Luis Enrique Sack Watch

iftikhar wrote:Why people (Barca Fans) so bitter with Tata!!! It was his first season and he haven't been poor.

iftikhar wrote:Why people (Barca Fans) so bitter with Tata!!! It was his first season and he haven't been poor.

iftikhar wrote:Isn't it normal that a new manager will take time to sort out his strategy, squad etc. He isn't just new, he came from another continent.

Art Morte wrote:Sticking to your philosophy is fine to an extent, but ever since Guardiola, Barcelona seem to have become obsessed with tiki-taka managers who preferably have been at the club before. If / when they're going to appoint Enrique next. Yet that style doesn't seem to be as effective for them as is used to be. Probably the players, too, would welcome a refreshing change, I dunno.

Yohan Modric wrote:Enrique signed a 2 year contract.

Luis Enrique was officially presented as the new manager of Barcelona on Wednesday, demonstrating his charisma and personality during the press conference, looking forward to the challenges that await and confident he can help the club move forward with their ambitions.

With a beaming grin that he could barely contain, there’s absolutely no doubts that as he began his presentation press conference as the new Barcelona manager, Luis Enrique was absolutely thrilled at the opportunity.

“Today is a very exciting day for me. It’s a very special day because when I left Barca B it was more of a ‘see you later’ from the club, rather than a goodbye and now the club have kept their word.”

“For me, today is a day that fulfils everything that you could possibly hope for as a manager. Not only because this is the first club that showed confidence in me when I didn’t have experience as a manager and I worked with Barca B, but also because coaching the first-team is something I didn’t think might happen for years and because if you plan for such marvellous things, normally they don’t happen.”

“I hope to remain faithful to myself as a person and alongside my coaching team. This same afternoon, we’ll start to deciding on what’s important for the season ahead, that I hope will culminate in a good season for the club. I’m looking forward to listening to the Barca anthem in the Camp Nou as manager and most of all, enjoying myself.”

Enrique knows that he’ll have to get quickly to work, as his era as manager of Barcelona begins.

“The first thing I need to do is get to know everything, because even though I have a past at this club, I need to reacquaint myself with different things, get to know things that have changed since I was here last, such as the new Masía, as well as what’s going on right now and sitting down to go through things with Andoni.”

Animated, lively and always with good humour, he couldn’t resist teasing the gathered journalists, when they asked him to describe himself.

“Describe myself? Tall, dark, handsome…”

“Well, more than being a football manager, I’d say I’m a leader. Capability is something you can measure in many aspects. Now, you don’t just have to be a tactician or a coach, you also have to manage the egos of players and manager a locker room. I’ll try to encompass everything it means to be a leader, faithful to my principals and that’s what you’ll see from me here.”

Asked to describe his final days at Celta Vigo, as well as his thoughts about how things turned out for Barca last season, Enrique didn’t want to delve into the past, preferring to think only about what lies ahead for himself, but did acknowledge that as a fan, he too suffered after the team ended up without any major silverware.

“Even though there’s no sunshine today, when I left my house this morning, it’s like there was a huge sun shining and I thought to myself… ‘Madre Mía… I’m going to manage Barca!’ What happened last season for me at Celta Vigo is in the past now. What happened with Barca last season, is also in the past. The end of the season I was living through it just like any other fan, suffering and hoping the team would win the title, but in the end, it wasn’t to be.”

Inevitably, Enrique was asked about what he things of Lionel Messi, his form, his goalscoring, if he’s been up to his best this season…

“I’m thrilled and delighted to have the best player in the world, in our squad. That’s a fact that’s impossible to forget and it motivates me immensely. It amazes me that if he doesn’t score hundreds of thousands of goals, people think he’s doing badly. Messi brings much more than goals to the team. He’s a crucial player, essential and unique. Hopefully working with me, he’ll demonstrate his best version and that’s what we’ll be working on. There’s not just Messi though, we’ll be doing the best we can with Iniesta, Neymar, everyone and most of all, the young players from our youth system.”

As for the style and substance of how his Barca will play, Enrique insisted that he won’t deviate too much away from their traditions, whilst trying to ensure that along with good quality attacking football, there’s also end product.

“My style of play is attacking, just as Barcelona has been recognised for in recent years. It’ll be attractive football that has engaged thousands of fans, not just Barca fans, but thousands of fans around the world who like the way Barca play their football. We’ll also have to defend too, but we’ll be playing the same kind of way. Hopefully I can show a style of football that’s both very attractive and very effective.”

“The systems, 4-3-3, 5-3-2, or whatever… they’re just tactical systems we work on with the players, but in the end, what we have to achieve is an overall tactical plan that we can adapt to the players we have and how we’re trying to play. What’s clear to me is that the tactical plan will be even more associative.”

