18 September 2007, by Lorna Danion

Deco confident Barcelona will put things right

Portugal midfielder calls for patience

Barcelona midfielder Deco has called for patience after the team’s slow start to the new La Liga season continued with a goalless draw at Osasuna on Sunday evening.

The Catalans have taken five points from their opening three games, while the stalemate in Pamplona was Los Cules’ second away match running without scoring.

“It’s a long season and trying to draw conclusions so early on isn’t good. There’s no need to get desperate about things,” Deco said on Monday when asked about the significance of Barca’s early form.

“We were just missing a bit of definition up front. We know we have to work hard to put that right, which is what we are doing in training.”

“Teams just defend well and try and hit us on the break. We’re looking to build a team that doesn’t allow the opponents to create many chances and is more aggressive in attack – that’s what we are working towards.”

The Portuguese international also played down talk that Ronaldinho is again unsettled, after the Brazilian was replaced by manager Frank Rijkaard during Sunday’s match.

“Ronaldinho played in both Brazil’s games and is one of the players who had to travel furthest for his international games. The boss has to think not only about winning the game in hand, in this case against Osasuna, but also about the next one and just how tired his players are . That’s not an easy job.”

Finally, with arch rivals and defending champions Real Madrid sitting top of the table with a 100% record, Deco insists that his club must concentrate on themselves and stop thinking about last season.

“We can’t keep looking backwards, let’s analyse, criticise if need be and talk about this season. We just have to concentrate on our game. If we’re worried about them (Madrid) already, we might as well not even turn up.”