As another Indian Super League season beckons, Hyderabad FC head coach Manolo Marquez says that the players must trust their abilities to achieve success.
In an exclusive interview with Sportstar , the 51-year-old former Spanish defender, who represented seven different clubs back home, shares his thoughts on the Hyderabad outfit - which finished at the bottom of the table last season.
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Realistically, what are the goals that you have set as the head coach?
There are a lot of things we need to work on ahead of the new season. Getting players back to full fitness, training as a group and improving the confidence of everyone involved will be really important. The hard work every individual puts in training sessions and their hunger to learn is what will get them to the competitive level required for the Indian Super League. Doing this as a group will be the biggest challenge.
What is the real change you would like to see in the team as it begins its campaign?
I prefer to play an attractive brand of football and there are many ways to achieve it. But it is important to change my ways to get the best out of the players currently at the club. I believe that even the best teams will struggle if the players are not confident, so it is important that players trust their abilities as that is what brings success.
What sort of impact did the pandemic have on the players, coaches and other support staff?
A lot of the pre-season preparations are affected by the pandemic this year. Most of the players have not trained for over five months now and it is a challenge for the staff to get them back to full fitness. We have to plan our pre-season routines in a way to avoid injuries and so far, we are really happy with the efforts of everyone involved – the players and the staff.
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The tournament will be played in just one city. How different is that? Also, what about missing out on the home advantage?
Of course, it is a challenge to be playing all the games in one city but this is the best way for the league to go ahead in the given conditions. Due to the pandemic, we are aware that the game will be a lot different this year, but we know that our fans will be with us and will cheer us all the way. We will try to give our best in every game, fight for every ball and hope that we can make the fans of Hyderabad FC proud of us as a team.
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