Ahead of facing Espanyol in midweek, Michel says that Sevilla are ambitious enough to take the Copa del Rey seriously this year.
The Andalucians welcome their Catalan League rivals to the Sanchez Pizjuan this Thursday in a game that Coach Michel insists is being taken seriously by the team.
“All are obligations, Espanyol in the Cup and Levante [next weekend] in the League are the same to me,” asserted the Coach to reporters today.
“When I think of a game it is only that we are going to win, I see no difference between the competitions, we only try to win each game.
“The best thing that can happen to a team that is big and that wants to be bigger is to try for all the competitions.
“We want to be as high as possible in the League and go as far as we can in the Cup, this is our idea, our challenge, but first you have to defeat your rivals. None that we face will make that easy.”
The first not to make things easy will be Espanyol tomorrow night at the Sanchez Pizjuan.
“They have class players, Verdu is influential, they have important players like Hector Moreno and Capdevila in defence, Stuani going forward.
“They are a team not having the best of times in the Primera Division, but in recent weeks they have beaten Rayo Vallecano and drawn with Malaga.”
Sevilla go into the game without a clean sheet from the last five matches played.
“We will change through concentration, aggressiveness, and defensive positioning of the players. We have to adjust all areas, but the fact that we are conceding a lot of goals does not benefit us, less so with a game tomorrow. The first ideal is to keep a clean sheet at home.”
Michel also has some interesting words on Jose Antonio Reyes, who has struggled so far this season for game-time through injury and a lack of form.
“I do not know whether he will start [against Espanyol] or come on during the game. He is a player who has to reinvent himself. We can guide him, help him, but in the end it is down to him.
“He was a star at 18, but sometimes things happen and you have to reinvent yourself.
“We have 23 players in the squad and the fact that he has twice been omitted from the matchday squad is because I felt the 18 called up were better. I want you to understand that these decisions are taken day by day, whilst we must go step by step.”