Asked if he will be rigid or strict with his players, Enrique suggested not, preferring good communication instead, to resolve any problems or to get his ideas across to the players.

“I don’t know what you’re suggesting by a heavy hand. I’m always positive, so you don’t need to worry about that. I’m going to manager the players the same way I have at Celta or Roma. My job is to motivate them and ensure that the mentality of each player is also global for the team. I don’t think there needs to be a heavy handed approach. I think we all need plenty of communication, all together in our work and demanding of ourselves in training.”

A keen cyclist, Enrique joked that bikes won’t form a part of Barca training sessions, before explaining how he expects to manage that aspect of his work.

“So nobody goes crazy, don’t worry, I’m not going to be getting bikes out in training! I prefer working with the ball. The most important thing is that players enjoy training sessions and take advantage of every day they train. From there, if there’s any doubts or problems in communication, we’ll confront them, but what has to be clear is that by working all together, we’re much stronger as a team.”

“I already know that the Barca players train well. In training there has to be intensity and in the end, you play as well as you train. There will be a good level of intensity in training sessions this year. The players always need to train well, in order to compete well.”

The choice of a new captain, following the departure of Carles Puyol, is something that will need to be addressed, with Xavi the favourite for the role. Enrique explained that it’s something they discussed, whilst also suggesting that rather than one or two captains, he hopes that every member of his team will act like captains and have a feeling responsibility.

“Xavi is a friend and a former team-mate, I can always speak wonders about him. The time has come for us to sit down, talk and see what Xavi wants, what things we want and get things decided.”

“In any group or any team, there’s a number of players with more weight or presence than others, but that doesn’t mean that the others don’t have to stand up and be counted. With me, everyone will stand up and be counted.”

With many changes expected, many transfer rumours and never ending gossip and speculation, when it comes to who’ll be coming or going this summer, Enrique tried to nip such lines of questioning in the bud.

“I’ve only just got here! Obviously I know the Barca team very well and I know that you’re all keen to know what players might go, what signings we’ll make, but your work goes a lot faster than ours does. Suffice it to say that there will be changes, we’re going to touch on different positions. We’re going to reinforce the squad the best way we can. Also, you can’t for get that there’s a transfer market, you’ve got to manage things around that and negotiate. In general lines, whichever are the best players for the club, will also be the best for me.”

“We’ll not speak any more about specific names. We’ve got time to do that and some of these players have an important date with the World Cup to think about next. After that, we’ll start to evaluate things and at the right time, we’ll make the necessary decisions and keep you all informed.”

Deulofeu and Rafinha return and are expected to form a key part of the first-team squad this season, which Enrique welcomed, along with the opportunity to keep promoting more young players through the youth system at Barcelona, so long as they prove themselves worthy of elevation to the youth team squad, by working hard and earning their chances.

“I’m love supporting the young players, but what I’ll demand from them is an abundance of hunger that has to be demonstrated in each and every training session. I’ll invite them to train with the first-team squad and the door will be open to all the players from Barca B and the youth teams, but they’ll have to be very deserving and ready to prove themselves. They must be ambitious and live for and what it means to be a player in the Barcelona first-team.”

Clearly there are few jobs bigger than that of being manager of Barcelona. Enrique feels he’s ready for the challenge, the expectations about how the team must play and the demands to be successfully winning trophies at the same time. In short, he’s not in the slightest fearful of the challenge he faces.

“I’m already aware of the demands of being at Barca. I’m coming here in an era in which Barca has been a global reference and has won countless titles. The Barca fans are used to watching a style of football that’s out of this world and it’s difficult for them to get used to anything else. I’ll take this challenge on knowing that whilst it’s winning trophies that matters most of all, it’s not just about winning them any old way. That’s not worth anything to me.”

“Scared? I’m not scared of anything. Today is one of the happiest days of my life, I’m thinking of my family, of people who love me and I can’t stop smiling.”

Before continuing to discuss various other matters, in what was a lengthy press conference, one further highlight was not so much an aversion by Enrique to being compared to Pep Guardiola, but rather an aversion to being compared with anyone else. He prefers to strike his own path and be judged accordingly for what he does.

“Don’t compare me to Guardiola because, well… there’s always comparisons. I send my greetings to Pep, because we always keep in contact. We’re not just friends, our wives are too and that always makes things easier. Sure, I’d love to be like Pep, but you’ll just have to get used to me instead! I’ve started on my own path at a club like Barca and we’ll have to wait and see if I’m up to expectations.”

http://www.insidespanishfootball.com/109059/enrique-ill-try-to-encompass-everything-it-means-to-be-a-leader/