Igor Oca: “We're excited to keep winning”

C.D. Leganés head coach Igor Oca held a press conference on Thursday ahead of the team’s match against C.D. Castellón on Friday (8:30 p.m.) at SkyFi Castalia Stadium, as part of the 22nd matchday of LALIGA HYPERMOTION.

The coach provided the following update ahead of the match:

Injuries: “Pulido and Figueredo. Duk has been doing some light training, and we’ll see how he’s doing; we’ll wait until the last minute.”

Roberto López and Óscar Plano: "We try to bring out the best in all our players. If they step up as they have, that’s great. If we raise the level of several players, the team’s overall performance will improve. We’re happy with them and with the team’s overall performance lately.”

Replacement for Miguel’s departure: “We’re working with what we have. We have to improve with the players we have. We’re very happy with our forwards, Álex and Diego. We know the front office is working to see if the team can be improved, but with what we have, we’re going all out.”

Game plan: “We’ll try not to face the same Castellón we saw in their last five home wins. We’ll try to make things difficult for them and put them in different situations. They’re coming off a tremendously positive run. At home, we were outplayed, but we’re convinced we can win. We’ll try to prove it with our strengths from the first minute to the last.”

Roberto López’s role: “He’s available to start. It’s not just him; several players are proving they can contribute from the start or off the bench. With five substitutions, we can’t afford to waste minutes off the bench—anyone can deliver their best performance.”

Five-man defense: “We use various formations; that helps us cut into the opponent’s lead. We’ve worked without that line, but we have used a 3-4-3 formation that has been seen at times. We’re not ruling anything out. Rather than being reactive, we want to be proactive and create opportunities to exploit the opponent’s weaknesses.”

Castellón as a model: “Every team is shaped by the nature of the players at its disposal. I like how they play and the change they’ve brought about. We don’t want to be like anyone else; what we aspire to is reaching high levels of individual performance from each player. We have plenty of room for improvement, the players’ willingness, and the coaching staff’s ambition."

Two consecutive wins: “I saw a group focused on turning their performance around, affected by the situation. When the wins came, that improved. You see the locker room with that spark, eager to compete and win. We have to use that to ensure good performance, because the opponent is going to challenge us.”

Right Back: “We're very happy with that position. We don't see it as a problem, but rather as healthy competition. We have Rubén, Figueredo—who's coming back from injury—and Leiva has stepped up. That creates a lot of competition, so we'll try to make the right choice to see who can perform best in that position.”

Change in the game: “The data leaves no room for doubt. We’re among the top five in offensive output; if we look at the last two games, we’re approaching those numbers. It’s too early to say for sure, but the fact that we’re working to build on that makes us attractive. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves by saying we’ve been great for just two games, but we’re excited about the prospect of extending that run.”

Penalties: “We’ve discussed and decided on that. We’re playing with the option of having several penalty takers, and this isn’t the time to reveal anything the opponent could use against us.”

Message to Roberto López: “We field the players who, based on our strengths and those of the opponent, we believe will perform best. He brings a lot of interesting qualities to the team. We’re happy for him and for many other teammates.”

Franquesa: “We have options at fullback: Naim, Duk, Marvel... In previous matches, we chose Enric because he looked good to us. We'll pick whoever we think will perform best.”

Juan Cruz: “You could clearly see he was frustrated by that near-miss. I see a player who, two plays later, is making great efforts. If he’s doing that just two sequences later… He’s training well, and that means we have him available. He’s very committed to the team; I’m not worried. I’m convinced he’s going to score and assist.”

Pauwels: “When we arrived, he had an injury that meant we couldn’t count on him. The other day he played a few important minutes; he’s a guy we’re counting on. He has a knack for making things happen; we liked his minutes, and he’s another player we’re adding to the mix.”