When I was a player, I was very interested in the game; in the opposition, in the preparation, and wondering why things happened. At the end of my career, especially when I was at Bayern, I was already thinking about what I would do when I retired. I didn’t want to prolong my playing career too much because I wanted to finish on a high. After I retired, I started coaching the Real Madrid Under-13s, then I spent three years coaching the Real Sociedad B team, which helped me a lot.
Very important. Being a coach is completely different to being a player. You need to be a great psychologist. You can be very good at teaching tactics and technique, but you need to be close to your players to understand them, because then you know how to demand more from them. It’s important to develop a good day-to-day dynamic to reinforce the players’ commitment to achieve our objectives.
We’ve not made many changes, but the ones we have made have been the right choices. We analysed what we had and where we could improve, where our weaknesses were and where our strengths were. We had great young players, but we needed to give them a foundation, a certain professionalism or maturity that we didn’t have at the time. The fact that some experienced players came in to help the younger ones was very important. Otherwise, those young players would have struggled to develop in the way they have. I think it’s very important to create both confidence and reliability, to bring the group together. You have to convince each player and give them an idea they can commit to; to give their best for the good of the team, to have the will to improve, to have the ambition to achieve more.
When I was a player, I was very interested in the game; in the opposition, in the preparation, and wondering why things happened. At the end of my career, especially when I was at Bayern, I was already thinking about what I would do when I retired. I didn’t want to prolong my playing career too much because I wanted to finish on a high. After I retired, I started coaching the Real Madrid Under-13s, then I spent three years coaching the Real Sociedad B team, which helped me a lot.
Very important. Being a coach is completely different to being a player. You need to be a great psychologist. You can be very good at teaching tactics and technique, but you need to be close to your players to understand them, because then you know how to demand more from them. It’s important to develop a good day-to-day dynamic to reinforce the players’ commitment to achieve our objectives.
We’ve not made many changes, but the ones we have made have been the right choices. We analysed what we had and where we could improve, where our weaknesses were and where our strengths were. We had great young players, but we needed to give them a foundation, a certain professionalism or maturity that we didn’t have at the time. The fact that some experienced players came in to help the younger ones was very important. Otherwise, those young players would have struggled to develop in the way they have. I think it’s very important to create both confidence and reliability, to bring the group together. You have to convince each player and give them an idea they can commit to; to give their best for the good of the team, to have the will to improve, to have the ambition to achieve more.
We were close in every game, we were competitive in every game, whether we were playing well or poorly. We played well for the majority of the games, but we didn’t give up in the ones we didn’t play well in, and that says a lot about the commitment of this team. We didn’t take any game for granted, we prepared very well and that requires a lot of physical, footballing and mental effort too. We spent a lot of time training so you can improve and correct different aspects. You can also make the players feel like they have improved and that helps you a lot later on when making decisions.
Being unbeaten [in the Bundesliga] is something pretty unique and exceptional. It’s down to our performance level, the mental level, our level of focus that we have attained – that’s why we managed to win so many games and get so many good results.
Were we lucky sometimes? Yes, otherwise you can’t stay unbeaten for so many games. But, even without that, it would have still been a great season because we have been very consistent in terms of our performances. Everything has to be about the performance and the mentality that we are building. What we achieve in the game at the weekend is a consequence of what we do during the week. You don’t switch on for the game; instead, everything is a consequence of the hard work we put in.
It’s only been a short time since I started coaching, but I’m realising many things you need to do. As a coach you have to be yourself; you can’t copy exactly what you’ve seen in others. You need to be authentic, and you also have to be intuitive and learn to listen to that intuition. You need to be brave to make decisions, too. You have to feel it, and I do. I’ve had plenty of good coaches, and I’ve learnt from all of them. The coach I am now is a kind of mix of all of them and the experiences I’ve had. They have all taught and developed me as a player, and that has influenced me in terms of how I see football today. In the end, our experiences effect who we become.
When I was a player, I was very interested in the game; in the opposition, in the preparation, and wondering why things happened. At the end of my career, especially when I was at Bayern, I was already thinking about what I would do when I retired. I didn’t want to prolong my playing career too much because I wanted to finish on a high. After I retired, I started coaching the Real Madrid Under-13s, then I spent three years coaching the Real Sociedad B team, which helped me a lot.
Very important. Being a coach is completely different to being a player. You need to be a great psychologist. You can be very good at teaching tactics and technique, but you need to be close to your players to understand them, because then you know how to demand more from them. It’s important to develop a good day-to-day dynamic to reinforce the players’ commitment to achieve our objectives.
We’ve not made many changes, but the ones we have made have been the right choices. We analysed what we had and where we could improve, where our weaknesses were and where our strengths were. We had great young players, but we needed to give them a foundation, a certain professionalism or maturity that we didn’t have at the time. The fact that some experienced players came in to help the younger ones was very important. Otherwise, those young players would have struggled to develop in the way they have. I think it’s very important to create both confidence and reliability, to bring the group together. You have to convince each player and give them an idea they can commit to; to give their best for the good of the team, to have the will to improve, to have the ambition to achieve more.
