"We want Costa to do the same here as he does for Chelsea"

National coach Vicente del Bosque spoke at a press conference ahead of the game against Slovakia, the first serious test for Spain in the qualifiers. “I have the eleven decided. My intention is that in these coming days quite a lot of the 23 players that have gathered will play”. However, he admits Slovakia will be difficult opponents: “Surely, Slovakia is the toughest opponent of the group stage, Slovakia are a very organised team. They are dangerous going forward”. And he spoke about Diego Costa: “We would like him to do the same here as he is for Chelsea”.

The dimensions of the stadium: “We should not complain about playing on a small pitch. The conditions are the same for both teams and we should not make any excuses. We have to go out there with enthusiasm and looking for the three points.”

Slovakia: “You have to be very careful with Slovakia, they are a very organised team, they play well with the counter-attack and with speed. They have important players such as Hamsik and two very fast wingers. We have to be careful against their counter-attacking style.”

You said that with three centre backs you would have sufficient options because there are lots of solutions in the squad but when Ramos was injured you called up Bartra. Can you explain? “Well, when Ramos’ inury happened we were able to replace him. It is a position that we are not so strong in as we all know and we called another centre-back up as we would have done a goalkeeper if a goalkeeper had been injured. We were left with a squad of 22.”

The team: “I have a strong eleven but I will say that I will try to play as many players as possible.”

Diego Costa: “We would like to see Costa do with the national side what he is doing at Chelsea. We are not worried about him because he is a regular goalscorer in his team and his league but we would also like to see him score goals for Spain. We will have a slightly new system from the one we had against Macedonia and we should have more of an offensive presence.”

The change: “In the national squad there has been change. We must forget about Brazil because in football we don’t stop and I have the feeling that we are entering a new phase with new people. We cannot live on the memories, we have to have new goals.”

from Últimas noticias | Diario AS http://ift.tt/1qjfSHC

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