Juan Ignacio Martínez, better known as JIM, is the coach who has led Levante to its best ranking in the League and in Europe. Now he is enjoying a rest period, but he hopes to find a project to return to the League that excites him
What have you been doing since your tour of China and Kuwait ended?
I have been very lucky to train in the best league in the world, which is the Spanish one, and the success here opened the doors of international football for me. But the Spain brand also helped a lot. What the Selection did by the hand of Luis Aragonés and Vicente del Bosque opens many frontiers for us. Spanish coaches are very well regarded in the world. The experiences of China and the Emirates have been two very enriching experiences from the sporting point of view. I am a person who loves projects. I have finished those projects and now I am waiting for new opportunities.
What is football like in those places?
In China the player is more professional than the Kuwaiti. The Kuwaiti is a rich person from birth and a billionaire when he dies. They make a lot of money and they can't spend all the money they make. In Kuwait we were about five million inhabitants and only 700,000 natives. The rest is labor that came from outside: Pakistanis, Egyptians, Hindus… The footballer in Kuwait has a morning job that does not require much effort. And that economic situation of the Kuwaiti player makes it difficult to motivate them to play football later. I didn't have major problems because in my training sessions there was a significant presence of players. Soccer in Kuwait helps them have more vacations and they play it because they have conditions or because they like it. There are players who are very passionate, but others are more passive.
So there is much difference between the Chinese and the Kuwaiti player?
Arabic competes better than Chinese, although Chinese improves a lot over time. The Kuwaiti is semi-professional, while the Chinese have their own residence and 90% live there. The player in China lives by and for football. You can almost stop by his room at any time and tell him to come down for a tactical, physical, technical, analytical session … In Kuwait, furthermore, at 10 in the morning you are already 40 degrees and with a dry air. Around four in the afternoon you can do a session, but it is already a handicap. To give you an idea, the average salary in Kuwait is 140,000 euros per year. At 55 they retire and continue to collect money because they have a lot of money for oil. The longest journey between one stadium and another is about 20 minutes. The equipment is maintained by the Kuwaiti government itself.
What have these experiences contributed to you as a coach?
The change from Spain to China costs. However, I wanted the Chinese to adapt to me and the seven staff members. And between exercises I realized that they had a good level to develop what I wanted with them. The translator is very important. If you don't have a good translator you are dead. I had a spectacular one, Cafón, who is now at Espanyol with Wu Lei. His contribution was key to transmitting to the players what he needed. Soccer in China is very well paid, although not the crazy things that foreign signings charge. And they take care of themselves, they are very dedicated people, although it is difficult for them to compete and make decisions because they have always been directed people. They do not take the issue of crashing well. He tells you an anecdote. In our first friendly there is a player who takes a hit and bleeds a little, because immediately they wanted to take him to the hospital. The Chinese is an only child, because there it is penalized to have more than one child. So the boys are super spoiled. Parents live by and for the child. If they play soccer on top of that, they are idols, because all that makes any pijadita that happens to them a drama. We put that player to training the next day and we beat the group because, with a Chinese coach, he would be almost a retired player, and let's see when he would train again. They look bloody and run off to shower.
How does the League look from abroad?
Just as the Spanish teams have swept for ten years, now I see it more complicated that we can win the Champions League. The League of 100 points with Madrid and Barça seemed crazy to me. Now I see it more evenly matched because the departures of Cristiano, Neymar, Bale… have made the distances shorter.
Has the League dropped a step compared to the English, German, Italian …?
I have seen that there are teams that have had a great tactical enrichment, for example, the German teams, Atalanta … There are teams that are very offensive and vertical and that come after you from the first moment. German football has grown a lot right now. Before the German teams speculated more, now they are going to kill you. Their first pass is forward, the second pass is a one-on-one and in the third they score you. In England they have grown up with Guardiola and Klopp.
Which team do you like the most how you play right now?
Liverpool have me in love because it is modern football. The opponent throws the ball back and kills you with the pressure. The opponent takes the ball from you, gives you three seconds to steal it again. In other words, it is a team that constantly puts you through tremendous physical effort. Liverpool is the team that most identifies with my conception of football. What he does with and without the ball. It makes a spectacular transition from defense to attack. And if he robs you in your field, consider yourself dead. They take the ball to the wing and center, it is not necessary to reach the bottom line. Leipzig and Atalanta are also teams that are very enriching at a tactical level. What happens to Atalanta is that it is more suicidal. Play up like we used to play in college. That is why he wins by a landslide or they score many goals. Play with three off the hook, if they catch you there, they'll kill you.
And of the Spanish League?
Last year I loved Sevilla with the incorporation of the full-backs. This year has not started very well. And now it is still early. My cousin (Bordalás) with Getafe is a team that competes very well. Villarreal for the arrival of Unai Emery is performance. Like me, like me, I still can't tell you any until the most advanced League is.
Do you think that this year the hegemony of Barça and Madrid in the League can be broken?