When I was a player, I was very interested in the game; in the opposition, in the preparation, and wondering why things happened. At the end of my career, especially when I was at Bayern, I was already thinking about what I would do when I retired. I didn’t want to prolong my playing career too much because I wanted to finish on a high. After I retired, I started coaching the Real Madrid Under-13s, then I spent three years coaching the Real Sociedad B team, which helped me a lot.
Very important. Being a coach is completely different to being a player. You need to be a great psychologist. You can be very good at teaching tactics and technique, but you need to be close to your players to understand them, because then you know how to demand more from them. It’s important to develop a good day-to-day dynamic to reinforce the players’ commitment to achieve our objectives.
We’ve not made many changes, but the ones we have made have been the right choices. We analysed what we had and where we could improve, where our weaknesses were and where our strengths were. We had great young players, but we needed to give them a foundation, a certain professionalism or maturity that we didn’t have at the time. The fact that some experienced players came in to help the younger ones was very important. Otherwise, those young players would have struggled to develop in the way they have. I think it’s very important to create both confidence and reliability, to bring the group together. You have to convince each player and give them an idea they can commit to; to give their best for the good of the team, to have the will to improve, to have the ambition to achieve more.
When I was a player, I was very interested in the game; in the opposition, in the preparation, and wondering why things happened. At the end of my career, especially when I was at Bayern, I was already thinking about what I would do when I retired. I didn’t want to prolong my playing career too much because I wanted to finish on a high. After I retired, I started coaching the Real Madrid Under-13s, then I spent three years coaching the Real Sociedad B team, which helped me a lot.
Very important. Being a coach is completely different to being a player. You need to be a great psychologist. You can be very good at teaching tactics and technique, but you need to be close to your players to understand them, because then you know how to demand more from them. It’s important to develop a good day-to-day dynamic to reinforce the players’ commitment to achieve our objectives.
We’ve not made many changes, but the ones we have made have been the right choices. We analysed what we had and where we could improve, where our weaknesses were and where our strengths were. We had great young players, but we needed to give them a foundation, a certain professionalism or maturity that we didn’t have at the time. The fact that some experienced players came in to help the younger ones was very important. Otherwise, those young players would have struggled to develop in the way they have. I think it’s very important to create both confidence and reliability, to bring the group together. You have to convince each player and give them an idea they can commit to; to give their best for the good of the team, to have the will to improve, to have the ambition to achieve more.
We were close in every game, we were competitive in every game, whether we were playing well or poorly. We played well for the majority of the games, but we didn’t give up in the ones we didn’t play well in, and that says a lot about the commitment of this team. We didn’t take any game for granted, we prepared very well and that requires a lot of physical, footballing and mental effort too. We spent a lot of time training so you can improve and correct different aspects. You can also make the players feel like they have improved and that helps you a lot later on when making decisions.
Being unbeaten [in the Bundesliga] is something pretty unique and exceptional. It’s down to our performance level, the mental level, our level of focus that we have attained – that’s why we managed to win so many games and get so many good results.
Were we lucky sometimes? Yes, otherwise you can’t stay unbeaten for so many games. But, even without that, it would have still been a great season because we have been very consistent in terms of our performances. Everything has to be about the performance and the mentality that we are building. What we achieve in the game at the weekend is a consequence of what we do during the week. You don’t switch on for the game; instead, everything is a consequence of the hard work we put in.
It’s only been a short time since I started coaching, but I’m realising many things you need to do. As a coach you have to be yourself; you can’t copy exactly what you’ve seen in others. You need to be authentic, and you also have to be intuitive and learn to listen to that intuition. You need to be brave to make decisions, too. You have to feel it, and I do. I’ve had plenty of good coaches, and I’ve learnt from all of them. The coach I am now is a kind of mix of all of them and the experiences I’ve had. They have all taught and developed me as a player, and that has influenced me in terms of how I see football today. In the end, our experiences effect who we become.
When I was a player, I was very interested in the game; in the opposition, in the preparation, and wondering why things happened. At the end of my career, especially when I was at Bayern, I was already thinking about what I would do when I retired. I didn’t want to prolong my playing career too much because I wanted to finish on a high. After I retired, I started coaching the Real Madrid Under-13s, then I spent three years coaching the Real Sociedad B team, which helped me a lot.
Very important. Being a coach is completely different to being a player. You need to be a great psychologist. You can be very good at teaching tactics and technique, but you need to be close to your players to understand them, because then you know how to demand more from them. It’s important to develop a good day-to-day dynamic to reinforce the players’ commitment to achieve our objectives.
We’ve not made many changes, but the ones we have made have been the right choices. We analysed what we had and where we could improve, where our weaknesses were and where our strengths were. We had great young players, but we needed to give them a foundation, a certain professionalism or maturity that we didn’t have at the time. The fact that some experienced players came in to help the younger ones was very important. Otherwise, those young players would have struggled to develop in the way they have. I think it’s very important to create both confidence and reliability, to bring the group together. You have to convince each player and give them an idea they can commit to; to give their best for the good of the team, to have the will to improve, to have the ambition to achieve more.
