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December 31 - December 31, 2017
On one of those Mondays, Marcelo Bielsa and Jorge Griffa from Newell’s Old Boys, Central’s city rivals, set up a trial for a group of players in
it was intense, fast-paced with a high press and plenty of mechanical movement. We looked to dominate physically and our game was about suffocating our opponents, making them uncomfortable when we did not have the ball.
Now the defender who commits the fewest fouls is the best. You’ve got to be kidding me! How times change!
Or is it just a job for you or a way to earn money? If the answer to this last question is yes, you can’t be the best, it’s impossible . .
It’s something that will be stamped on every side I coach. It was instilled in my genes during my time at Newell’s, it’s what Griffa and Bielsa taught me.
Praise can create confusion.
Well-channelled frustration can be used to fuel ambition.
got goosebumps watching how in the friendly the other day, Fernando Torres ran after a loose ball in stoppage time, after 93 minutes of slogging it out and travelling for 30 hours the day before, without sleeping well. The guy sprinted to try to score after all that, when his side were winning 1–0. A player who has won everything and with a long trajectory in the game. That is passion. That feeling that you’re a footballer and you enjoy it, that’s what you need.
When you’re young, you think that passion is about investing all your time in what you do, but perhaps it’s part of growing older and wiser to realise that the key is quality, not quantity.
also believe nothing happens by chance, that there is a reason for everything. Since those early days I’ve had the ability to notice something powerful that you can’t see, but does
be a footballer, you have to feel it. It has to be very deep down. I always had the need to become one, although I don’t really know why. My brother also liked playing football and my father gave him the same chance as me, but he didn’t grab it because he didn’t feel it on the inside. If my son doesn’t have that feeling, he won’t be a footballer, whether he lives in digs from fourteen or not.
But, do you need to leave and distance yourself from the family to fulfil your dreams? I don’t think so. In fact, if I were the one to suggest that he suffers as much as I did, he’d certainly resent me for it. You can’t ask a teenager from the first world to suffer these days.
It’s like modern-day society. You go on the internet and you have the information you need two seconds later. In life, however, it’s a process, involving maturing, working and learning.
promises are the death of a footballer.
It’s better to be reassured that if you’re better than your teammate, you’ll play.
you look out for people, then they will look out for you.
‘Mauricio, football will take you where it wants to, not where you want to go; go with the flow, do your best and believe.’
and I tell them: ‘Play football and be happy; football will take you where it wants to.’
What’s difficult is what Messi does: to pick up the ball, dribble past five opponents and score a goal. But it should never be difficult to run and be aggressive, to remain vigilant and positionally disciplined, because all that is motivated by desire. Sometimes things don’t pan out the way you’ve planned, but you should never hide.
Football is all about attitude.’
When we’re kids, we kick a ball around for the pure pleasure of doing so. Who’s to say that we can’t recreate that in our young professionals? Why do they fall out of love with football so early?
Perhaps I’ll have to give up this profession in six or seven years. I enjoy my job with an almost child-like enthusiasm, but the frenetic pace can be hellish.
‘Do you want to know why you felt so good and it made you cry? Because nature didn’t judge you; because you felt free to be yourself for seven days.’
prefer you to make mistakes than not try anything.
That’s the difference between winning and losing,
the fact that there’s no such thing as perfection, but we always aim for it and will never be happy to settle for less.
again.Young players, when they get their first opportunity, must overcome two sizeable enemies: fear and insecurity.
‘First of all the boys have to respect the team, work hard and be honest, good people. Then they have to be smart, fast, physically fit and have good technique and – this one is important – they should come here full of internal motivation and not expect their fathers or the coach to set the level of demand.
you’re responsible in your life, you’ll also be so on the pitch.
having faith in what we’re bringing to the table. And if we don’t . . . That is not good news.
When the game turns into a profession, you start to lose your desire to play.
whoever exchanges happiness for money can’t exchange money for happiness.
What type of society are we building where only success, money and material possessions matter?
Of the last 21 England debutants, 17 have played under me:
‘A good coach can change a game; a great coach can change a life.’ These are the words of legendary basketball
