Samways: "The quality's there, what's lacking is character"
The former Las Palmas midfielder is confident that the islanders can lift themselves out of the danger zone. First, they must beat Levante this evening.
Former Las Palmas midfielder Vinny Samways has been having a hard time watching his old team struggle. The 49-year-old feels that with a bit more personality, the islanders can haul themselves out of the drop zone: “Right now the team's in a bad moment but that happens to every team - even Real Madrid and Barcelona suffer dips. I think the problem is that the players really need to knuckle down and fight for everything they are worth in every game. They need to bring out their character on the pitch - it's in the difficult moments that you have to stand up and be counted”, the ex-Tottenham and Everton player explained.
Las Palmas shipping too many goals says Samways
“Everyone knows that the team has quality and with those kind of players they shouldn't have any problems lifting themselves out of the danger zone, but they really need to start resolving this now because they have suffered seven defeats on the run and it's only going to get more and more complicated. All of us love the wonderful football they play but what matter more right now are the points and in my opinion, they have to start winning matches in any way they can. With a bit of luck, they can start doing that against Levante and leave their troubles behind them”, Samways continued.
One of the keys to Las Palmas' negative dynamic was the departure of Roque Mesa, believes Samways: “They've really noticed his absence - he was an important cog in the team but some people didn't value the work he did for the team. He played a fundamental role in making the rest of the team run. He made it easy for the others and in the end, that's what helped Las Palmas to carry off that attractive style of football they have. They don't really have that kind of player anymore although there's no doubt they've got the quality. The biggest problem Las Palmas have is that they are conceding too many goals and when that's the case, it's very difficult to win your matches. When you know that you aren't going to win a game, you have to make sure that at least you don't lose because gaining one point is better than none at all”.
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