Ribas defends his forwards saying they do the role given to them

Gibraltar head coach Julio Ribas defended his forwards ahead of tomorrows match against Faroe Island commenting that “they do the role they are given” and “work hard throughout matches.”
His comments came after asked on whether Gibraltar was lacking an out-and-out striker following recent matches in which Gibraltar has missed opportunities to score due to nobody being up front available to finish.
Speaking at a press conference Mr Ribas whilst acknowledging that Gibraltar did not have an out-and-out forward who could act as a poacher praised the work done by players such as Lee Casciaro, Tjay De Barr and Reece Styche highlighting the “hard work rate” they provided, working from behind the front line and towards goal.
Dismissing any suggestions of criticisms towards his players he was adamant that the players provided the role they were being given and had scored important goals for Gibraltar. He was also to point out that whilst a player such as Tjay De Barr was missed he had other players on the bench and coming through the ranks who were available such as Kelvin Morgan and Jaiden Bartolo.
The Gibraltar head coach, who had acknowledged that Gibraltar football was lacking a goal poacher type of player he later was to indicate that he did not believe it was any player’s fault or his own but rather the fact that there were no local players in the league who at present filled such a role. Most players filling up this role in the domestic league presently coming from abroad.
His forwards, such as De Barr, Valarino, Ronan, even Casciaro and newcomer Bartolo he described as players who worked hard and needed space to work through, indicating that he was satisfied with the roles they played. Gibraltar’s head coach highlighting that this past Wednesday’s match had shown that Gibraltar could be offensive and could adopt an offensive game-plan if required depending on who they were playing.
The Gibraltar head coach was also to acknowledge that the match against Faroe Island would be a pivotal moment in which Gibraltar could assess its development pathway during the past eight years. He expected a result, but believed it was even more important to see the progress on the pitch irrespective of the result. Ribas was also to highlight that whilst Faroe Island had nine players within their squad who had been part of the squad which had played against Gibraltar in 2014, the Gibraltar squad only included two players from 2014 with many young players coming up through the ranks.
Ribas was to further highlight that Gibraltar was now looking to have 90% of the squad by next year who would be capable of playing towards the future. Stating that the objective was to have a squad which looked towards building for the next three World Cup qualifier periods, a total of twelve years, which would provide youth and experience among players as they progressed forward.