Sergio González: “Stadium changes should not be allowed”

How does the Real Valladolid coach face the imminent restart of the league?

Looking forward, looking forward to the week of returning to competition. With that adrenaline. We all had many doubts, many uncertainties, how the road was going to be until now. There is already a clear, tangible objective, we are excited by the flag and the boys have done a great job, an effort to recover everything we had lost in these months and now we are looking forward to starting a new league.

Alcaraz said last week that this is going to be like an eleven-game World Cup. Do you see it that way or do you also think about looking in the rearview mirror not forgetting the four points of advantage regarding the descent?

The metaphor of the World Cup is very accurate. We have put it this way, it is a new league where, really, we all start from scratch. Knowing that we have those four points, but only glancing. We have to be protagonists, be aware that we have to save ourselves with the 33 points at stake, without using all four. A World Cup is seven if you reach the final, this will be 11. We have to continue with that union, with that solidarity, with that group strength, knowing that all footballers will have a leading role in many games. It is also a World Cup because the goal is to be a champion, as happened in 2010, over whoever plays more or less. And the only objective here has to be for all players, play a lot or a little, be more active or not, get salvation.

No player will play every game, they will have to count on all …

Yes, I have already mentioned it to them. They are all going to be very important. Many times footballers think it is a phrase said so that they are all involved, but in this case it is a reality. There will be no footballer who can play 10 or 11 games in a row. Those who play the most eight or nine and those who least two or three … They will all be necessary and we need that the minutes they all have are of quality.

Is it going to be a different kind of soccer?

I think so, the rules are different, the situation is different, the environment is different, the rules have changed, the preparation. It can be said that we have all had the same preparation, but that is not entirely true because it depends on the tools we have been able to have. It is a new situation, for me it is a new League. What is said about the new normality I do not agree. It is another reality with another calendar, with other ways of approaching the games, without an audience. New situations that will be noticed in what happens in the field. A wall, an auction, a transition will be the same, but everything else will be different.

The other day David Espinar spoke at AS that it is striking that the rules are changed in the middle of the competition, what do you think?

That's right, but now it seems that all the arguments you des depend on the situation you have in the table and we, from the first moment, have wanted to highlight that excuses, zero. We work to compete and reach our best level to go for it all. That said, it is true that it is totally different from how the competition started, but it is not an excuse to achieve the objective.

We are no longer just talking about the five changes or playing every three, four days … Does Eibar have more options to score playing at Di Stefano than if it did at the Bernabéu?

If what you are asking me is for the stadium changes, I think they should not have been allowed. The League has allowed a change to Real Madrid and Levante and it is not the same to play at the Bernabéu or at the Ciutat de Valencia, even if it is without an audience. In the case of Madrid fans, they are used to playing at home at the Bernabéu and are adapted and second because the rival team, in a field other than the Bernabéu, may have more options to beat Real Madrid … and with Levante the same thing happens. That already changes the rules. We have gone to those two fields and now our rivals go to another. They will tell me that there are two goals and that the distances are the same, but playing at the Bernabéu is not the same as playing at Di Stefano…

… Now there are clubs that ask to play some of their matches with the public …

When something exceptional happens, exceptional measures must be taken and we should all be equal. From there, if you allow a local team to change scenery, if you allow other situations such as the five changes, I understand that the clubs ask their communities to enter the public. It seems that this is already on demand. The fan has been opened and I understand that the autonomous communities that can afford the luxury of having people in their stadium for the phase in which they are, ask for it. As you ask, maybe they will give you.

… but, is it fair that Mallorca, for example, can play with the public and Real Valladolid cannot?

It is just as fair that instead of playing at the Bernabéu, Real Madrid do so at Di Stéfano or Levante at La Nucia. Why is one thing more fair than the other? The ingredients of the party itself change.

You have not considered playing in Los Anexos or in Zaratán, right?

(Laughter) No. We understand that we have started the League in Zorrilla, it is our home, we are delighted to play there.

How did the team get after two months at home?

The team is an example of responsibility and professionalism. The boys have done a tremendous job despite not having the necessary tools. They have arrived muscularly with losses, but the minimum. When they return to training they have found themselves well again, at ease, doing what they like and have taken a weight off their shoulders. Then they have done a spectacular job of restoring the tone they had when the pandemic started. We are in very good condition to be able to compete. The competition will then tell us where we can tighten more or improve.

How many points do you think they need to achieve permanence and how important is it to the first two games against Leganes and Celta?

Well, I think it will take between 10 and 12 points. That is, we will have to win four games or three and draw several. It is a strong start, with impact, playing against two teams (Leganés and Celta) that are in your league right now. We have the confidence to make two good games and link two positive results for the points, the most important thing, but also for the peace of mind that would give us both sports and socially to face the rest of the new championship that we have before us. I also tell you: neither by winning both will we be saved, nor by losing both will we be descended … although in our heads, I repeat, it only happens to compete in such a way that victory is close to occurring in every game.

Did Real Valladolid have a good or bad break?

It depends on who you compare it to. I think that at an individual level we were in a good moment and we did not like the break because we like to start and finish the competition strong and our physical bad moment we had already passed. The break altered our programming a little. With the break we have all made a ‘reset’ and whoever had their high peak before the break can have it again. I insist that I do not want it to sound like an excuse, there are no excuses. What I want is to lead the team as I am leading it, work as I am working and compete. The sooner we adapt to this new competition, with all its changes, the better, we will have a lot of cattle. Note that the bottom three have been given an extra life. There were three teams that thought they were going to have a very difficult time and have been able to reset, just like us, but it is what I said before: the annual planning has changed.

To tackle these eleven games in five weeks, are you going to rely on a player base or are you going to make mixed, balanced teams in all matches?

We are going to try to go for every game, try to win every game. To think further would be wrong. The first two or three games are all prepared to face them with full guarantees. Then we will see what the live football holds. We cannot afford to despise a game, to think that one is not important. Tiredness, the way of playing will mark the players we choose for each match.

I wanted to ask you about two names … The first one was Ben Arfa …

It is clear that an ideal scenario opens for him. He came with physical deficiencies, of competition rhythm, that the other teammates and this break has been great for him to meet again and restore those values ​​with the other teammates. We find a Ben Arfa totally different from the one that came, give us that extra quality and make us be better.

And Salisu? Do you see him confused by everything that is said about him and the clubs that want him?

He is not very expressive. It's hard for me to tell you soon what is really happening to him. He has shown a lot of integrity, a lot of responsibility, a lot of maturity. He is a guy who has not been daunted by the news he has received. He maintains his line of work, we talk to him continuously and try not to be misled because he knows that he is important to us, but he also knows that if he drops the level there is another colleague to replace him.

Does it bother you that with 11 days left so many names related to Real Valladolid appear? Do you understand that this is being discussed now?

I have told Miguel Ángel Gómez (sports director) that right now what we are concerned with and are concerned with are these 11 games. We have a new challenge ahead that deserves our full attention. He really knows how I think, we see football in a similar way, he has a brutal capacity to know what we need, but I have delegated everything to him.