José Bordalás (Alicante, 1964) He has been coach of Valencia for almost four weeks. Its mission is to rebuild a project that has collapsed sportingly, economically and socially in the last two years. If there is someone with experience and energy to assume the responsibility of lifting Valencia, it is the Alicante coach. Although it remains to be seen how the black and white club faces a very difficult market, in which the urgency is to sell.
Question. What do the Valencians say to you on the street? The classic “hit them cane” that is often claimed after a bad season?
Answer. I have been able to come across few because I have not moved much on the street, in Valencia. We have been more at the club, in the sports city and it is true that I have met Valencian players from other areas of Spain, who have congratulated me and wished me luck for this new challenge.
Q. Almost four weeks have passed since its presentation, which Valencia have you found?
R. I have had a fantastic reception. I have felt the support at all times, but we have not been long. I am happy and satisfied because I denote enthusiasm and a lot of support from the club, Anil Murthy, the sports director, the employees, who I still do not know in detail on a day-to-day basis, but we have been able to share and people are very excited with the arrival of José Bordalás.
Q. Now you are preparing the preseason, with many work meetings, is there a lot of uncertainty about what the squad will be like, who will follow, who will come?
R. It is normal, in all summer markets there is always restlessness, uncertainty. We know that we are in a difficult moment after two very difficult seasons and it is normal that there is that uncertainty. But we try to convey optimism, enthusiasm and we are trying to work on what the squad will be next season and we know that the market is very stopped. We know that we must be calm, calm, that we do not know what is going to bring us. But always with great optimism and enormous enthusiasm.
Valencia will regain its status
Q. From what the club has told you or what they have stated themselves, are there non-transferable players?
R. Right now all the players in the squad have a contract. Therefore, we do not think of another possibility other than the continuity of all the players. Another thing is what may happen throughout the summer market and that there may be an irrefutable offer by a team to a Valencia player, of whom we know and who we know are very important and desired by other teams. But right now we are not thinking about that possibility. We are analyzing in detail the workforce, the needs that we consider should be improved and we are working on that.
Q. Are you going to try to convince a player to stay or do you prefer to open the door to someone who does not want to be there?
R. It will go according to the needs of the club, what we consider and obviously when there is an interest from a club and it pays its clause and the player wants to try or face a new adventure, there we can do absolutely nothing. But I don’t think there are players right now who are thinking of leaving. The players are right now thinking about recharging their energy because they have been two very difficult years, very difficult and facing new challenges for the next season.
Q. Do you think the Valencia squad needs a revolution?
A. No. I believe that revolutions are never good. I think that right now what we need is calm, tranquility. Make an exhaustive, deep analysis because we understand that there are players who have greater capacity than what they have shown in recent months. They know it too. I am not a supporter or anyone in the club of subjecting the squad to a revolution.
I believe that revolutions are never good. I think that right now what we need is calm, tranquility
P. If no one left, a central, a midfielder (or two) and a forward.
A. We understand that it could be. But we have to analyze it in more detail. Right now they can be put where the team might need some cash, but right now we can’t give details because we have a large staff and an analysis must be done to make decisions.
P. What have the captains transmitted to you in their talk?
R. They have not called me striking since I have not gone into much detail either. Just say hello, wish a happy rest to those who are on vacation and good luck to those who are immersed in international competitions. I have wished you all the luck in the world, that you rest well, that you charge all the possible energies. And I have felt excited about a challenge and an important challenge such as that of next season.
Q. Do you consider it important to talk to Peter Lim, to convey your ideas to him?
A. I speak constantly with President Anil Murthy, with the athletic director. We have not yet spoken with Peter Lim, but I am sure that at any moment we will be able to speak with him and he is with my arrival, this is what the president has told me and I am calm. I’m not obsessed at all because he knows everything and I’m sure I’ll be able to talk to him shortly.
I speak constantly with President Anil Murthy, with the sporting director. We haven’t talked to Peter Lim yet, but I’m sure we can talk to him at any time
Q. Do you understand that what President Anil Murthy conveys to you may not come to pass because they have another idea in Singapore, as happened last year?