I think Luis Suárez is going to give Atlético a lot. You know that with him you have a goal or a post. Atlético is a team that concedes few goals. By this I mean that Atlético is a candidate. Madrid and Barça, of course. They may have a bad game, but they will be at the top yes or yes because they impose, because of their quality … But neither Real Sociedad nor Villarreal surprise me. I consider the rest of the teams take away points, but I see Real and Villarreal as candidates. However, it will depend on the wear and tear they suffer in Europe and the emotional state when combining both competitions.
Carlos Barba (DAILY AS)
You even said that Atlético with Simeone was intractable. Does it still look like it now?
Atlético used to be a funnel. It gave you a bad pass and you could be left for dead. They invited you to play inside and there they robbed you to make a tremendous transition. They also had Godín and Diego Costa at a spectacular level. Simeone has great merit for getting so many level players to put all their talent at the service of the group. That strikes me as impressive. This year they will peel it perfectly.
Do you like Joao Félix?
Well, well … Those are major words. I think he is a bit shy and that is why it has been difficult for him to begin to develop his full potential. He does so many things on the field, beyond his definition, his last pass, his great game … He has many things. He is a player who scores a goal at the minimum.
How does all the problems generated by Covid affect a football team?
Today the training is more specific and everything is done through the ball, there are no longer so many physical beatings. Now, since you can go out less, the rest of the player is already assured. However, you lose the emotional aspect. Imagine that player who has lost a game or who has missed a clear occasion, because they have to be at home without going out and they cannot go out or have dinner … In the psychological aspect, it does have to be worked specifically by someone from the club .
Bordalás and you are cousins. Do they talk a lot about soccer?
We have talked a lot this summer about some players that were leaving and some signings that he was going to make. Now he has a streak, in which he beat Barça, but they penalized some defeats. It is a very reliable team because they compete to the maximum. Beyond the result I see the team. The idea is the same. When he has a casualty, it shows a lot because the team is a bit tight. When there has been a game last year we talk a lot. When he was playing with Ajax, with Inter Milan, and at the level of Spain, we exchanged impressions, but since he is there on a daily basis, he knows the category better than I do. I tell you above all more on a personal level, about the family, about you, about your brothers and in the sporting aspect, I already tell you that this summer has been when he has been around and we have seen each other.
I wanted to ask you now about two super stars in the League. The first is Hazard. How are you seeing him? Is it disappointing you?
It seems to me that he is a player who I think has not yet had the consistency that a player of that level needs for Real Madrid. Don't ask me if because of his injuries, the adaptation, if because of what they have ever said, I don't know. Beyond that, I believe that a Real Madrid player cannot afford the luxury of playing two games, then another, or resting and not playing due to injury. Madrid needs footballers from thirty games at a very high level, which is what makes it different from its rivals. What good is a very good player to you if you have it, as I say, in the machine room and you don't have it to play?
I also have to ask him about Messi. How do you see him this year? What do you think may be happening to you?
That's where you catch me because Messi for me is like a father with a son, his right eye. It is my right eye and my weakness. He is a footballer who has marked all of us who have been lucky to enjoy him. He has even marked me as a rival, he annoyed me and after scoring us he passed near the bench and on top of that he winked at you, but without want of contempt. I forget what happened between him and the club, and I see him with a bit of anxiety especially with the young kids around him. I think he wants to get a very fast performance and he must have a little patience because that rapport he has with Jordi Alba, maybe he still doesn't have it with other teammates. And I see the rest of my colleagues a bit at the mercy of him, they are constantly looking for him. Many times they have to make their decisions because he also needs to be given that recovery point. He can also get that point of anxiety for wanting to solve on his own and maybe he is wrong.
Do you think its decline has started?
Not even close. It continues to have speed, it continues to have overflow, one against one. Decline will be what some will want to see, but I think that point of wanting to solve it and still not being ingrained with his teammates can. The association with Villa, Fabregas, Iniesta, Xavi is not the same … You no longer have that. Now you have to seek association with others.
You are the best coach in the history of Levante. How are you seeing it?
At the entity level, the photos I have seen of the stadium seem crazy to me. Valencia is the capital's first team, but Levante has established itself in the First Division and has grown in social mass. And the image of Levante at the national level is very good. Regarding the sporting aspect, I think they are lacking a bit of luck, but they are a team with many resources and little by little they will come out of that lower part. It deserves to have some more point.
And what do you think of Valladolid, a team that you couldn't save and now coaches Sergio González, who was your player?
I met Sergio at the Las Rozas coaching congress. I gave him a hug and told him that I had taken a weight off my shoulders when he managed to promote him, because I have a lot of affection for Real Valladolid and the city. Everyone was great to me and I only have words of thanks. This year he is conceding more goals. And the victory against Athletic is going to give them a little more tranquility. I wish you the best. Sergio has done a fantastic job. And Ronaldo to take advantage of his friends in Brazil to bring him two pepinazos from those young people that give the club and the city a boost. I wish you the best.
And finally. On which bench will we see JIM next?
Now I am waiting. It is true that I have already met with several sports directors, but what I am looking for is a project, not a bench to occupy a few months. If there is any sports director who reads the interview, they will know. The club really has to believe in a project and in the coach. I do not understand that a coach is signed for a few games or a few months. Of course I would love to go back to Spain because it is the best league in the world. Any team can compete globally with the rest, although I already told you that now I think we have fewer options to win the Champions League.