Gracia: "We are going to be optimistic for the future"

Javi Gracia suffered his first defeat as Valencia CF coach in the game against Celta Vigo, and in his post-match press conference

Conceding goals
"We conceded two goals today and two goals in our previous game. It's evident that we need to improve defensively. In the first goal we lacked solidity, and we need to improve defensively on both an individual and collective level. We will try to improve."

The refereeing
"Without saying that we don't have reason to be unhappy, I am more interested in analysing -for example- the defensive work done by the team. Throughout the game I spoke to the referee about some situations with his officiating that might have hindered us, and the opposition were shouting when it wasn't a foul. I felt that it wasn't a good game for us in that sense. I prefer to be critical about what is in our hands."

Changing the midfield
"You know the options that Wass gives us. He's very versatile and can play at a high level in verious positions. In the second half, with Esquerdo a little more tired, we had to go for the win and take a risk going forward. Correia's strength and a fresher, faster wing were mixed with the experience of Wass and Kondogbia in the middle."

Away form
"When setting out the game, we knew about it. We used the comments about how difficult we had found it here in the past to point out that it was a good moment to change that, after the victory the other day and with this being our first away fixture. It was a good opportunity to change that dynamic. It wasn't possible, but the team were committed and gave their all until the end.

"We showed our will and at times we lost our organisation in search of the equaliser and conceded more chances to the opposition. But I think that we showed our attitude and our will to change this trend. It's been a long time, and there are some statistics that show this, but I don't want to be stuck in the past -especially in a time in which I wasn't here. I prefer to look to the future; we've missed this opportunity and lost our first away game. It's my first defeat since arriving here in preseason, and my first loss in LaLiga.

"We're self-critical and we are hurt at the moment, but we are going to be optimistic for the future. I don't want to be excessively critical because of a bad result, because I don't think that's fair on the hard work and effort my players provided today."