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@cornelius_blackfoot
Read this and thought about the Sunderland Spurs match and how defensive Sunderland were. Sometimes you've just got to grow a pair, like Sandoval manager of Real Vallecano
Full article is here http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/apr/09/spanish-football-la-liga-rayo-vallecano
Statistics show that the average player only gets two or three minutes contact with the ball every game. If those two minutes consist of kicking it as far away as possible, the frustration is even greater. So Sandoval encourages them to play, to enjoy it: he repeats over and over on the need to eradicate fear of failure. Players must dare to try things. They must dare to attack too.
Against Barcelona, one of Pep Guardiola's assistants whispered to him: "All these coaches who say they're going to come here and attack … none of them ever do. You lot actually did."
Conviction and convenience lie beneath that decision. Sandoval knows that if his side is likely to lose anyway – and he is realistic enough to know that against Madrid or Barcelona they are – he might as well create a good sensation around the game. The logic is simple: if you tell a player like José María Movilla, the 37-year-old club captain that he is going to play out the last years of his career defending and getting bored, he will go elsewhere. Tell him he will play a bit and, even when he loses, he will appreciate it. For other players, more of the ball means an increased market value. For the coach too: a losing coach who is brave gets feted more than the losing coach that defends, especially in Spain. Rayo lost 6-2 at the Bernabéu and the focus was on the six. The video he proudly paws over shows his side pushing Barcelona back into their own half.
So he pushes them forward. Dividing the pitch into seven lines, Sandoval builds a side that presses and runs; that throws men forward. There is no grey area, no caveats, it is all black and white. They score loads and concede loads. But they enjoy it. And they score more than they concede. It is like a bullfighter, he says: either you leave through the puerta grande – out the main gate and on the shoulders of the fans, a hero. Or you leave through the infirmary. Kill or be killed.