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González: "We have a competitive squad"

The coach previews his 100th game in charge of RCD Espanyol

Manolo González will take charge of his 100th match with RCD Espanyol this Sunday, a milestone he highlighted at the start of his pre-match press conference ahead of the game against Sevilla.

"I want to show gratitude for the trust shown by the club, the fans, and the players," he told the media when asked about the achievement.

Asked about Bryan Zaragoza and Gorosabel, the two latest signings, the coach revealed that "Bryan will be included in the squad. He needs to start competing and training to get up to speed as soon as possible."

"Gorosabel won't be available because he has some minor discomfort -something that doesn't prevent him from training, but we do need to give him a period of adjustment to the workload."

In a similar vein, he noted that Javi Puado "has begun participating in the team's warm-ups, but we hope he can fully integrate into the group dynamic after the international break -and from there, we'll see."

On the end to the transfer window, he explained that “We’ve made a lot of signings and I think we already have a competitive squad, which will be even more competitive when all the players are available."

"Last week at Anoeta, we weren't good with the ball and weren’t sharp. If we manage to improve tomorrow, we’ll have chances to attack Sevilla. We have to start well and not be playing catch-up, like what happened against Real Madrid and Real Sociedad. Tomorrow we have to hit top gear from the first minute. There’s no other way.”

González emphasized that “I don’t want to be repetitive, but the primary objective remains securing our place in LaLiga as soon as possible. If we get the required points early, we can start aiming for higher goals. In our first season here, we finished 14th, last season we were 11th, and this year we have to try to surpass that. That’s the first objective, and from there, we’ll keep improving. We have to set the first objective, and when we achieve it, we’ll move on to the second one.”