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“Every day in football you have to squeeze it to the last second”, were the words of Carlos Corberán in Coaches’ voice. Perhaps a phrase that suits him very well at the moment that James Rodríguez is living, who arrives at Olympiacos after terminating his contract with Qatar’s Al Rayyan and with the goal of returning to its maximum level. The Colombian will be led by one of the most promising Spanish coaches.
At 39 years old, he has managed to learn and be an important coach with good experience despite his young age. He arrived at Olympiacos this season after two brilliant campaigns at Huddersfield Town, team that was very close to being promoted to the Premier League. The Greek club removed Pedro Martins who had been champion three consecutive years of the League, but was left out in the Champions playoffs.
This is how Carlos Corberán began
His career started at the age of 23, when he stopped thinking about training as a goalkeeper and dedicated himself to analyzing the movements of his teammates on the field. At 26, an opportunity came from Villareal to be part of the coaching staff with Juan Carlos Garrido. He went from coaching an amateur team to giving orders to legendary players like Robert Pires and Marcos Senna. In 2012 he decided to go to Saudi Arabia to be an assistant.
In 2017 he got his first experience as head coach at Ermis Aradippou in Cyprus.that same year he was called by Leeds to manage the under 23 team. The following season after the appointment of Marcelo Bielsa he was part of the coaching staff and at the same time of the youth of the club.
In 2020, he returned to head coaching and signed for Championship second division side Huddersfield Town. In two seasons he managed to play a good game and be strong in all lines. In 2021/2022 he was very close to promotion, but in the final he lost to Nottingham Forest at Wembley. Then he decided to say goodbye to the English club and he was signed by Olympiacos.
Admirer of Lillo and assistant of Bielsa
The Spanish DT assured that the coach he most admires is Juan Manuel Lillo for his knowledge of the game. “He gave off a lot of knowledge, concern and sensitivity for the game (…) At that time my ambition was directed towards knowing everything I could about the game and its training. And all those concepts that I heard began to shape my new idea of understanding what was happening on the pitch.”
The other with whom he grew up as a coach was Marcelo Bielsa. Corberán stressed, “with him you can only learn.” They were together for two seasons where they achieved promotion to the Premier League. Since he started the project with the Argentine coach, he knew that Leeds was going to be the protagonist again.
How does Olympiacos play?
In his first games under management with Olympiacos, Corberán has used three game systems: 4-3-3, 4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1, the latter is the most used. James Rodríguez would have to compete with Mathieu Valbuena who plays behind the ‘9’ a position in which the steering wheel always shines. However, the Colombian could also be a winger.
With the Bielsa philosophy, the Spanish coach always aim for ball possession and high pressure. The Greek team must improve in defense. In the nine games coached by Corberán they have won two, drawn six and lost one.
