Having been coached by Carlo Ancelotti, Jose Mourinho, Rafa Benitez, Pep Guardiola and a number of others, it is no surprise that Xabi Alonso is turning into a decent coach. The Guipuzkoan manager is earning his stripes in the game, but early on, is receiving plenty of praise.
Alonso initially took over Real Sociedad B three seasons ago, and earned them promotion to Segunda. He remained with ‘Sanse’, but could not save them from relegation.
He will keep Bayer Leverkusen away from the drop this year. Alonso took over with Leverkusen second-bottom and facing a disastrous season, but now has them eighth, three points off a European spot. He has also guided them to the Europa League quarter-finals, where they face Union St. Gilloise.
Speaking to Relevo, Leverkusen’s star wide man Jeremie Frimpong has been effusive in his praise for Alonso.
“You can look at our performances and see that our style has changed. He is a great coach, he came and gave us new energy, it was a fresh start. Everyone wanted to impress. When he arrived it was like we forgot about the start of the season and we focused on improving because there was still a lot of the season left. We are still in the Europa League.”
Frimpong made it clear that Alonso had not imposed his idea on the players, rather started on a process of symbioses between his plans and the players.
“We have changed our style of play, our way of getting the ball out. Everything adapts more to us. And we all understand how we play, how we press and that kind of thing.”
The 22-year-old is reaching for new heights under Alonso, and perhaps part of that is the Basque’s influence.
“He is very understanding with the footballer and very talkative with all of us. When he explains something, he explains it until you understand it. For example, if in training you don’t understand the reason for an exercise, spend time so that we all understand it. As a player, that makes you feel very comfortable, you know you can ask him things.”
Sooner or later Alonso will likely return to Spain. If it becomes available, he will have doors open to him at Real Sociedad, while he is already being mentioned as an option for Real Madrid this summer. It appears that Alonso has picked up a few things from his former bosses.
