With the masseuse and the delegate, the men of the house are the last Mohicans of yesterday’s football. RCD Espanyol has chosen to turn to a man from the house sui generis, Luis GarcÃa – sui generis because he trained in Real Madrid youth football. Wow, who isn’t Pepe Mauri or Luis Molowny, selfless and wise firefighters who were assigned temporary and miserable periods in their respective houses (RCD Espanyol and Real Madrid).
Without experience and in the style of Mauricio Pochettino – another neophyte who felt the colors –, Luis GarcÃa comes to save a team that in Girona transmitted some of the symptoms of a death: a bit of bad luck, a lousy game, an arbitration adverse, reproaches between players and technical decisions that convey instability (the change of Denis Suárez, humiliated by being replaced half an hour after jumping on the pitch). Diego MartÃnez is a good coach, but it is not enough to be a good coach, in the same way that the captain of the Titanic was a great sailor but his ship sank…
The bet on Luis GarcÃa is less risky than it seems and also more beautiful than it seems. Both he and the club are covered in health if the adventure ends badly: the team was already in the relegation zone (worst possible). The beautiful part of the theme? That the staple, the point of honor – a concept of the 20th century – and leaving your skin on the field can save a team with a football that is good enough to get them out of the hole. It’s not about the topic of “let’s keep working”, to which all the defeated routinely appeal, because, to begin with, a football match is not a working day. It’s something else. When technology, statistics and performance indicators are part of everyday football, it is gratifying – pure air – that a coach appeals, above all, to emotions to turn the situation around. The mood…
The replacement on the RCD Espanyol bench seems appropriate. It’s the last bullet. There is no time for big changes or tactical strategies, except for one, the most decisive one: catching the master’s fighting spirit. This is indeed acceptable from the very beginning, unlike tactical revolutions. Luis GarcÃa belongs to the – very Asturian – school of footballers with a staple; maybe terrible when talking to the press but ideal for their players to run and put their foot down.
The difficulty is time. Either there is a knock-on effect in the first two games – Athletic’s visit and away to Sevilla (Betis) – or things will look very bad. It’s what electric effects are: either you revive instantly or goodbye.
