July 12 News After taking over Guangzhou midway through the season, Salvador has taken a team that struggled for a single win to an impressive four wins and a draw in the Central League. In an interview with Soccer News, Salvador spoke about the ideas he has instilled in the team and his next goal.
Since you took over, the team has won 3 and drew 1 in the league (the 13th round of interviews in the Central League has not yet taken place), and scored against Shanghai Harbor in the F.A.C.A. Cup, especially in the league, where Guangzhou went from undefeated in 8 rounds to undefeated in 4 games, with 10 points. In your opinion, how has the players' confidence changed in the five games?
The players have been in very good form during this time. The players in our team are very good and talented. At the same time, I am very satisfied with the quality of the players' training during this period. There have been good results and luck recently, but the technical and tactical level can be fully realized through the players' efforts.
Your tactical philosophy of high confrontation, pressing the opponent and emphasizing overall cooperation are familiar to the players, plus what other ideas have you conveyed to the team since you took over?
The main thing is confidence. The team didn't win much before, so the first thing we need to do is to help the players build up their confidence and winning mindset little by little in training, so that the players believe in themselves, believe in the coach, believe in the team, and believe that all of us can achieve what we want to achieve through our own efforts.
There is a very important element in the concept of Spanish soccer, which is the winner's mindset. Other internationally renowned teams, including Manchester City and Liverpool, have this winner's mindset, which will bring a lot of pressure to the opponents. I hope this kind of soccer thinking can be integrated into the system of Guangzhou team.
How do you communicate this winner's mindset in your training routine?
Every day, through targeted training, we slowly develop the players' mental temperament and then build up their confidence by winning a game. Luckily, I brought them up when I was in soccer school. I am very familiar with their characteristics, and they also understand my soccer thinking very well. So after taking over the first team, it was easy to integrate them together and reduce the teething period.
The team has had a good run of results over the last few games, going from the relegation zone to currently sitting in 10th place, what are your goals or plans for the next?
I hope that through the joint efforts of the coach and all the staff and players of the club, we will try to fight for a higher position in the table and hopefully have a better relegation result this year. As a coach, I hope the players can play well one after another and achieve better results within their ability.
The club's owner has set the goal of relegation this year and overtaking next year. Meanwhile, the principle of signing in the summer window is that it must be U23 players produced by Evergrande Soccer School. He also emphasized that from this year onwards, core starters must be transferred only three years before the transfer. What do you think of the boss?
As a coach, I think this goal is very good and scientific. The establishment of this goal can create a virtuous circle between Evergrande soccer school and Guangzhou club. The soccer school can develop capable and talented players and then put them in the first team of the club. After three years of training, they can accumulate experience and develop into more promising and better players, or after three years of accumulation, the players will have more room for transferring and creating economic value.
You used to be the head coach of a professional team at a very young age, how did that experience help you in coaching the Guangzhou team now?
It was in 2014, I was 35 years old and had gained some experience of promotion by leading the team in Colombia, from the lower league to the top league. Now that the owner has set the goal of overtaking the team next year, we will do our best to accomplish that goal through the efforts of the players in our own system. Of course, for our coaching staff, there may be more possibilities with the help of some foreigners or stars. However, I believe that the players in our own youth training system also have the ability to do this, and they will become better professional athletes, because China has good players, and China will develop more good players through little by little improvement.
