Axel Torres: “Imanol's thing is to take off his hat”

There are few journalists with a better reputation than Axel Torres (Barcelona, ​​1983) in the current national scene. He praises himself with the Royal and reels Natalia Arroyo, captured for her program as an analyst.

How do you see the return of LaLiga for the Imanol team?

It has been one of the hardest hit by the break because it was with the rush of the Cup. The team had known how to suffer at certain times that it was something that was missing from other years, when it was dazzling upwards but when the games got ugly, its weak point. Without going any further, Miranda's return match to dog's face knew how to play it very well.

What has it grown into?

Especially in handling situations. He has matured and has obtained a point of lucidity to fight with the best. The dynamic was upward but we are seeing that in Germany the teams that were good continue well and the teams that were bad continue bad. I thought that there would be more inertia changes and it was not. We do not know what effect it will have in LaLiga.

Which piece of the schematic are you left with?

I will not be original and I will stay with Odegaard, he is the differential player, the most talented, the one who can make a career of a world-class figure. I think that Oyarzabal will be a starter in the Spanish team for many years and I think that Mikel Merino is the player that comes out better when we relate media noise and performance. He brings balance and in those roles that Real has, he is the mixed player capable of doing both defense and attack. But it has also improved behind.

Maybe it's the weak point?

Yes Yes. Without a doubt, but as I say, I see an important improvement especially when Aritz Elustondo has played because he has given enough defense level. He is a center-back that probably outside Donostia has little sign but there is a difference when he plays and when he does not play.

Another who had no poster was Imanol and look.

Surprising, without a doubt. We did not know him and personally I thought he was a low profile for a locker room where heavy players were gathering and that it would not be easy to handle because expectations were so high. When the Real sign what he signs, people were going to ask you a lot and that according to which coach does not know how to handle it well. Imanol has done it from 10 and it is something that we could not suspect, I think that outside the Real there were doubts because more coaches like Emery sounded. He has solved it with the branch coach and when something like this comes out it is to take off his hat.

You said for the month of September that the Royal was a faithful candidate for fourth place. Do you keep it?

I bet on them at the start of the season and at this point in the season I don't change my bet (laughs). I think that some of the doubts have been resolved and are overcoming all the challenges that the competition puts on them. She is a clear candidate to finish fourth. I think Atlético will go further and it is normal, but I think that Real have more quality and differential players than Sevilla, Valencia or Getafe, for example.

Let's change teams. You know Natalia Arroyo well, how do you see her for the Real bench?

It is what she has always wanted to do. If you listened to her commenting on her language, she was always more of a coach than a journalist. He stood out for the purely technical aspect and with an extreme depth in his analyzes and even when he was a reporter the relationship he had with the coaches was particular.

He worked closely with her.

We had it in ‘The Club’, yes. It was a different section that had a tactical whiteboard and we thought it was the right person for how well it did during broadcasts. He has formed a lot, he has a concern for the game and for understanding what happens to participate in it; is ready for the jump. People from his environment tell me that he could have landed at Espanyol but he finally opted for Real.

Will you notice the jump to the benches?

I do not think, she does not go from journalism directly to the bench, she has been a Catalan coach and has a long history in national football. All this of managing groups is not going to be new for her, obviously it reaches the reigning champion of the Queen's Cup and a region like Euskadi where women's football is very careful, but I think it will measure up.

Despite the fact that Torres thinks that Natalia Arroyo “would tell you yes tomorrow to train the Real men's team”, she sees “far that a coach leads a men's team”. The journalist understands that it does not have to be women but “society and clubs that take this step, I think it will still be difficult for us to take that leap and I do not see it coming despite the fact that there are prepared people like Natalia who could do it at The perfection”.