Pep quotes from Argentina talk

Pep recently gave 2 talks about leadership in Colombia and Argentina, breaking a year-long hiatus from the press. Here are some of his quotes from his Argentina one, that the pressed covered in depth:



On training
"What is a leader? I don't have a f****ing clue"

"Nothing is more fascinating that putting your idea into a player's head. But you have to convince them, give him arguments. Because the player is very smart and he will notice if you have doubts"

"Do whatever you want, but do it with conviction. In football you can win a thousand ways and all of them are brave. But make them yours, don't copy and paste."

"I was in Rome and I was spending a lot of time on the bench, with Bati. Velasco [the Italian volleyball coach] had won everything in Volleyball and I called him. I wanted to listen to him. The ideas are from everyone, they don't belong to no one. I have stolen a lot. And he taught me that you never have to try to change players, that the key is to play them on the right note. To know when to talk to them and when not to, which can stand to be put on notice on public and which need to be talked to privately."

"You don't have to become emotionally implicated, but I need the skin. To hug them, to yell at them. I need to convince them. There's nothing more marvelous than to try to put your ideas into your footballer's head. As a footballer, what gave me the most panic was to go into a match without knowing what was going to happen, what the opponent was going to do. As a trainer, I always tried to tell them "Today this is going to happen and if we do this we will win the game".

"My tactics aim that the ball reaches our goal little and to generate space so that my players can destabilize them."

"I am not better than any other coach."

"A system or an idea? In the end, what remains is always the idea, the convictions."

"Menotti told me that I was going to waste my time [visiting different training facilities across the globe before starting my career], that I had already learned everything in my experience as a player, and that I was not going to learn anything new. And he was right."

"No one invents anything. I have learned through the transmission of experience, and I have stolen the most amount possible. I have done it in Spain, in Italy, in Mexico and in Qatar... Well, in Qatar I improved my swing."

"The footballers that are on the bench, they want you to lose."

On Messi
"My first contact with Messi was at a Nike store. Leo was with his father. I saw him shy, as always, I didn't know him. Tito Vilanova had told me: "I have a kid that will become a star". And he hit it on the nail."

"Why does Messi play in the center? In my opinion, the best players must move through the center. I saw Messi as the best player we had, and many times he didn't participate because he was on the right wing. Additionally, we always looked to have numeric superiority on the center of the pitch.

"It wasn't hard to convince him [to move positions]. He caught up fast. And if you played him as a left back, he would catch it quickly as well. Leo is the best defender there is, when he goes to get the ball, he kills you. Marcelo [Bielsa] told me that anyone can see the good and the bad, well even a blind person could have seen Messi.

"Messi playing through the center tracked back to get the ball and the defenders didn't follow him, so we managed to have numeric superiority in the midfield and he could get the ball with less pressure. So some teams started allowing one defender to follow him. Looking for something to counter this, in one game I played a 9 to force the defender to head back and thus give Messi greater freedom to control ball.

"Have I taught him anything? Please, please... his parents taught him. He came out good. The play belongs to the footballers: when I had the ball on my feed, I controlled it, when the ref kicks off the game, the coach paints drawings."

"I had never seen anyone like Messi. And don't ask the very original question of who is better between him and Maradona, my idol."

On Masche
"I had my doubts about signing him. He was the captain of the Argentina national team and I had Busquets in front of him. It was a complicated thing: I like the wingers that can play as central forwards and I like the midfielders that can play as centerbacks. Mascherano can. He's a great human being, a fantastic midfielder and the same as a centerback. A great child."

"You with Mascherano have petroleum. What a generous player".

On Argentina
"I think I could never coach here, the attention I'm generating is extraordinary. Buenos Aires is a city that overwhelms you. It's as if I had invented the garlic soup."

"The Argenitinians must recognize the great contribution that Menotti and Bielsa have made to their football. I've leared from them from Lavolpe, from Lillo, from everyone. I am certain that I wouldn't be here without Cruyff. I've stolen as much as possible. But the ideas don't belong to anyone. It's not a case of copy paste either. I hope they do the same with me."

"You have that reputation. Well, you are a people that has given much to football: three of the best five ever are from here. Your passion for the game is obvious."

great read...thanks for sharing....
btw, " three of the best five ever are from here" Who is the other player he is talking : Alfredo Stéfano Di Stéfano i guess

Could listen (read) to him talk all day.

He contradicts himself every two paragraphs.

Just wanted to correct (Julio) Velsaco isn't Italian. He's Argentine.

He was the coach of the Italian volleyball NT at the time, that's what I meant.

You should have said 'Italy coach' not 'Italian coach' then.

free_cat wrote:He contradicts himself every two paragraphs.

What?

Thanks for sharing BC. Pep

alfred, thanks for sharing.

BTW why is you profile showing that you support BVB?

danyjr wrote:You should have said 'Italy coach' not 'Italian coach' then.

You're right but it was a lot of writing lol. I was bound to slip on some parts.

messixaviesta wrote:alfred, thanks for sharing.

BTW why is you profile showing that you support BVB?

It's a joke, I don't seriously support them, half the forum is now a BVB fan.