It's curious. The Mourinhistas, that histrionic lineage of Real Madrid who distributes cards and disqualifies those who do not militate in their rough ranks under the qualifier of 'Piperos', have Xabi Alonso for the Marshal of Campo de Mourinho. Coach, the Portuguese, who forces militancy without leaving space for indifference. However, Alonso himself is uncomfortable that warmonger of “Spartan” of the Mourinhista cause. ‘One of us'. Intelligent and measured, Tolosarra has never shunned everything he learned from 'The Special Once', who taught him the importance of the emotional part when generating the costume's commitment. And despite this, Xabi is not comfortable when located in the Mourinhist trench.
His periko father, the coach who marked him the most
To start, because The coach who has truly influenced him is the one he had at home, his father Periko Alonso. Former player of the Royal Society and Barcelona who taught him the costume codes, the football Bible and the secrets of the board. Periko inherited the seriousness and ethics of work. When he trains, Xabi does not bargain efforts or accepts jokes or distractions. When you train, you train. And when you have to have fun, to have fun. Xabi is one of those who thinks that seeing a team training you already know how to play. The intensity must be high, clear communication and the attitude, unnegotiable.
Xabi is a quiet profile technician, but he has character. That learned from Mourinho and before his father. If you have to hit three screams, they are given, no matter how a friend of raising your voice. It is close to the players, especially in the game days, in which he likes to approach the players who are interested in the rival, for their movements, for the solutions they can propose or the alternatives they handle. He likes to feel what his players feel and then interpret what happens to them in the field. However, Xabi is not a friend of his players. Respect your space and do not invade your intimacy. It is not as invasive as Mourinho. It lets you breathe more.
When the possibility of going to train with Guardiola arose, Raudo came To the call. Two of the best midfielders in the history of Spanish football together. From there came eternal talks and conversations that lasted hours in which Xabi investigated the head of Pep and Pep was putting ideas in Xabi's. From Guardiola the Tolosarra learned that everything is trained. The talent has or does not have, but a talent is better that is trained than one that is abandoned. You must give all the resources to the player so that later in the field he applies them as he deems appropriate. Nothing should be left to chance.
If Mourinho learned that the most important thing is to convince the footballer of what you are asking for, Guardiola taught him that the best way to do it is that he understands what you propose and buy it. Jose recruited you, Pep seduced you. Two different ways of winning authority. With the Portuguese he learned to adapt to the different party environments and squeeze them to their convenience. With Sampedor's, to handle meetings creating the most suitable game context for your strengths and to attack the weaknesses of the rival using the ball as a tool. Two confrontated models, two opposite life forms. But both allowed Xabi to learn a lot for the path that was already beginning to walk, the coach, in his last years of footballer.
Then Carlo Ancelotti arrived, a father for him. A more respectful relationship and a more fluid style. Carletto more humanly managed the group and gave more freedom to its players. But From the Italian he learned something that Xabi considers a coach's pillar: emotional intelligence. Handle the times and distances with the player and the person behind. Create an atmosphere of imperturbable respect in the locker room and be more aware than those who do not play than those who do it.
Carletto, equidistance between Mourinho and Guardiola
The Italian was an equidistant point between the fierce competitiveness of Mourinho and the obsessive planning of Guardiola. Carletto's left hand. There was something in the Italian who remembered Xabi to his father Periko. And that's why when Real Madrid called him in January to enable an output clause, he only put one condition: he would only go when the destiny of Ancelotti was clear. He didn't want to be the cause of his departure. And so it has been, since between the interest of Brazil and the irregular end of the season of Madrid, the outcome has occurred very naturally.
De Carletto also learned that in the management of a costume there is always a 'good poli' and a 'bad poli'. And Xabi now has to distribute those roles among the members of his staff. In Madrid, Ancelotti was very intelligent leaving that to his assistants. His son Davide made 'Poly Bueno', showing closeness and empathy with the players, who came to him almost like a friend. The 'Malo Poly' was Francesco Mauri, who raised his voice, maintained the tension and caused anyone to lower his arms in the training. Something that also allowed Carlo to maintain his paternal ancestry in the group, maintaining distance and perspective. Now Xabi must choose what his role in the costumes, his distance with the players and the status he will maintain with them will be. His second is Sebas Parrilla and the assistant, Alberto Encinas. To them is added a singular physical trainer, Ismael Camenforte-López, which will put the white template about. They will participate in that role -playing game.
In the costumes, in which Modric left, there will be no one who played with Xabi, they wait for a discreet, intelligent and close technician. In addition, Tolosarra knows that The coaches who triumphed at the club with Florentino winning the Champions (Vicente del Bosque, Zinedine Zidane and Carlo Ancelotti) They have done it with left hand and giving their place to the cracks. Being more Zizou than Zidane or more Carletto than Ancelotti. His challenge is to govern the costumes being Alonso and achieving that fluidity, while Xabi leaves his seal. Beyond that it is a soldier of Mourinho, the successor of Guardiola or the heir of Ancelotti.
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