Luis Enrique : Arrivederci Roma

Luis Enrique: 'Arrivederci Roma'

By Football Italia staff






Luis Enrique has given his farewell press conference at Roma. “It was a wonderful adventure and some fans didn't understand me, but I am so very tired.”

The Coach confirmed this week he is leaving the club after just one season, having failed to make his mark in Serie A.

“I start with a small criticism, as two days ago I held a meeting with the team to say what I thought. I spoke in Spanish, because it was a farewell from the heart,” said the former Barcelona B manager. “Some things that weren’t true came out in the media with regards to what I had said to my players.

“The truth is that it was a great pleasure to be the Coach of this team and I never regretted coming here. I am leaving because I am so very tired, having given 100 per cent this season. I certainly will not work as a Coach next term.

“For me being here was a wonderful adventure and I gave all of my energy for this squad. The results are what count and that is how it should be, but in my view it wasn’t such an awful season.

“This team has improved so much thanks to the hard work put in by the lads. A section of the fans did not understand me, but I think I was always honest with everyone.”

Luis Enrique also denied rumours of a split with captain Francesco Totti.

“It was a very special rapport right from the start. At the start of the training session after leaving him out, I’d assure him there was absolutely no problem. Quite the opposite.

“I made mistakes, of course. As a Coach I tried to make it easier for the players by preparing them for the game they had to face. There are many things that could be improved on and I am enormously disappointed when they didn’t go well.

“I wish Roma a journey full of success. I have no complaints and if I made some mistakes, then I apologise. I’m convinced in Italy you can play beautiful football based on attack and I promise that I will improve in terms of defending. If I had stayed next season, I would’ve worked the same way. I continue to believe in this style of football.

“A Coach is always a fundamental part of the team and I don’t think Italian football is different in that sense. It wasn’t so difficult for me to work in Italy, although it was a tough season and strange. When you give 100 per cent it cannot be considered a failure. My colleagues complimented me after a win or a defeat.

“Would I have remained if we’d finished third? I don’t know, but this is the reality of the situation and this is my decision. I don’t think I need to give advice to the next Coach. I just ask for a patience and calm to help them achieve their aims.

“It was wonderful and a source of great pride to have been the Coach of Roma. It’s not right to talk about this as a resignation. It was simply the right time to leave so the club can find a replacement. I am not angry, nor am I paying for anything. There is no scapegoat, as Roma simply need to improve to give their fans great satisfaction.”

Luis Enrique has been linked with another Serie A bench, namely that of Fiorentina, but first he wants to take a Pep Guardiola-style sabbatical.

“I really like Italy, especially Rome. Would I try again here? We’ll see, but first it’s better to recuperate a bit.

“Thank you for everything and Forza Roma.”

Class act I have to say always took the respsonsibilty after a bad game never talked/blamed the referee's.Just a shame that some players let him down on a number of occasions here's looking at you Kjaer and 1 or 2 others anyways I wish him all the best.

Thank you sir and do not think about trying again

That was a horrible year and we have two record breaker , Totti and Luis Enrique and Nazio are ahead of us

We can't even have one f***in thread saying thank you and wishing him the best without people bashing him. F*** the immaturity of some people on this forum really pisses me off.

The truth is, Luis Enrique has kept this team together through thick and thin and that is one difficult task. That, and the importance he places on fair play and respect, deserves credit.

Thank you Luis for all the hard work you put in this season and I apologize on behalf of the fans that are impatient and deluded. You deserve better.

Un uomo vero in un mondo di falsi, adelante Luis!

I did say thank you

Sorano Totti wrote: Thank you sir and do not think about trying again

Sorano Totti wrote: That was a horrible year and we have two record breaker , Totti and Luis Enrique and Nazio are ahead of us

So thankful lol.

If You have a thing for that guy , I give you His twitter account and show Ur passion

Your responses are always entertaining, thank you for adding great comments to make this forum a better place to discuss football...

Stay classy, Sorano (aka keep trolling and I'll knock your warning level down).

As for the topic: Absolutely gutted that he's leaving. His departure basically signals the end of this project the new owners were trying to start. No coach we bring in is going to want to continue what LE started, least of all an Italian. Our only hope is for a like-minded, but probably more experienced coach.....I'm thinking Marcelo Bielsa.

I wish LE all the luck though and he's earned my respect from what he tried to do here. It's just a shame that fickle, arrogant and disloyal fans ruined what could've been the start of something truly great here. Now we're back at square one thanks to them. I feel sorry for the likes of Tallo, Piscitella, Viviani, and Antei as our new coach probably won't even look at the Primavera. That was one of the best things about LE.

McLewis wrote:Stay classy, Sorano (aka keep trolling and I'll knock your warning level down).

As for the topic: Absolutely gutted that he's leaving. His departure basically signals the end of this project the new owners were trying to start. No coach we bring in is going to want to continue what LE started, least of all an Italian. Our only hope is for a like-minded, but probably more experienced coach.....I'm thinking Marcelo Bielsa.

