HEREDIA, Costa Rica – CS Herediano Head Coach Jaime De La Pava believes his team will bounce back quickly from its rare losing streak.
Last Wednesday, August 8 the Tico side suffered a 2-1 defeat to Santa Tecla in the second leg of the 2018 Scotiabank Concacaf League but still advanced to the quarterfinal round thanks to the away goal scored in a 2-2 aggregate tie.
That was followed by a defeat at rivals Deportivo Saprissa in Costa Rica Liga Nacional action last Sunday.
Despite the frustrating results of the last two matches, De La Pava has his finger on what his squad needs to do in its upcoming matches against Grecia and then the SCL quarterfinal first leg against Panama’s CD Universitario on Wednesday, August 22.
“We need a little more speed, more rhythm. A little more mobility in the final third,” said De La Pava in a press conference this week.
“We need to get more into the opponents’ area, that is what I see in relation to the game from El Salvador. To try to make our play on the flanks more effective and dangerous,” added De La Pava.
In particular, De La Pava singled out the performances of his team playing away from home.
In three matches thus far in all competitions, Herediano’s road record is 0W-1D-2L, with three goals scored and five conceded.
The Herediano boss would like to see his team duplicate its home performances (2-0-0, 4GF, 0GC) when playing away from the Estadio Eladio Rosabal Cordero.
“I think on defense we’ve done a good job, but in the attacking half we have to be attack more as visitors. Some players think that if they move up they’ll leave a space and they have to dedicate themselves to attacking. It’s something that we’ve talked about. At home we are doing well, but playing away we need to translate what we do at home,” concluded De La Pava.