The 0-0 result at the Martínez Valero gave Elche their first home point of the league campaign and their first clean sheet. Celta Vigo extended their unbeaten run to five LaLiga matches, but their manager was far from satisfied with the performance.
Anselmi recognised the difficulty of breaking down a side that has been strong defensively, and felt his players had competed well despite the lack of goals.
“Celta are a team against whom it is difficult to create chances. They concede very little, as the numbers show. That means we have to take the few chances we get. We have to be patient in finding a way through them,” he said.
“We competed well, with control of the ball. At times, we used two strikers to have more presence in the area. We also changed the profiles on the wings. If we compete like that, we will always be closer to winning.”
The heat affected the tempo, Anselmi added, but he pointed to a late opportunity as evidence of his players' determination.
“The heat also affects the speed you need. We had our clearest chance in the 91st minute. That speaks of this team's hunger to win.”
The Elche coach was particularly encouraged by the clean sheet, saying the side was improving in how it defended collectively.
“The team is evolving. You can see it in every match. The team defends well when it is organised and defends together,” he said, adding that previous goals conceded had more often resulted from unforced errors.
Giráldez, by contrast, felt Celta had failed to match the hosts' approach or make good decisions in possession.
“We have been worse than our opponents. They interpreted the day of oppressive heat better than we did. It was a match with few chances,” he said.
“On a day when you are not good with or without the ball, not conceding can be a positive, but I am not happy with the team.”
The Celta manager criticised rushed attacks, technical mistakes and a lack of urgency when pressing. He did, however, take encouragement from another clean sheet and a fifth consecutive league match without defeat.
“The positive reading is that on a day when we were uncomfortable, suffered and did not play in our usual way, we leave with a clean sheet and five matches unbeaten in LaLiga. Hopefully, this is a point we will appreciate over the course of the year.”
Anselmi also praised Javi Morcillo's performance at centre-back, while Giráldez accepted that his team needed to improve in attack. Neither side could find a decisive finish in a match shaped by the conditions and disciplined defending.