First half “impeccable” says Barca assistant coach

“The first half was impeccable”, says Jorge Pautasso

Barcelona’s assistant coach Jorge Pautasso spoke to the media and press after last night’s La Liga match against Almería, standing in for Gerardo Martino. “The first half was impeccable, we constantly created chances, and we did well to recovered possession. We had 10 clear chances to score, but in the second half we lacked depth, despite having the ball. In the end, however, we closed out the game. The goal margin we won by is justified,” said Pautasso.

The assistant manager went on to praise Barcelona’s veteran captain Carles Puyol, who completed the full 90 minutes and even managed to get on the score sheet: “Puyol has a lot of playing time left, he has a lot of authority. Every time he plays he gives us answers, he’s always there to help the team and he’s an example for us all.”

Pautasso went on: “We created great goalscoring chances but we still need to capitalise on them. The most important thing is that we managed to create chances.”

Finally, Jorge Pautasso spoke about the Catalan giant’s problem with defending set pieces: “We are a short team and that makes aerial plays difficult for us. In some situations we use a zone marking system, in other we mark man to man – our rivals take advantage when they get set pieces.

We will try to improve in this regard and we will try to avoid conceding risky free kicks and corners.” Pautasso finished off by saying, “the fans cheer the team on and that always helps us.”

Barça have a chance to overtake Real Madrid on 8th March when they take on Valladolid at the Estadio Nuevo José Zorrilla. The Catalan team edged a little closer to the top slot after Real Madrid managed a 2-2 draw against Atlético Madrid in the Madrid derby match on Sunday.

Video – “The first half was impeccable”, says Jorge Pautasso