Liverpool FC Forum

[Rafa D]

Pako Interview with Offical site

I'm a big fan of Pako. Think he is a major reason, along with Rafa, why we are doing so well. The players always speak highly of him and it nice to hear his thoughts.

Sounds a lot like Rafa.

What a quote btw

One of the things I don't like in football is when people say, 'We've done it this way for years'. My father had a Fiat but at this moment I have a BMW. You have to move on and you have to adapt to new ways.

[stmichael]

Liverpool is the team that more than any other feels the difference when they play away. The support they feel when they play at home is so huge and important that when they play away, the difference is massive. When Chelsea play in Stamford Bridge, the Chelsea players don't really feel the support of the crowd, so the difference is not massive for them

[zarababe]

Frank interview and insight -

Are you saying Liverpool aren't at that stage yet? (of winning the league)
 
No, maybe we are not. Still we have finished too far from them to think we have a real possibility to win the Premiership. Manchester United didn't need to sign too many players this year. They bought Carrick, and if you look at the starting 11 they played against us this year and last, the only difference is Carrick and no van Nistelrooy. Eighty or 90 per cent of the key players were already in the team. All these things are the first reason for me why Manchester won the league. The second reason is they have used the rotation policy better than Chelsea. I remember three or four games when Manchester played with five, six or seven changes. Playing with Fletcher on the right instead of Ronaldo or with Brown at centre-back. Chelsea haven't done that.

[Redstavro]

now matter how good a manager you are you need top quality backup. people that can give you good advice. pako certainly seems to be top quality.

[radun5]

Confidence is not something you can buy in the supermarket.

and also

As well, something I hate is when the players don't realise they lead a privileged life. They have a big responsibility to the supporters. They have to work hard not just for themselves, but for the club and the supporters who follow them everywhere. Sometimes when people say they are doing everything they can, it is not true. You can always push yourself a little bit more.

Super stuff

[Sabre]

Pako is a man from Beasain, a small town very close to my town. Although I have first hand info that tells me he's close to start a career of his own, it might not be next year.

He's a direct man, a plain talk man I think you say. And he makes work a lot to their players, lazy players have nightmares with him.

This interview is the most interesting one I've read in a while, and it's especially relevant after the looong discussions in the "hugely dissapointing season" thread.

What's the mood like in the camp? How confident is everyone going into the final?
 
Confidence is a word I don't like, because it has positive and negative effects. Confidence is not something you can buy in the supermarket. The better you prepare, the more confidence you will have. That is what we are working on now. The important thing is to see yourself as being ready for the challenge, not to be confident.

I love this bit. Confidence and expectations are nice, but the most important thing is tough work.

Looking back on the season as a whole, Liverpool have once again been great in Europe, but things haven't gone to plan in the Premiership. What do you think is behind this?
 
They are very different. One is a knockout where you need to be at you top level for just 12 games to reach the final; the other is a competition in which you have to be at your top level for 10 months and 38 games. If you have a bad run during one or two months, you don't have the possibility of fighting for the Premiership. The second reason is the games we had at the beginning. You have to be a little bit luckier with the fixtures, I think. We played Chelsea, Bolton, Man Utd, Everton and Arsenal away from home during a stage when the team and new players were trying to mould together.

Alonso points out the same thing in the interview.

Both Liverpool and AC Milan have fallen short in their respective leagues. Do you think it's possible to do well in both competitions?
 
Yes, really it is possible. You need a really deep squad. We did it as well with Valencia, when we won the league and had a really good run in the Champions League – we were very unlucky to go out to Inter Milan. Yes, AC Milan and Liverpool are in the final, but it could easily have been a Chelsea versus Manchester United final, and they are doing well in the league. It is true that teams like Liverpool, without as deep a squad, can't fight for all the titles. You have to select your target. That's something we have done this year when our chance in the league was too far away.

The deep squad point for me is very important, and I tried to explain it in the "Hugely dissapointing" thread. It's not an excuse, or perhaps it is, but it's also a blatant fact that our squad wasn't deep enough to face with some success so many competitions. Excuses or not, that's bloody true.


On rotation

A lot was made of Rafa's rotation policy earlier in the season. Do you think rotation has played a part in the fact we are in Athens?
 
I think we selected targets and used our resources properly, and that's the reason we are where we are. I'm not just talking about the Champions League final – Liverpool have finished the season with a high level of performance. The rotation policy has helped us to arrive at this level.

Looking again at Rafa's rotation policy, how hard is it for you to motivate players when they're not playing week in, week out?
 
It's difficult with players who are not professional enough. If they are professional, they realise there are reasons they are not in the team. I try to get them focused on the reasons. They shouldn't use excuses. If someone is not in the squad, it's because there are things he has to improve. The way to motivate the players is to get them to look long-term and change the reasons they are not in the squad. They have to look at themselves.

And with money, the squad will be deeper. And if it's deeper, the rotations will take place more often. So we'd better get used to that. 

And if that's not enough defence for rotation policy, he puts another example about rotation policy:

Are you saying Liverpool aren't at that stage yet?
 
No, maybe we are not. Still we have finished too far from them to think we have a real possibility to win the Premiership. Manchester United didn't need to sign too many players this year. They bought Carrick, and if you look at the starting 11 they played against us this year and last, the only difference is Carrick and no van Nistelrooy. Eighty or 90 per cent of the key players were already in the team. All these things are the first reason for me why Manchester won the league. The second reason is they have used the rotation policy better than Chelsea. I remember three or four games when Manchester played with five, six or seven changes. Playing with Fletcher on the right instead of Ronaldo or with Brown at centre-back. Chelsea haven't done that.

Hear, hear.


Great interview. Loved it.

[66-1112520797]

The deep squad point for me is very important, and I tried to explain it in the "Hugely dissapointing" thread. It's not an excuse, or perhaps it is, but it's also a blatant fact that our squad wasn't deep enough to face with some success so many competitions. Excuses or not, that's bloody true

So Sabre, by reading that. Which I agree to an extent, does this mean we lost and couldnt pick-up points at the begining of the season because our squad wasnt deep enough ?

[Sabre]

No, because we made mistakes, several of them, and those mistakes have been discussed a lot, and mentioned by all of us.

The important thing, if you ask me, is that Pako and Rafa are well aware of it, know there's work to do, and want to improve. So they don't fall in complacency.

If you have an Alonso off form due to the world cup in september, and has joined the preseason work later than other team mates, and to substitute him you have Zenden, then you lose quality. If your squad is deep enough, and the one you use for rotation is Mascherano el jefecito, then your squad doesn't lose power, and we all would be happy with the rotation policy.

Rotation policy with deep squad is not a problem when you play so much games! in fact, a "rested" player on a wednesday can play the very next week, which is the traditional ratio of games a week.

[66-1112520797]

Well its a totally different style in what these continental coaches and managers bring to the table. Their methods seem to be different, from the traditional way of the British I suppose.

I mean the British players would train for half a day and then go down the battle cruser for a few sherberts in their day.
Obviously there methods seem more "upto date" and Mourinhio has won the league playing this way.
But the thing is with the English league compared to the Spanish. Its not as close (for whatever) reasons, so one or two defeats in England could really leave you playing catch up where as in Spain your still in with a shout. Thats the thing that worries me with rotation, if Rafa, and he has done decides to rest a few key players for a game at Charlton just say, I get nervous of the fact we could drop points because of this.

[Lando_Griffin]

An honest interview that hits the spot in terms of answering questions raised on this forum.

He seems a top man, and if Sabre's sources are correct, it'll be a sad day for the club when he leaves.