Lessons from Diego Simeone

"A coach can only have one style.

And I only know one style, it is to win.

From the players I have at my disposal, I'm looking for a unique idea: win. I do not care if others like me, or even if I am in love with myself, I just care about winning. For example, in the debate between the ball possession or direct play, for me it is not about saying what the others want to hear, but to tell them the truth. And if you do not have players to play in a constant possession, we should not try to do what you cannot accomplish.

You cannot play every game the same way... It’s not the same play against Sevilla, Valencia or Barcelona... You cannot play the same way and with the same players. "

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(...) If I want to win... When I choose my players, there is a non-negotiable condition: passion. The amateurism!

Often I explain to the players that it is very difficult to find in an important squad someone who plays badly. But it is not only about just playing well, it is about feeling the game. And to feel the game, you need to have amateurism, passion; winning and losing cannot be all the same to you. It just cannot...

You have to feel that the training is to prepare you to be better. You have to know that 20 minutes of a good training, worth more than 90 minutes of a bad training!

The best that has happened in these years at Altético Madrid is that we have chosen a concept of life. Here, you cannot negotiate the work, you cannot negotiate the effort. Sometimes we play badly, but the real value of our team is in the ability of each player to understand how to play football and not just to play ball.

Playing ball, there are many who can do it, but playing football?! There are so few... The more players we have who really can play football, the more people you have to be even more competitive. "(...)

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"The rebellion in players?

The player who everyone calls rebel, I prefer to call them differently.

The other day I listened to Sampaoli and he said that the coaches manage emotions. And it's like that! Coaching goes beyond the explanation of the game, we have to know how to manage these emotions. That player, who they call rebel, is in reality different and possibly has a lot more heart than others...

It's all about the button you have to push, to invite him to be one more of us, to be part of a whole. And it’s never too much to repeat this, nothing is more important than the team. No one is more important than the team.

No one! Not even Messi, because even Messi improved more as a footballer when Luis Suarez and Neymar arrived. This invites us to insist that even the super star players need the whole. "

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(...) "I hear a lot that I am a great motivator.

I am not.

Motivation is something internal, from each of us. It is very difficult pass to others your motivation. And in each player there is a different case. You have to speak with one player in a way and with another one in a different way...

A major challenge for a coach is to read the emotions of each one of the players. We return to the subject of knowing how to choose them... It's all about the players that you choose, you must choose smart players.

We have many young players in the squad, so I need them to grow. And you do not grow up, if you are not smart! For a footballer, being smart is to know to listen to the right people.

And do I think all the players listen to me?!

No, no, no...

They all look to you, but not all listen to you.

And I have this virtue. I have the virtue to detect those who do not listen. It is an intuition, sensitivity to the body language of the footballer. And if I recall him and he still does not listen to me... That yes, that annoys me! I can forgive, but I cannot let go ... "

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(...) "No club allows you do what you want with the money. None. I have an idea of ​​sharing a lot of the work, I do not believe in an almighty me, I'm not a superhero, I do not know everything, I work in a club.

In Atlético we try to match my needs with the resources of the club, to improve the team. Always the team!

And best compliment I can hear as a coach is when I hear other coaches saying that Atletico has a clear style of play, that's what makes me happy.

It is not easy to have a style of play! In the same game, you can play on multiple systems. You can start 4-4-2, move to a 4-3-3 for 20 minutes, vary to 4-5-1 and finish with five behind!! The systems may vary, but even so, you can have a style of play, a collective idea of ​​how to win. "

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(...) "Anyway, for me, the most important thing for a coach is not to allow himself to be in comfortable situations. I isolate myself from any situation that makes me feel comfortable.

I believe that convenience is an invitation for you to feel quiet. And that word, "quiet”... It's poison to me!

Football changes a lot, and now everything is fine, but tomorrow it can be all bad... And I am not saying the day after tomorrow, I mean tomorrow.

TOMORROW!”

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Why we translate this text?

Because there is still too many people giving opinion about football and judging the work of a coach, as if they were talking about playing football. In pre-season, we see people judging players based on a couple of games and questioning everything...

The season is long. The job of a coach is not easy.

Both the football and our team, are alive, they are "living beings" is an ongoing process. Tomorrow everything can change in football, during the season itself, even more in a preparation time like pre-season...

A team has to be "born", then you have to "grow" it, and usually the first step is taken in the first weeks.

At this point? All is premature, we don’t even know if a real team was born because not always this happens. To grow it, because also not all teams grow, you must be competent and tough to overcome all the things football owns, and the team needs to have power and a strategy to go beating and competing with other teams.

If the team "survives" and adapts, in the best way, to all that is going to happen over the full season the team will be close to meet its targets, or will actually get them.

It's just like our own life...

This is all part of the job of a coach.

"TOMORROW"!

You can never be "quiet", every day is a struggle every day may appear a totally unexpected adversity, and every day has to be achieved. And you must be ready!!

This is the life of a team and this is the life of a coach.

Diego Someone made a good summary!

A lot is here…