Interview with Adelaide United Striker Bruce Djite

Here is an interview I did @FourFourTwoOz with Bruce Djite it's  finals time in February! Djite talks up the big game with Perth Glory!

http://www.fourfourtwo.com/au/news/djite-its-finals-time-february

My exclusive interview with Aussie starlet Xane Zaineddine

My exclusive interview @FourFourTwoOZ with Aussie starlet Xane Zaineddine. The  EX Barcelona Academy & current Watford junior is on the radar of some of the biggest names in world football.

http://www.fourfourtwo.com/au/news/aussie-starlet-makes-world-wait-watford#QXeCQiypVbkiukrl.01

Interview with Barcelona legend Guillermo Amor

Read my yarn with Barcelona legend and current Adelaide United Technichal Director Guillermo Amor: From football royalty to Reds revolutionary http://www.fourfourtwo.com/au/features/guillermo-amor-football-royalty-reds-revolutionary via @FourFourTwo

Part two of interview with Adelaide United star Marcelo Carrusca

Fire up for the FFACup final Pissants! Here is my interview with Adelaide United's silky skilled Argentinian Marcelo Carrusca. He talks FFA Cup Final, his time playing with Carlos Tevez, Maxi Lopez and Javier Mascherano  at the Under 20 World Cup and his 15 years with Estudiantes which culminated at Club World Cup in 2009.

http://www.fourfourtwo.com/au/features/carrusca-best-moment-my-career

Interview with Adelaide United's Marcelo Carrusca

Read my yarn with Adelaide United's silky skilled Argentinian Marcelo Carrusca on Brisbane Roar silverware & on-pitch Spanish 

http://www.fourfourtwo.com/au/news/matchday-carrusca-roar-silverware-and-pitch-spanish

Interview with Adelaide United's Spanish Import Sergio Cirio

Read my yarn with Adelaide United Spanish Import Sergio Cirio featured @FOXFOOTBALL  website:

http://m.foxsports.com.au/football/a-league/adelaide-uniteds-sergio-cirio-on-melbourne-victory-clash-josep-gombau-and-barcelona/story-e6frf4gl-1227138188398

Exclusive interview with former FC Barcelona Youth Coach Josep Gombau Part Two

Here is Part Two of the full Josep Gombau  interview. Part of this interview appeared on the Fox Sports website on August the 13th 2014. Here is the link here 

In Part Two Gombau talks: World Cup tactics, what his vision for the A-League All Stars vs Juventus game was.  

What former Barcelona and Spanish  international and now Technical Director of Adelaide United Guillermo Amor can bring to the club. 

And how his seven years coaching youth teams at FC Barcelona influenced his coaching career. 

9) In a recent interview you said you admired the German way of playing at the World Cup, particularly how they combined a passing game and being strong in defence, what other trends do you see in world football in terms of playing style?

There are a lot of styles, and every style is good, just you need to follow what I mean. In football you speak with an Englishman maybe he like the long ball, the second ball.

In the World Cup I like Germany because the treatment that they have with the ball was amazing, and after they combined this treatment with aggressive defence. and honestly now I am studying this. 

For me in Barcelona we try this treatment with the ball was amazing, but never aggressive in defence because we think attack attack attack and they combine this defensive with attacking but also when we lose the ball we are strong and it’s something for to make an analysis, it’s the way that I like. 

Because football is when you have ball try to have a good treatment with the ball and when you don’t have ball be strong and try to make the other team lose possession as soon as possible

11) What will the Foxtel All Stars vs Juventus game achieve for Australian football and you personally?

For me it’s a challenge, but not like a personal for a coach, it’s a challenge for all the country. These kinds of games put Australia in sight of the World in football and I have this responsibility to try and do a good game to try and get a result. 

The result is not win or lose, the result is to be competitive, is the game will be nice, will play a good football, and to show the A-League is strong and the league is good. 

This challenge that we have is important, this is what I like.

But not personal because in the end like a coach just to be in this game to make me a big name and also in Europe is speaking about this game, Josep is coaching there. 

But this is not the way. The way what I want to try and to put Australia and the A-League in a good way. But also for the players because the players get to get a good image, if they get a good image will show that this league is strong the clubs in Europe can show more attention to this league or they can have good offers in the future. 

It’s a way to show off Australian football, or the football here around the world.

12) You brought former Barcelona and Spanish footballer Guillermo Amor for the game against Malaga tell us what he brought to Adelaide?

He can bring a lot of things. In the beginning he come, he is the kind of person he need to get confidence. At the beginning he come and he just look around and not speak a lot.

But now he starts to work seriously he bring to us a lot of tactical stuff. He’s a player that played a lot of games and knows the movements perfectly and we want to work with Adelaide this 3 4 3 just to play with three defenders, attack more, he can bring a lot of things to us for me it’s a pleasure that Guillermo is here with us.



13) Do you think more Spanish coaches will follow your trail to Australia?

I think it’s not easy. Here there are good coaches, I become the fist team coach. It’s not easy to get this position with just ten teams. It’s difficult. 

We are lucky and I’m proud to have my position at Adelaide United. I know how difficult it is to have this job.

14) Can you tell us what kind of person away from football?

Away from football I think I’m a friendly person. A person that always is worried for the other people the family the people that is around me. 

I try always to help the people that are close with me. I’m a person that invests so much time with football it’s my life and sometimes I don’t share my time with my family because I am always thinking in football but this is the way that I am.

15) Who has been the biggest influence on your coaching career so far.

My biggest influence is not a person, it’s a style, my time in FC Barcelona. 

When I was there for me it’s the best university of football in the world and I stay seven years working there.  

