Pablo Alfaro’s profile, especially externally, is antagonistic to Munúa’s. While the Uruguayan preferred to stay away from the spotlight, the new Real Murcia coach completely dominates the scene. Unlike his predecessor, his message is clearer and more direct; He doesn’t beat around the bush: «I want us to be a humble, committed and ambitious team. We will respect our rivals and do a job well done to be respected. “We must defend this shield and this house as it deserves,” he assured as soon as he signed a contract that binds him to the Grana club until the end of the season and that will be renewed in the event of promotion to the Second Division.
«We must defend this shield as it deserves; “I want us to be a humble, committed and ambitious Real Murcia.”
Alfaro, born in Zaragoza 54 years ago, did not want to talk about systems or playing styles before getting to know his players better. Yesterday he had a face to face with his new squad at the Enrique Roca without the ball in the way, and today, at Pinatar Arena, he will get down to work: “We have to be able to get the most out of each individuality to get the best version of the group. “Everything happens through work, effort and enthusiasm,” he says in relation to the footballers he will coach.
«This fans and this stadium pushes a lot if you give it to them; I experienced it here as an adversary; “We have to offer and then be able to ask our followers.”
Murcia’s new coach is not afraid of pressure. As a footballer he defended, among others, shirts such as those of Zaragoza, Barcelona, Atlético de Madrid and Sevilla, while as a coach he has sat on benches such as those of Recreativo, Leganés, Huesca, Ibiza or Córdoba: «Knowing that you are coming to a club With the history, the city behind it, the social mass and the project of this Real Murcia is an incentive for me. The Real Murcia brand is very important. “This club, both on and off the pitch, has a lot of potential,” he stated.
The data
46%
of victories
Alfaro adds in the 217 games he has coached Second, Second B and First Federation teams. Furthermore, another 26% are draws and they have only lost 28% of the matches their teams have played since they debuted in the 2009-10 season.
The Zaragoza native has no doubts about the squad he is going to lead: «It is very in line with the demands and objectives of the club. It has proven footballers but also youth and different options to be very versatile. That versatility must be made a virtue. You have to get the most out of each and every one of the footballers, in addition to having a collective idea. The elite footballer, and there are many in this club, likes to be demanded and also to be loved, and that is our job. We come with the intention of offering and giving and then receiving,” he warns. He also sends a warning to all his new footballers: “Meritocracy is going to count for a lot and it is achieved with resume, effort, work, commitment and dedication.”
«The First Federation is a Second Division camouflaged by the clubs that exist and their large budgets. It has a different dimension than the old Second B»
Go for the three escapees
Real Murcia is one point away from the playoff after eleven games, but at the same time eleven points behind Castellón, the leader, and very far from Ibiza and Málaga. The Grana team cannot fail any more: «These three teams have started very strongly from the first minute and we are at a disadvantage, it is true. But the seasons are long and all teams go through different moments. The key will be to get closer to our one hundred percent; so we get closer to them. The First Federation is a Second Division camouflaged by the clubs that exist and their budgets. “It has a completely different dimension to what we knew as Second B. There are clubs with very important projects and high stakes.”
«I am a doctor by profession: I give great importance to everything that has to do with health, nutrition, preventive work, strength work and recovery»
The defects of the Grana team cannot disappear overnight: «We need time, we know that arriving with the train running is not the same as arriving in the summer. We want to see little by little what we want to be. We must be brave, creative and competitive. “Let the Murcian player leave satisfied with what he sees every Sunday,” argues the Aragonese coach. Alfaro knows that the Murcian fans will be with his team: «This hobby gives you a lot, I have suffered it when I have come as an opponent, but they push if you give it to them. “You have to offer first and then ask,” he warns.
Antonio Alcázar ‘Tato’ will be second coach. This is a coach who knows the Region, since he is from Lorca by birth, and also knows Real Murcia. “Arriving with someone like him always adds up, and that is with the main intention with which we come: to add,” said the new coach, who will also have Pello Alkain as a physical trainer. Pablo Alfaro wants to analyze the plague of injuries that the first team is suffering: «Being a doctor by profession, I give a lot of importance to everything that has to do with the care and health of the footballers; to nutrition, preventive work, strength work and recovery. “It’s what brings you closer to the elite and you have to take great care of it.”
“It will give us work, normality and character,” says Recio.
On Tuesday afternoon, Javier Recio, Grana sports director, managed to convince Felipe Moreno that the change of coach was necessary to straighten out the direction of a team that was not working. The entity’s largest shareholder is not in favor of the changes in the middle of the season, but finally accepted and left the decision in the hands of the Madrid native. And Recio opted for Pablo Alfaro, an old acquaintance: «It was one of the alternatives that we considered last summer and an important option. He has extensive experience in the category. I think he is going to give it to us; and also work, normality, character and demand », he says.
Munúa had several open fronts and a dressing room that did not agree with the Uruguayan’s way of working, who had not built a reliable team either despite some good results: «These are decisions that we did not count on; When you start a project you do it with all the enthusiasm thinking that this moment is not going to come, but decisions had to be made thinking about the best for the club. We have been there for eleven days and we have been forced to change for different reasons,” Recio himself said yesterday.
#Pablo #Alfaro #Real #Murcia #potential #incentive