University of Chile has gone five matches without a victory in the National Championship, a bad streak that has caused the team to move away from the title race and temporarily settle in eighth place, outside the qualification zone for international cups.
Despite this bad moment and the criticisms against him, coach Mauricio Pellegrino remains firm in his conviction to turn the page and assured that he has no intention of stepping down.
In a press conference, the coach started by stating that "if I am here, it's because I am very motivated. The U has had many years of misfortune, and we have been able to improve in many aspects, defensively, offensively, profitability, efficiency."
"We have had mental ups and downs, competitiveness and performance issues, and now is the coach the only one responsible? I don't think so. So the question is, if Pellegrino leaves, will all those problems go away? If I feel that by leaving, all those problems will go away, I would leave," added the strategist.
Along the same lines, he emphasized that "we must not individualize responsibilities, but think about the collective. We have to recover that firmness that has characterized us in many moments of the Championship. One thing is the results streak and another is our work."
Considering the absences of Emmanuel Ojeda and Federico Mateos for the match on Friday against Unión La Calera, the coach of the university team indicated that "we have Nery (Domínguez), Renato (Cordero), Isra (Poblete), Jeisson (Vargas) as possibilities for defensive midfield and midfield, among those players will be the choice."