It’s not one man or two mans or three mans, it’s the style, what you share with the other coaches of course it’s the people you work with  

Luis Enrique now is the coach, I work with Pep Guardiola and now he is at Bayern Munich.

I work with Guillermo Amor and now he is here with us (at Adelaide United) and I share with them a lot of time. 

But this not the persons, for me it’s the club FC Barcelona

16) What is your main motivating to succeed?

Now when you are a father and you have kids they are all for you. and in this moment of course my wife my parents. But in the end my kids.  because they know they need you and you need to be there and you have to work hard to try to bring to them the best that you can.

( All photo's courtesy of Adelaide United)

Exclusive Interview with Adelaide United Coach Josep Gombau Part One

Ever since Josep Gombau arrived in Australia a little more than 12 months ago the charismatic former Barcelona youth coach has been capturing the attention of Australian football fans and media.

The Spaniard beat out more successful A-League coaches like Mike Mulvey and Tony Popovic to coach the Foxtel A League All Stars against Juventus. The All stars produced a quality display and Gombau passion and coaching style almost produced a shock result.

It's a sign of the Adelaide United boss's coaching prowess that he was chosen ahead of more established names even though the Reds didn't take any honours last season.

Gombau is one of the nicest guys in football and I was lucky he gave me so much of his time. He is very interested in growing the game here in Australia and imparting his wealth of football knowledge.

Gombau spent seven years working with the youth teams at FC Barcelona so with such a pedigree behind him Australian football has much to learn from the Spaniard.

So here is Part One of an exclusive interview I did with Josep Gombau not so long ago. Part of this interview first appeared on the Fox Sports website. Here is the link.

1) How would you describe your first season at Adelaide United?

I think that it was good for me because I come from Hong Kong to a new league a new country. Always a coach or a player needs time to adapt to this new league that his going to work.

I think that we make a big change of the way that the club was playing, the years before, we are now playing another style of football and it was not easy in the beginning and in the end we finish playing a good football and I think the people and fans will appreciate it and I am happy.

2) Australia is far away from Spain what made you decide to coach here?

I was in Hong Kong I was not far away I was in Asia. I like always travel and football, these are two of my passions, and if you can mix both and you can know new countries new cultures, have friends around the world and also you can work in what you like it’s a good way.

3) Tell us how hard it was to stamp your playing style and philosophy on Adelaide United? Looking in from the sidelines it looks like you have a close relationship with your players is that important as a coach?

Yes it was very difficult when you arrive to one place and you want to change all the things to play another style and you want to put in a new system of playing, you need to change a lot of things and this takes time.

I need to say thanks to all the players because everybody worked hard to arrive at this objective to play this beautiful football that I think that we played last season in the last games. 

And it’s true I’m very close to the players because everybody is in the same way with the same objective to play and to win to be close to them is something that I like.

I think my age helps in this because I am a young coach, and it’s easy for me to have a close relationship with them



4) What are the main differences between coaching in Spain and Australia?

I think there are a lot. In Spain the football is the main sport and everybody appreciates it and everybody knows exactly what you are doing. 

Here the football is not the main sport. And a lot of people don’t care a lot about football and with these things you can see facilities support and these things. 

But it is something you can see I think in Australia the football is growing and growing and every day we are more close to have this 

5) What do you think about the standard of the A-League?

For me it’s high and every year is more high.

For me last season was high and this year will be more high.

Today I’ve been speaking with some players from different teams everybody have a good squads good signing players that are coming to the A League and this is nice and also is a challenge for everybody because I think the A-League is growing and we are doing the right things.

6) How do you manage a young player so the pressure doesn't get to him?

Sometimes the coaches want that the young players to play like an experienced players and in the moment this is quite impossible when the player make a mistake the coach take off and put inside again

Also sometimes choosing the games that he can play. The game is in a bad moment or the game is losing or you are not having the position of the ball is not a games for the kids in that moment; it’s not to put the kids in the game in this moment.

7) Besides lots of pesos how does Australian football improve the quality of coaches and players in a technical sense? What can the A-league do to improve? What kind of things would like to see implemented?

I think there are a lot of things. For example the A-League has just 10 teams, in my point of view I would like if we have more teams also the number of games that we play, in strong league the teams play a minimum of 38 games, We are playing 27 plus the finals.

 These things are things that we can improve. There are a lot of things that are good, the stadiums, the media; a lot of people is following.

There are a lot of things that the A League for me is at a level of a European league. But then there are other things not enough teams not games enough for one season.

There is a big big break; there is four five months that the league stops and in these things we can improve.

8) Last season you conducted coaching clinics for local coaches in Adelaide, what was the idea behind that? 

My idea was that I love to see the kids, to coach kids.

In the beginning the first few days that I arrived, sometimes I was with my car and I stopped and I watched the kids training and I watch also the coaches training and I feel there is a lot of things without ball, a lot of physical stuff, things that for me is not so important.

Important for me are that the kids have the skills and for kids to have the skills they have to work with the ball.

The moment come to me why not try and share my knowledge that I have coaching kids with all the coaches that want to come to the clinics and we spoke in the club and the club agreed to this.

And we make this coaching course that was 12 weeks, and we showed all the kids what they need to work and improve their skills and this helped to show kids from South Australia can enjoy more from training and can learn more from training.

Also the coaches have more knowledge and also we make a book for everyone, showing the way that they need to do the training. So I am satisfied we do this.

( All photo's courtesy of Adelaide United)

Part Two to follow.

Interview with former Barcelona Youth and Adelaide United Coach Jospe Gombau

Here's an interview I did with Adelaide United Coach Josep Gombau that was featured on the Fox Sports Website.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/football/a-league/adelaide-united-coach-josep-gombau-winning-over-australian-football-with-charismatic-approach/story-e6frf4gl-1227023549662