“He never agreed with me taking turns” | Relief

After the storm that was their Conference League title, Jose Luis Mendilibar Two weeks of silence passed before his reappearance in the media. His success at Olympiacos has made him fashionable again, although his tumultuous farewell to Sevilla is still in the air, especially in the capital of Seville. In a wide interview in El Pelotaso from Canal Sur Radiothe technician opened the part his problems with Sergio RamoHis differences with Victor Orta, as well as his gratitude to Sevilla for giving him the opportunity, which meant a change in the direction of his career on the bench.

True to his ideology, Mendilibar always moves forward. “Football is played on grass, not on computers or data. On a 105×68 pitch we have to train every day and training is not given importance, it focuses more on seeing the opponent rather than how we train or what we want for our team. An example from this year. It felt like we had to retire, in our little house, and we were champions, we must have done something good,” Basque said. “I knew I knew. I have been in Primera for 20 years, 30 training sessions. If I had not known about this, it would have lasted four or five years, no more. I don’t need to be deceived by things that don’t look like anything to me or that sound beautiful in your presence. My vocabulary is clear and concise, I have no other. I can’t say strange things, I don’t know how to say them.– added Mendilibar.

After leaving Sevilla, it hurt him not to be able to continue playing in the Champions League. “I was convinced that this Champions League season in Sevilla we would achieve success.I was convinced that we would qualify for the league. We had good players and in this competition they transform and compete. In La Liga it was more difficult, the mentality of constantly interacting with them is not easy. But in the other, you don’t have to poke them for the batteries to work. I didn’t have the opportunity and we didn’t lose the two games we played and nothing has come of it since then. I still have this desire to demonstrate,” said the coach, who also noted the most important thing in his work at Nervion: “I was proud of the changes that happened to players who were mentally dead when I arrived.. They come from trying to do difficult things, change is about them seeing that they are very good and simplifying to become better.” “It took longer than I thought, I don’t know if they had to. You’ll have to ask them. I thought things could be faster,” he admitted of the upgrade that came with becoming champion.

The coach also watched Sevilla from afar. “I saw it almost always after the game, not live. I saw almost everything until I went to Olympiacos. Two or three hours later, but without knowing the result,” said one of Zaldivar, who also pointed out some of his black spots: “I would change the pre-season, it was a mess, doing it in Jerez in 40 degrees, the trips we did… How long did it take to find players and sign a contract? We played for three days with a lot of players who later left and those who didn’t show up. “If I could go back, I would change it.”

But he also touched on proper names, such as Sergio Ramos, always present in everything that concerns Seville this season. “I spent a short time with him. At that time I had three healthy central defenders: Gudelj, Bade and him. We played from Sunday to Wednesday, and it was clear to me that they were changing. He didn’t like not playing, but my two centre-backs helped us become champions last season and I was going to continue to count on them. He didn’t entirely agree with this.. With Quique, with three defenders, he won the position and he had a good season, not a great one,” he commented on the defender, with whom he would continue to behave in the same way: “Everyone thinks that the time has not come to say what the hell there is people are better than me, I will still have to change the team. It’s very difficult for the player to see this, not Sergio or anyone else. It’s hard for you to see this. It is in the hands of the coach to convince you to continue to follow your criteria and that’s it. Nothing more”.

From Ramos to the leaders or that closeness with Seville where he continues to leave friends. “Both in the city, with the people, with the coaches, with Jose Maria, with Pepe or with the managers who congratulated me. I feel loved.” I am grateful to Sevilla for giving me the option, a great team that was not good, but in the last 20 years has been one of the first in a league like the Spanish one.. It was a big deal for me. We won the Europa League, if I had not gone to Seville, there would have been nothing in our windows,” Mendilibar emphasized.

Cold relations with Orta

It also turned out that the coach’s relationship with Orta was not initially the best. “Everything cost us a lot, and it hasn’t been easy since last season either. It was very difficult for us to remove the people we wanted to remove. People came when they no longer had a team record so they could be signed. Everything could have been done better,” said Mendilibar, who explained what his ideal planning relationship would be: “We have to go hand in hand, I’ll give you five names, you give me two… I’ve always been confident in sports management , your job is to meet people. We can’t know as much as they do. In theory, this is what the team analyzes and does. The sports director is a coach, he has his own tastes. If they are not like the coach, we begin to fail.“.