It’s been a tough week in the Paterna Camp. Last Sunday’s loss against weak Elche made people nervous once again, as Djukic’s management of the two weeks without competition was proven ineffective. Enter Rufete. The former Valencia player has been given the task of revolutionizing the training methods of the squad as the new sports general manager.
Rufete has been vilified over the last couple of days because of his new role and responsibilities. He walked in last Tuesday and calmly positioned himself a couple of meters next to Djukic as the training session went on. Meanwhile, a couple of scouts recorded the exercises with videocameras in the sidelines, so they are able to analyse properly what is right and wrong with the training process. Everything as natural as it comes. And, because of this, Rufete has been verbally brutalized by a portion of the media.
Sometimes, ignorance is bliss. People tend to hide themselves in their ‘security cave of well-known methods and traditions. Change, even if its for the better, is regarded as suspicious in football nowadays. Specially in Valencian soil. Results are coming in and the team isn’t up to the task, so Rufete has been brough in with his new role to –in his own words- “give players the tools they need so they only have to worry about playing football”. Sounds good, right? Not good enough for some journalists and analysts who seem to have qualms with Rufete’s antics since he became the manager of the GloVal Academy in July.
The former player loves the methods and structures used in some Premier League top teams such as Chelsea or Manchester United. Their organization and results are eloquent enough, and his dream of implanting them in Paterna for years to come has been encountered with strong opposition from the outside. Inside, though, workers and players are happy enough that this new way of doing things imitates the methods seen in the Academy since last summer.
Teams –independently of their age- are all playing more or less in the same style and with the same tactical work behind, with improvements overall the chart. The youth team is struggling, yes, but Rufete’s confidence in manager Nico Estevez is absolute. This cannot be said about Djukic, whose work is being closely watched by president Salvo, who has lost a great deal of confidence in his gamble at the bench. Djukic must be alert and ready against Osasuna this weekend, because another loss at Mestalla could well become his particular dead end.
Paco Polit (@pacopolit)
VLC NEWS – Sports