to focus on it's more understandable and more straightforward. We always have the same objective, to not turnover the ball, to not allow uncontested shots, to try to get to everything... We sometimes succeed and sometimes we don't, but Euroleague is at such a high level that you can lose to anyone'.
The Tavares-Poirier partnership
'This is a scenario that could arise at any time. We can use this combination, but we have a bit of everything in our squad and we have to make sure that everyone gets their role and that we know what's at stake. We could use it occasionally, the same as playing with Deck as a five, but not as a way of playing'.
Williams-Goss: 'It'll be a difficult game'
'I expect it to be a difficult game because, like we've seen this year, every Euroleague game is tough and Asvel is playing very well at the moment. We're aware that if we're going to pick up another win, we will need to be at our best and be fully focussed. We need to control what we can: our effort, our concentration, offensive and defensive rebounding, avoiding turnovers...'.
'We have to play well in the aspects of the game that we can control and, if we do that, we'll be in a good position to get the win. We're back playing on our home court, in front of our fans and we'll look to make the most of it'.
'This is a scenario that could arise at any time. We can use this combination, but we have a bit of everything in our squad and we have to make sure that everyone gets their role and that we know what's at stake. We could use it occasionally, the same as playing with Deck as a five, but not as a way of playing'.
Williams-Goss: 'It'll be a difficult game'
'I expect it to be a difficult game because, like we've seen this year, every Euroleague game is tough and Asvel is playing very well at the moment. We're aware that if we're going to pick up another win, we will need to be at our best and be fully focussed. We need to control what we can: our effort, our concentration, offensive and defensive rebounding, avoiding turnovers...'.
'We have to play well in the aspects of the game that we can control and, if we do that, we'll be in a good position to get the win. We're back playing on our home court, in front of our fans and we'll look to make the most of it'.