The Barcelonan Lluís Planagumànew interim coach Vissel Kobe Japanese, said today that he wants the team of Andres Iniesta be “more aggressive and competitive” to turn around its disappointing start to the season in the Japanese top division.
Planagumà, 41 years old and who has previously coached Granada, Hércules or the lower categories of Villarreal and Espanyol, has been appointed Vissel’s new coach on an interim basis after the dismissal last Sunday of Japanese Atsuhiro Miura.
The change in the Vissel bench, where former Barcelona players Sergi Samper and Bojan Krkic or Japanese international Yuya Osako also play, takes place with the club in sixteenth position, after seven games played, and without yet knowing victory.
“I am very confident in everything we can do to win games,” said the Catalan coach, who also stressed that he assumes command of the team “with more than 20 years of experience in football” and after having worked for three years in the Japanese league.
“I am not considering whether I am going to be in the position temporarily or if I can stay until the end of the season. My priority is to work as hard as possible to win each game,” Planagumà said this Thursday at a telematic press conference, his first appearance before the media since he took office.
The coach stressed that Vissel Kobe has “footballers with a very high technical level” and “one of the best players in the history of football”, so his team “must control the games through possession”. But Vissel “must do more than that,” said Planagumà, who added that his team “must be more passionate, more aggressive and more competitive.”
On an offensive level, he said that his goal is “to create more chances and also be able to attack quickly”, while in the defensive phase, he will try to make the team “more compact and more aggressive”, as well as “more competitive on the ball stopped”.
“We are going to give our best version so that the fans feel proud of the team,” said Planagumà, who also stressed that the team could have won some of its last games, although it did not due to “details” since “football is sometimes unfair.”
Before being appointed coach of the first team, Planagumà was responsible for player training at the Kobe club, and had managed FC Imabari of the Japanese third division, in his first professional experience outside of Spain.
The Barcelona native joins two other Spanish coaches currently training in the Japanese league, Ricardo Rodríguez, at the Urawa Reds, and Albert Puig, at FC Tokyo.
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