Muñoz: “We Are Working Very Hard”

By: Watford FC Staff

Watford Head Coach Xisco Muñoz is prepared for the next task that awaits his side at Leeds United, following last Saturday’s point against Newcastle United at Vicarage Road.

While the Hornets have historically performed well at Elland Road Muñoz is aware of the challenge ahead, especially with Leeds’ specific style of play employed by boss Marcelo Bielsa.

“They have a different style and we know what we need to work on,” the Spaniard explained.

“We need a strong mentality and physicality. This is our challenge and this week we have important time to improve. It’s an important time to build up and work hard on this system.

“We know what we want, and we know exactly the style of Marcelo [Bielsa].

“We can do it with our personality and character, but we know we are not perfect. I love my players because they are working very hard and want to improve.”

Ahead of a hotly-anticipated face-off with managerial counterpart Bielsa, Muñoz expressed his admiration for the former Argentina and Chile Head Coach.

“We always know about him because he is a big manager in the world,” Muñoz added.

“He has a different style, a particular style and we need to give a very good performance. It is different from others but believe me, now the moment is to have a strong mentality and give a consistent performance in attack and defence.”

While Muñoz is expecting Leeds to be firing in their search for a first league win of the campaign, he has plans of his own to take the game to the home side with three key themes in his philosophy to win three points.

“Tactics, mentality and confidence,” he said.

“When you put them all together you can understand what happens in the game. It’s our job to understand this and try to build different ideas and the same options for everyone.

“With time, with capacity, with our players they always want to learn this. If you have all the situations, then success arrives.

“We are working very hard with humility, always, because we know we aren’t perfect. We always want to learn and try to give all the best for our players.”

Ahead of the weekend’s fixture, Muñoz revealed that Tom Cleverley and Daniel Bachmann were back from their respective absences, but that Peter Etebo will be out for four to five months with a torn quad muscle.

“I’m very sad about this, always when one of our players gets a big injury,” he said.

“It’s a problem for us and now is the moment to give him the best recovery. He has a great attitude.

“We have Kucka, Louza, Gosling, Tufan and Cleverley. We have a good level of players in this position.”

Summer arrival Ozan Tufan is at the forefront of Muñoz’s thinking after making his Premier League debut last weekend, with the Head Coach revealing that he is settling in quickly to the pace of the Premier League.

“We know about his level,” he replied.

“We know what he can give our squad. We know that sometimes players need some more time. He needs to improve and continue to work hard every day because we know the level of the Premier League.”

Ismaïla Sarr was nominated for the Premier League’s Player of the Month award for September, which Muñoz believes shows how well he has been working this month alongside the rest of the squad.

“Sarr for us is a very important player and for the Premier League,” he said.

“He is a top player and always gives a very good performance. It’s great for us if he wins the award. I think he has respect for everyone and works hard every day. He is very good for the young guys and is working to try to give better things in better situations. He always wants to improve.

“We can improve with him and it’s important to talk about him, but the focus is on our team. If our team is ready and working together, we can have better results for Sarr and everyone.”

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