Zinedine Zidane addressed the press gathered inside the media room at Real Madrid City ahead of the Whites' clash against UD Las Palmas (Sunday, 8:45pm CET), with the Frenchman previewing the game in the following terms: "We need to put in a good performance, in which we attack and defend well. We'll have to play with intensity. We must try to do those things from start to finish, that's how you put yourself in a position to win games. If we perform well, play with intensity and fight from the off, we'll get the three points". "I don't think that this is the worst spell in my coaching career. Our players have shown that they can stand up and be counted in the tough times. They want to prove that they can get back to winning ways and we're going to reverse this run of form. We'll be looking to start that against Las Palmas. During this tough spell I'll be working even harder because I'm in charge of this team". Working to improve "We're not happy with these two defeats but that doesn't change what we're looking to do at all. We'll keep on working and believe that we can improve on things. We can't control what goes on outside of the club, it's something that is always there and the only thing we can do is to focus on working hard". Criticism "That's something that I can't dictate. I've said in the past that I'm not the best coach in the world, the award that I got was for the season we had and I accept that. I'm not the best, but neither am I the worst. Life isn't about being on the top of the world or down in the dumps. I'm in the middle and never get carried away. What we need to do is to think positively. This is the same group of players". Two defeats "That's the way things go in football. You go through tough spells, as we did last season, when ultimately we went on to achieve big things. The only way now is for us to focus on tomorrow's match and try to do all we can to win the game and go about things in the right way". Fitness of Bale and Carvajal "We're happy that both of them have returned. We're still without Kovacic, he isn't ready yet but I'm sure he'll be back and involved next week. Dani is doing well, he's training as usual. Gareth has now completed a second training session with the group and the process is following its normal course. We're happy to have both of them with us".

"They won't feature in the squad list. After having been out for a long time, we have to give them that calmness they need. Bale won't be joining up with his national team either. They have completed two training sessions and will stay back and work with us".



Performance levels

"It's not that we're performing badly, at times we've played a little worse but not throughout the whole 90 minutes. When you lose games it's because something itsn't right. Sometimes you come up against a better side, as was the case the other day, when our opposition performed better than we did. Our issue isn't that we're playing badly. We're going to work hard and put all of our energy into turning this around".



System

"We're capable of playing in a lot of different ways and using different formations, but that doesn't change what we've got to go out and do on the pitch. We've got an idea about how we're going to play tomorrow and that's all there is to it. It doesn't depend on the system and I'm not going to go changing things just because we've lost two games. We need to win tomorrow and we'll have to see how we're going to try and do that".



Squad

"Things happen and you have to accept that. I'm not going to talk about what happened, all that I'm bothered about is the squad I've got now. What we can do is do things with more enthusiasm and all offer a little bit more, I'm the first one when it comes to that. We all have to put in more energy and that's what we'll be doing".



International break

"Right now I don't know which players will be staying behind. We can't consider the international break as being a good thing for Madrid because a lot of players go off to join their national teams. That's the way things are and we have to accept it. The days that we have over this break will be important to work with the players who stay behind. It's very good news that Cristiano Ronaldo isn't going away with his national team. He's played a lot of games and it's good that he'll stay behind and train here".



Missing the BBC?

"Of course, just as the whole team is. I want all of my squad to be available to play, even if that means making it tough for me to pick the team".



Crisis?

"Hard work is what'll allow us to reverse this run of form. We have to be positive, keep strong and be a team. It wasn't that long ago that we were lifting trophies and playing very well. This isn't a pleasant period but there's no crisis and no need to panic".