Rufete this Saturday he gave his first press as coach of Spanish for the remaining seven games of the season. He did it, in turn, clarifying aspects that concern him as sports director. But he insisted at all times that he is now a coach and that what worries him most is the game this Sunday against Real Madrid. “Tomorrow we have the most important game of our lives,” he said.
First he wanted to clarify the unexpected events of this Saturday that ended with Abelardo dismissed and he taking the helm of the team. “It is a very complicated situation, we all know it,” he began, “and it arises for me and you have to be there, stand up to it,” he continued. He assured that the decision to dispense with Abelardo the president takes it Chen Yansheng and the advice By mutual agreement between all the parties and that he believes “he should do it.”
I am freed from anything and I have the peace of mind of saying yes ”
“Possibly he is a person who speaks only when he plays or is necessary. But I think I should do it and I’m here to show my face. Always, from here to the end. I did it as a player and it won’t change. Of course, he clarified that it is not about being “more or less brave” but that he has “the feeling” of being able to “change things and contribute”. “By loving the club and being in it, you think more about the positive of having the illusion of achieving our goal.” Beyond that, he does not want to compare himself “with anyone”. Not with David Gallegoneither with Pablo Machín, nor with Abelardo.
Of the latter, of whom he said he was “happy”, he explained the following: “I have bet on him, I have supported him until the last second, I have called him, I have said goodbye and we have embraced. But it must be understood that the club is a structure and there are always decisions that are made from above. There are not so many things to look for when making a decision. I am freed from anything and I have the peace of mind of saying yes. ”
Tamudo will be part of the coaching staff
When asked whether he, as director of professional football and later sports director and therefore, as responsible for the planning of the squad, would not have to consider his own dismissal, he said he understood that “situations from the outside are seen from a perspective “but that” from within “is different. And he reasoned that “he was responsible for the first team but with a structure” and that in the winter he dedicated “a lot of time to the market” and that, despite having “an important part of responsibility” he thinks “that the players are very good”. He also clarified that he is as an “interim” coach and admitted that “what he may lose we will know over time” but that he is “optimistic” and believes they can “win something”. “If not, I wouldn’t be here.”
“I trust the players, I trust the team,” said the new coach, who will form the coaching staff with people from home and where he will be Raúl Tamudo. In the locker room they know “about the difficulty”, but for Rufete “one thing is the result and the difficulty and another is how we should start the path”. So for him, despite the fact that there are seven games ahead, “there is only one and it is tomorrow.”
Against Real Madrid
My challenge is that they don’t come out with the mentality that they are inferior ”
Despite the fact that the bottom row of the table faces the second classified who could remain as the solo leader, Rufete said that his “message” is “simple” and that he will try “to make the players play convinced of the possibilities they have to do things very good in a field ”. He also described which pillars his team will stand on. He wants a block “solid from the community”, “solidary”, with “confidence”, “ordered”, “aggressive”, that has “tranquility with the ball” and with “mentality” not that they can “win”, that they are “to win”. Their “challenge” for the game against Real Madrid is that “they don’t come out with the mentality that they are inferior”.
“The classification does not matter to me, I care about the game,” he said. For this reason, and “despite the difficulty”, he assured that if he has accepted the position it is “to work hard and, whatever happens”, that those “inside” give “the face until the end, because possibly giving the face “have” more possibilities of achieving something “. As a former soccer player, in turn, he revealed that his players, “in addition to being suffering” and “clenching their teeth”, must “enjoy” and “respect” their profession. Also that they must “leave with the conviction of competing”.
I will work and fight so that the fans feel proud ”
This Espanyol, by numbers, is the worst in history. “We are the worst by statistics but I have my seven games and I hope I can improve the data that will lead us to achieve the goal despite the difficulty,” he said. “Nobody expected the situation we are experiencing but as long as we have hope,” he added.
Rufete wants what “people are proud” and that although they may have the “feeling of having let them down”, that this is “much less”. She also sent the following message to the fans: “I am going to work and fight to make them feel proud. They can blame us for how we do if how we do it well. I’m not concerned with the result, but with the how ”. “I would like people to be closer to see what is being done or what is being attempted. We have seven games left to change, we have no more credits, “he added.
Nor can we think that we are going to change overnight ”
Now he will have to deal with a locker room that he knew as a sports director but will now only deal with as a coach. What “yes” has “told them” is that “there is a percentage of them that I do not know and will now know and a percentage that do not know about me and will now know.” Although he clarified that “neither” can “think that we are going to change overnight”, although “the road has already begun”.
For their first call the sanctioned return Bernardo Espinosa and Leandro Cabrera and fall off the list Pipe and Facundo Ferreyra for inconvenience, and Other Iturraspe by technical decision. Also come back Matías Vargas, who fell from the last by technical decision, and remains the youth squad Nico Melamed, which debuted last day.
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