R. I do not think about what happened. I am a person who always looks at the present, never the past or the future. Right now I don’t think about that possibility, far from it, nor do I care. I am concerned about the moment, preparing well, in detail, for the preseason, for next season. Try in detail to analyze the level of the squad, the level of the players. Many of them obviously knew them from previous seasons, from having faced us. And see the capacity and what they can help and what they can lend the team for next season.
Q. You have impressed a very defined style in Getafe. An intense, disciplined team, very tactically worked, can the Bordalás method be applied to Valencia? Is the template ready for that method?
R. Until we have a contact with the squad, with each player, that I transmit to them what I want and what we want for the next season, we cannot anticipate anything for the next season. Getafe has been a stage in my career, an important stage, lasting, I think successful. But now we face a different challenge, in a different club. You do not have to compare much less. We will see the team’s style of play on a day-to-day basis at the beginning of the championship. But I am convinced that Valencia will regain its status and we are going to work to be in a privileged zone.
Q. Do you think the reputation of playing football with excessive fouls, of stuck matches, is unfair?
R. I am not going to talk about that issue that was left in the past. What I can say is that all kinds of criticisms or comments that were made regarding my previous team have always been interpreted as a compliment. Because we have been and because the team has competed at a very high level. I am not at all interested in talking about that subject again. All my energy is in preparing for the next season. I don’t like to talk about the past. The past is not worth even when it has been successful. In football, only the present is valid. It is not worth comparing. They are different teams, different players. Right now it is happening with the national team. Everyone unconsciously compares the team that won two Euro Cups and a World Cup. You cannot compare. They are different stages, different players, different coach. You have to live in the present and be optimistic.
Q. How important is physical appearance?
R. It is normal. I do not give it an excessive relevance. I think that in modern football, in the elite there is no other possibility, as happens in most sports. No athlete is going to compete out of shape. It would be unthinkable. The soccer player’s championship is the regularity, the competitions that he faces and it is something normal that he has to be very prepared in the demands of current football, current sport. I do not give it an excessive relevance.
Bordalás is hired for his career, because they believe he can do a good job at the helm of Valencia.
Q. You have shown how to take advantage of squads whose cost was around 12 or even 16. Do you know if the club’s plan is to reduce the cost much more for next season? Last year was the 8th
A. I don’t know. The objective in detail I do not know. There are things that are transmitted to us in detail and others are not told to the coaches. Bordalás is hired for his career, because they believe he can do a good job at the helm of Valencia. Last year out of necessity he was forced to make a sale. We know what the current situation in football is and we must understand it. What the club does convey to me is that it is not going to give away any player, it is not going to sell it below its price because the value of certain players is important even though we know based on what the performance or season of the player has been. team, together or individually, many times the price falls or the market value of that player. But for that obviously they hire Bordalás, to try to recover the best level. And that has been my career, if something I have highlighted in my work is that I have had the ability to get a good performance, to revalue players, and that is my intention, it always has been and is what I try. That the player is better, first of all, for himself because that is a satisfaction for me on a personal and professional level. And then for the club that comes out winning. The team wins and we all win.
P. They say that the goal is bought and that the defense works. Last year Getafe, the 7th least thrashed. Is it what Valencia needs?
R. In the balance obviously is success. I do not know of any team that has achieved great achievements if it has not been a consistent, balanced team. Now it is clear from the numbers that Valencia have to improve their defensive performance and consistency. Because it is a team that has conceded 106 goals in the last two seasons. That is absolutely not lost on anyone. But a team has to also be ambitious, daring, with the ability to score goals. Because matches are won if you are capable of scoring goals.
Q. What does it tell you that in the time you have been at Getafe, 6 coaches have passed through Valencia?
R. I do not know in detail what has happened previously and I cannot make an assessment because I was in another team and I do not know in detail what was happening. I can’t comment on it.
