On the right track

I had a lot of doubts about signing with Getafe. In fact, I almost turned down the offer.

The team had been relegated from the Primera División the previous year. That season, 2016/17, they endured a difficult start in the Segunda División. When they called me, they were at the bottom of the table.

I remember that many colleagues and friends who had seen Getafe play in those first few games advised me against it. They thought the team was not very well constructed. In the end, though, I accepted. I was aware of the risk I was taking, but the season turned out to be incredible.

We changed the face of a team with the season already under way, which is no easy task. By the end of the campaign, we managed to make the playoff places. Then, after eliminating Huesca and Tenerife, we achieved promotion.

The following season, I was finally able to coach in the Primera División. It was the first time in my career that I had done so. I had also achieved promotion with Deportivo Alavés in 2015/16, but I didn’t coach them in the top flight. Why? The economic problems the team was going through at the time brought changes in the club’s management, and they decided to go with another manager.

It was an unexpected blow, because I had a contract with the club after promotion, but I don’t harbour any resentment.

"playing in the europa league was a collective reward for the work the team had done the previous year"

My managerial debut in the Primera División with Getafe was against Athletic Club, at ‘La Catedral’. We got a creditable goalless draw, but I have to say there was a goal that would have stood had VAR been available. It crossed the goalline by a long way.

Even so, it was an incredible first top-flight game. It confirmed not only that the process the team went through had led to promotion, but also that we had built an identity for the Primera División.

We kept many of the players we had in the Segunda División, some of them with experience in the top flight: Jorge Molina, Juan Cala and Damián Suárez. We also brought in players we were confident would perform well, such as Djené and Ángel Rodríguez, who I had managed at Elche.

With all that, we managed to build an ambitious team that grew season after season. As a result, we were able to compete for European and even the Champions League places.

In the 2019/20 season, after finishing fifth in the previous campaign, we played in the Europa League.

I had one thing in my head: that this competition should be a collective reward for the work the team had done the previous year. In a way, I felt morally obliged to give prominence to players who had been part of that success. That’s why the group stage featured players used less frequently elsewhere that season, but I understood that playing in Europe was a dream for them.

"I don’t know how far we could have gone if it hadn’t been for Covid, but what is certain is that it really hurt us"

It’s true that it cost us a couple of defeats, but we still managed to qualify by finishing second in our group.

In the round of 32 we were drawn against Ajax, one of the favourites. This was a team that had reached the Champions League semi finals the previous season, beating Real Madrid 4-1 at the Bernabéu along the way.

We played a fantastic first leg at home, neutralising Ajax throughout in a 2-0 win. We also put in a brilliant performance in Amsterdam, despite losing 2-1. The team played a sensational game, and we created chances to increase the score. We were deserved winners of that tie.

I don’t know how far we could have gone in the Europa League if it hadn’t been for Covid, but what is certain is that it really hurt us.

In La Liga, the team struggled to compete at the level they had done before Covid, although we were still in with a chance of qualifying for Europe again until the final match day.

Against Inter Milan, in the Europa League round of 16, we had the chance in our hands. Unfortunately, Jorge Molina couldn’t score from the penalty spot. A goal in that moment, at 1-0 down, would have given us an equaliser. Instead, Inter scored a second goal and we went out. 

"i am a person and a coach who does not shy away from challenges and commitments"

The impact of Covid was also felt in the following season. Many players suffered with it, and it was very difficult for them to regain their form. The final year of my first spell at Getafe was one in which we suffered.

The overall balance of that time at Getafe was very positive, however. We had more than three years performing at a high level, which is also what I experienced when I moved to Valencia.

That opportunity came in the summer of 2021. Valencia is a club I had always hoped to manage, as it is in the Comunidad Valenciana — the same territory in which my home town of Alicante is located.

As happened when I arrived at Getafe, people close to me advised against signing for Valencia. They spoke of the situation the club was going through, getting weaker year after year. This proved to be the case.

Once I signed the contract, the reality I had been told about reared its head. We lost players who I really would have liked to retain; players who I’m sure would have helped us. Even so, I am a person and a coach who does not shy away from challenges and commitments. In the end, we started the season at Valencia with enthusiasm.

Three victories and a draw in our first four league games took us near to the top. From then on, we were a bit more inconsistent. There were problems and injuries, and then in the winter transfer window the departure of Daniel Wass, an important player for us, to Atlético Madrid.

"I don’t think you can do more than what we did in a situation like the one Valencia were in"

Even with everything that disrupted the team’s performance, only a missed penalty in a shootout stopped us from winning that season’s Copa del Rey in a hard-fought final against Real Betis.

In the league, the team finished ninth, in part due to results on the final stretch. That’s when we had to rotate players, because we were playing for the chance to appear in the cup final. There was even a game against Villarreal in which we took players from the reserve team and the youth team, to rest players who could help us reach the final.

Honestly, I don’t think you can do more than what we did in a situation like the one Valencia were in.

I would have liked to have continuity, but everything has an end. On the other hand, I am convinced that Valencia also helped me to grow as a coach. The fans always respected me and recognised the work we did. So did the players.

On that note, I remember a conversation I once had with Johan Cruyff, who was always a point of reference for me, when I was starting out as a coach.

"cruyff understood that in order to be a great coach you need great players"

“If you don’t have good players, forget it,” he told me. “You’ll never be a great coach.” Ever since I was a child, I had had a great admiration for the way Cruyff played. Then, as a coach, I liked the way he interpreted football, and the boldness of his approach.

His words were interesting, because he understood that in order to be a great coach you need great players. He was right, obviously. But I also believe that a coach has the ability to make his players better. You can transform players and teams — let’s say, with certain limitations — into ones capable of growing and reaching great goals.

That is what I am most proud of.

I think that a person with the capacity to analyse, and see football from a neutral perspective, knows I am a coach who likes to attack. You can hardly be defensive if you have been able to play most of the time in the opposition’s half, can you?

In my first spell with Getafe, we were among the teams that played most of the time in the opponents’ half. We even ranked above other teams with much more potential to play that way than us.

"My demand with them has always been to defend as far away from our box as possible"

But it’s not only a question of numbers; it’s also a question of aptitude. I have never understood football, as a coach, where the aim is to defend in a low block. That idea of all the players getting behind the ball and waiting for your chance to come. Quite the opposite.

All the players I’ve coached would confirm that. My demand with them has always been to defend as far away from our box as possible. This way, we can generate more goalscoring situations.

There has been a lot of talk about the intensity of my teams when it comes to defending. This is now seen as a virtue, because football is no longer understood without intensity and rhythm.

I am really satisfied with the way I understand football, because I think I was on the right track.

Time and football have proved me right.

Author: The Coaches' Voice

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