Elche vs Granada CF preview - Escriba confident of late support
Posted Saturday, August 30, 2014 by PA
Elche coach Fran Escriba is confident the fans will turn out in force on Sunday when they host their first game of the Primera Division season against Granada - even though the match does not kick off until 11pm local time.
Escriba's men, who dodged relegation by a single point last term, were comfortably beaten at Barcelona on the opening weekend of fixtures.
However, they are looking to do much better when they run out in front of home support at the Estadio Manuel Martinez Valero on Sunday.
Escriba told the club's official website: "Despite the late hour, I urge the fans to come and see your team.
"If we can win over the support then we do not need anything else. I don't have to encourage the fans, though, because I know they will come.
"(Compared to Barcelona) we are bound to be more attacking, because we are playing at home in front of our own fans and those fans will want to see us give everything on the pitch."
Having home advantage does not mean Escriba will be underestimating the opposition, however.
"Granada are a machine who already carry the mark of (coach) Joaquin Caparros and that makes it a tough game for us," said the Elche boss.
Caparros took charge of Granada in May, one week after the club secured their top-flight status on the final day of the season.
A summer spent rebuilding the squad's confidence seemed to pay dividends with an opening-day victory over Deportivo La Coruna and striker Ruben Rochina sees no reason why they cannot repeat the feat at Elche.
He said: "In Elche we need to repeat what we did in the second part of our previous match, put the same passion and intensity into the second half as we did against Deportivo," he told a press conference.
"Our opponents do not worry us at all. We can win at Elche, we have the team to do it."
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