In an interview with El Pais, Paco Jemez has picked out Real Madrid’s key player and discussed coaching philosophy and motivation at Rayo Vallecano.
The former player welcomes the capital giants to Vallecas this Sunday evening as Coach of Los Franjirrojos, but admits ahead of the challenge to not quite knowing which Real Madrid side will show up for Week 5.
“They are capable of competing at a spectacular level as seen the other day against Manchester City and yet I’ve also seen their games against Sevilla, Getafe and Granada where their competitive level was not even remotely the same,” he reflected.
Jemez described needing six senses to try and stop Radamel Falcao and was asked what would be required to stop Cristiano Ronaldo and company.
“This Madrid are much more than just Cristiano. After watching the second half of their game against City, possible Angel Di Maria gives me a greater sense of danger.
“He does so many things with and without the ball. Without the ball, on his own, he held the entire City defence.
“His teammates saw him and did as he did, running also without the ball. Many times you need a player like that, who can drag the rest.”
The Coach has received praise in the early season for his passing-based, attack-minded playing philosophy that sits in sharp contrast to his manner when he was a defender.
“Just because I was a certain kind of player does not mean that I did not like good football or drool in watching the likes of Bebeto, Mauro Silva, Martin Vazquez, Milosevic, Kily Gonzalez, Fran… I played where I had to play, in an orchestra not everyone plays the piano, you also need the violin, trumpet etc.
“I was delighted to play where it was necessary for the team to win. I like my teams to play well because it is the best way to win games, I do not know of any game where you can play badly and win.
“In football you can play in different ways and get results, yes, but as I told the players [yesterday] in the team talk, to me there is no value in beating Madrid in any manner, I do not want that.”
Another notable aspect to Jemez’ side this season has been their deployment of a three-man defence.
“I have to exploit the virtues of my defenders. The wingers I have are the fastest players in the team and I play with a lot of people in midfield because I like to tighten up and create a numerical superiority. The players prefer to play with four because they feel much safer, but if you put seven defenders they would feel even safer. But, it comes down to occupying spaces and that requires work, motivation and a conviction.”
The 42-year-old almost took minnows Cordoba to La Primera on a tiny budget and in a situation that was put to the Coach was similar to what he is doing now with Rayo.
“I am a believer, I think that if you hope for miracles then invest in God. In football, though, there is no need. This project and that one are similar, yes – there are many doubts at first, very little money, in which clubs can sign good players but not reputable ones.
“My only virtue has been to convince the team that they could compete with anybody and that is still my idea this year. We must fight against the typical notion – ‘you have a €7m budget, therefore you are relegated before beginning the season’.
“Rayo lost many people in the summer, Diego Costa, Michu, Michell, Movilla, Arribas… That raises questions and to dispel all that we needed a good start, for people to see that everything was not as bad as it was being made out.
“And yes! We could not have done more. Michu, Tamudo and Diego Costa scored 43 goals between them last year, they are not here now. What do we do? Do we mourn them, or divide up the goals? Well, that is the idea.We now have Chori, Lass, Piti, Leo…”