I wish LE all the luck though and he's earned my respect from what he tried to do here. It's just a shame that fickle, arrogant and disloyal fans ruined what could've been the start of something truly great here. Now we're back at square one thanks to them. I feel sorry for the likes of Tallo, Piscitella, Viviani, and Antei as our new coach probably won't even look at the Primavera. That was one of the best things about LE.

Bielsa is a good choice

Its not a matter of staying classy m8t , truth is not being in cl or at least EL makes acquiring world class/quality players harder and most Managers use one or two players from youth even Mancini at Manchester City does that , i'm mentioning that because i think Man city has one of the strongest financial backs for Transfers

the fact that are a moderator doesnt make you right and by calling me not classy , you are indeed trolling urself because that mean you are attacking me as a person , ive done that in here by saying this

Sorano Totti wrote: If You have a thing for that guy , I give you His twitter account and show Ur passion

but that was the respond to this

ErPupone wrote:We can't even have one f***in thread saying thank you and wishing him the best without people bashing him. F*** the immaturity of some people on this forum really pisses me off.

The truth is, Luis Enrique has kept this team together through thick and thin and that is one difficult task. That, and the importance he places on fair play and respect, deserves credit.

Thank you Luis for all the hard work you put in this season and I apologize on behalf of the fans that are impatient and deluded. You deserve better.

Un uomo vero in un mondo di falsi, adelante Luis!

so many F word and he called me immature while i kept cool and offer him Enrique Twitter account

lets have democracy !its 2012 for god sake

I'm not going to derail this thread by responding to your babbling. If you have something to say to me then PM me.

Sometimes swearing is necessary to get a fair point across, we all have a Serse Cosmi side.

McLewis wrote:Stay classy, Sorano (aka keep trolling and I'll knock your warning level down).

As for the topic: Absolutely gutted that he's leaving. His departure basically signals the end of this project the new owners were trying to start. No coach we bring in is going to want to continue what LE started, least of all an Italian. Our only hope is for a like-minded, but probably more experienced coach.....I'm thinking Marcelo Bielsa.

I wish LE all the luck though and he's earned my respect from what he tried to do here. It's just a shame that fickle, arrogant and disloyal fans ruined what could've been the start of something truly great here. Now we're back at square one thanks to them. I feel sorry for the likes of Tallo, Piscitella, Viviani, and Antei as our new coach probably won't even look at the Primavera. That was one of the best things about LE.

If we do get Montella, I think the primavera will still be looked at. Maybe not someone like Verre who's still very young, but guys like Crescenzi, Florenzi and Viviani for sure because they're ready to make a jump.

Now as for LE, to go back on topic, I think Adriano Bacconi said it right so i'll quote him: "a coherent, but contradictory coach", in the sense that he had his ideas clear and always emphasized an attacking approach. However, contradictory in the sense that our attack often didn't capitalize on the chances we did create, as well as the difficulty we had in playing that pure possession game. But this of course was all predictable in team with 11 new players and a coach still adapting to life in the Italian capital.

Media and fans aside, it was always going to take a minimum of two seasons to really get this team playing the way Enrique envisioned, and a couple more seasons to be competitive and win a trophy, so we were indeed looking at a 5 year plan. Some aspects, such as team discipline and unity were excellent (bar Osvaldo and Lamela, the latter being 19 years old so he could be excused, as long as he learns). Motivation and mentality was decent: you're always going to get better performances from your players when they are on the same page as your coach, and that was the case for everyone. However, given the pressure placed on this team by media and fans alike and the fact that it is a very young and inexperienced team (looking at the likes of Lamela and Osvaldo again, Bojan, Pjanic, Angel, Borini, Kjaer, Angel), we became very fragile mentally. This caused what sometimes appeared as a lack of motivation, though it was really each faltering point that was adding weight mentally. If you felt helpless as a fan, imagine as a player or as the coach, when you just know there's nothing that could be done, e.g. going a man down and down 2-0 against the league leaders.

So in the end, I appreciate the fact that Luis Enrique had his ideas clear, but it was just impossible to get this team winning right away under the given circumstances. And in the end, we challenged Inter who had their own share of problems, Lazio, Napoli and Udinese who all had their core already constructed and simply added players over the last transfer market to make themselves more competitive. So my final judgement is that with time, Enrique could have created something special, not surely, but maybe. We'll never know. But I refuse any statement that says he was never going to succeed because in no way could that argument be completely defended and without flaw.

Ever the tempered head, Mike lol

Good post and I agree on those points after digesting that. It's not all doom and gloom, but I just can't help, but think we took a massive step backwards in our development by letting this guy leave.

The "fans" in Rome are so impatient. It seems like they don't understand the concept of a project.

But i blame Enrique for leaving too. He should i have stayed for an year more and made the team work like he envisioned. He is giving up without putting in all the effort. He is running away from the "fans" that gave him a bad time and that itself is a victory for these people.

From a neutral's point of view I would say that its a mistake letting Luis Enrique go. The fans are at fault because they are too impatient.

You know, Rome wasn't built in one day :king: .