If anyone knows a goalkeeper well within a team, it is the goalkeeping coach. His virtues, his ambitions, his potential, his fears, his character. On a daily basis, he forges a close, working relationship, of shared challenges that often turns the technician into a kind of advisor, a person of trust.
Robert
Pocket knives was the coach of Claudio
Bravo for eight years at the Real. “We have maintained contact,” says the Rioja. “We talked for example in Manchester, with his injury, and then we have also planned an idea to do something together. And now with his arrival at Betis, he is very happy. It's a good team for him ”.
After a minor injury, the Chilean is likely to return to the Verdiblanca goal against Real, the team in which he grew up and that catapulted him to the front line of European football. In his first two encounters as Betic, before his physical mishap, he did not concede a goal. “Betis did not have a clear continuity in goal and Claudio is a good profile,” he points out. “Obviously, they were looking for a goalkeeper who generates results. In addition to its quality, its leadership and its ability to compete well are important ”.
Leadership and competitive ambition. Two key characteristics in the trajectory of Bravo what Pocket knives He stages them with an example: “At La Real I had a position in the club, an international status, but I always wanted more. In one year playing League, Cup, Champions matches and with his national team, imagine the volume of matches, he trained 37% more than the substitute goalkeeper ”.
On that basis, the Riojan and the Chilean polished their soccer skills, among which their game with their feet stands out. “He had that natural ability, of course, but then you need to develop it. I remember that in the first year in Second Claudio made a cut in a game against Elche that cost us a goal. It is no use having a talent for playing with your feet when you do not use it properly. But when a footballer is competitive, that is acquired with work and experience ”.
“It is one of his skills, perhaps the most aesthetic, but he has many more such as tranquility, knowing how to be or his response to stress,” he continues Pocket knives. At 37 years of age, all this range of characteristics make him predict several years of good football ahead for his ex-boyfriend. “The physical demand is not the same as that of a field player. There are 4-5 explosive situations in a match and the rest is interpretation of the game. If you are intelligent and know how to handle complicated situations, which is what your team needs, the sporting life of a goalkeeper can be extended, if injuries respect him ”.
Moyá, “a weakness”
At the goal in front of tonight at Villamarín, Pocket knives considers that the Real has a “very interesting” pair of goalkeepers. Among them, he acknowledges his admiration for Michael
Angel
Moya. “He has always been a weakness for me because of his leadership ability and making good decisions.