The soccer director txuriurdin presented in the Master Congress some of the ideas that he tries to develop in Zubieta
Roberto Olabe spoke yesterday about the main football ideas he is trying to develop at Real Sociedad, since in 2016 he was hired as the new soccer director of the txuriurdin club. The speed and conquest of space are some of the bases of the style of Imanol Alguacil’s team and that of those of the training categories, according to what he presented in a very interesting talk at the Soccer Master Congress organized by Álvaro Benito and Dani Guindos.
The first question was about his football inspirations. “I think we are what we are experiencing and then we choose each one as we finish coaching. I have been lucky to have many coaches, but there have been three people who have marked my vision since training. I had Juanm Lillo a long time, five years old. In the 90s, it opened windows for me, it was football and life. Then I worked with Raynald Denoueix, who brought me closer to football with a taste for passing, and with Unai Emery, who led me to understand competition as such. And the way What I choose is the pass as communication between all of us, “he said.
Olabe immediately referenced his game idea. “We speak of the pass as a tool, but the energy source of the pass is space, let us not forget. Space goes much earlier than verticality. For example, in La Real the centrals do the least is drive, they are very The pins surely attract more than they fix or divide, in the opposite field they attract and narrow, thereby building a space somewhere in the field that, with your eyes closed, you will possibly find it. The centrals are the ones that initiate the way of be of your game, “he meant.
The soccer director txuriurdin focused on the Real that he has been building since he arrived. “When I arrived in 2016, I think we were a team that played well, but a lot based on the ball and on the pass, mixing many players like Illarra, Zurutuza, Granero, Xabi Prieto … It was really difficult for us to explore the space, no longer I tell you to conquer. We traveled together, but the return trip was very fucked up. One of the things that we considered was to improve the model, “he recalled.
From there, he insisted on his idea. “There has been a long time that the game of possession has led us more to be deep with the ball than with the player. We considered the player profile we needed, also that we needed a third height, which was decisive for what we played, such as we entered the last third … Portu is not the same as Januzaj, Willian José, who plays with his back, than Isak who immediately guides spaces … For us, the ball is key and we want to fully exploit the space “, stressed.
Facing the football of the future, Olabe clings to one of his maxims. “I don’t think the future will be related only to verticality, you will always need to build with the ball, build spaces … It is more important to arrive before arriving faster. You have to build and construction comes through the pass and of the interpretation of space, “he warned.
