Arbeloa interview

[keniget]

Nicked from TLW... interesting:

You began your career at Real Madrid. Moving to the Bernabeu from Liverpool last summer must have been like a homecoming for you…?

Yes, but it’s a different Madrid and a different me. When I left without a buy-back option, thinking the door would remain shut. I’m glad to have been wrong. I took a decision that I thought was right at the time and I still think so. It’s hard to make the first team. The pressure is intense; there wasn’t the stability that a fantastic generation of youth teamers perhaps needed. And, as for me, I wasn’t ready. This summer, I was. Things have fallen into place: the return of the president [Florentino Perez], my situation at Liverpool, my development. I’ve been lucky.

How important were Liverpool and Rafa Benitez in your development?

Hugely important. It was a wonderful opportunity and a great experience. Rafa is very, very, very demanding. He pushes you extremely hard. To work with him you have to have patience and understanding; you need to accept what he’s like. There’s no doubt that if you can work with him, he improves you. He’s correcting you every single second, always wanting more. That was good for me. So was going to the Premier League because it’s so much more physical. It made new demands, developing sides of my game that I hadn’t developed in Spain.

What stood out most about English Football?

The fans, the folklore, the atmosphere, the feeling, the intensity. There’s a respect, a kind of deference, towards tradition and indentity. In Spain, the team has to carry the fans; in England it’s the other way round. Madrid’s fans demand the best, Liverpool’s fans help you produce it.

What are the biggest differences between Manuel Pellegrini and Rafa Benitez?

Pellegrini gives the players more freedom, he’s not so intense and has more of a soft approach. The style is different. We play two-touch, there’s more willingness to take risks; Rafa doesn’t want you to take any risks ever. Rafa’s happy to score the first and sit back; Pellegrini is the opposite. He’s more focused on possession. They’re different concepts, and both perfectly acceptable.

But should Liverpool and Rafa let go a bit? Do they need to be freer, more creative?

Rafa was a bit more attacking last season. Liverpool follow Rafa’s instructions very closely. What Rafa wants, the team does. Rafa works hard during the week and a lot of the time the team plays on memory. That’s very good in certain situations, but there are momentsthat you need to think or yourself and do something unexpected. If the opposition works you out, you need you need another option. Sometimes, within [Benitez’s] framework, doing something unpredictable is hard. Every player knows what he wants. The 1-2-3 you work on in the week is the 1-2-3 you produce in the matches. AT times that can be a bit robotic.

Was it a relief to leave Liverpool?

I was sad to go, but as soon as I saw I had this opportunity there was no way I could turn it down – the chance to come home and to be part of an incredible project.

Are you suggesting team rotation is therefore necessary for psychological factors rather than physical reasons?

Yes, for sure. If you have a player who hasn’t played for five or six games, there’s the risk that he will switch off. He’ll not give his all, he won’t train as hard. It’s not just about making sure all the players are physically right but that they come to training thinking they have a chance of playing, that they compete – and, as a consequence of that, oblige their team-mates to compete too. You make sure people are happy and working. TO do that they have to know that there’s a place to fight for. Players want to play, especially in a World Cup year.

 

[doctor_mac]

Sums up Rafa's strengths and weaknesses in a few sentences.

 

[Judge Jules]

He speaks like he plays, no frills, straight to the point. Very interesting on Rafa, but no real surprises there. What the interview does clarify IMO is that this is not a player we could have kept had we tried harder, as some have alleged.

 

[Squiggles]

We didn't have to sanction the sale. Jules. For the sake of 3/4 million I'm far from convinced it was worth it.

 

[RedStar]

The point about Rafas obsessive controlling nature is one thats been made before but its certainly as much of a weakness as a strength at times

I was never entirely convinced by Arbeloa, hes a decent fullback but not the quickest and never offered much going forward, Johnson is undoubtedly an improvement but £4m was a very low fee for him. The sort of fee you take for a player your dying to get rid of or who is well past thier best, Arbeloa was neither of those things, combined with the fact he was going to one of the wealthiest clubs in the game during an expensive rebuilding project it represents a terrible return

 

[Judge Jules]

[quote author=Squiggles link=topic=39941.msg1093448#msg1093448 date=1272275497]
We didn't have to sanction the sale. Jules. For the sake of 3/4 million I'm far from convinced it was worth it.
[/quote]

No, we didn't, but I don't believe we'd have come out ahead if we hadn't done so. We'd have had a player on our books whose heart and mind were clearly elsewhere, and when he eventually did leave his value would have dropped accordingly.

 

[doctor_mac]

[quote author=Judge Jules link=topic=39941.msg1093470#msg1093470 date=1272280054]
[quote author=Squiggles link=topic=39941.msg1093448#msg1093448 date=1272275497]
We didn't have to sanction the sale. Jules. For the sake of 3/4 million I'm far from convinced it was worth it.
[/quote]

No, we didn't, but I don't believe we'd have come out ahead if we hadn't done so. We'd have had a player on our books whose heart and mind were clearly elsewhere, and when he eventually did leave his value would have dropped accordingly.
[/quote]

It was always my suspicion that the deal was done a year previously. The talk was very strong that Arby was agitating for a move and Real were tapping, and then all went quiet. A year later the deal goes through with a minimum of fuss. I think Rafa asked him for 1 more season and then he would agree the move, no hard feelings.

 

[King Binny]

High compliments from Mourinho.

"He never gives me any nasty surprises," said Mourinho of Arbeloa. "When he is on the pitch I know that I don't have to worry. He is usually marking the opposition's best player and they don't normally get a kick."

 

[Judge Jules]

Doesn't surprise me. No world-beater maybe, but a good pro whom we really could have done with at times since he left.

 

[Modo]

[quote author=Judge Jules link=topic=39941.msg1287838#msg1287838 date=1298106373]
Doesn't surprise me. No world-beater maybe, but a good pro whom we really could have done with at times since he left.
[/quote]
yup

 

[mark1975]

[quote author=Judge Jules link=topic=39941.msg1093435#msg1093435 date=1272271788]
He speaks like he plays, no frills, straight to the point. Very interesting on Rafa, but no real surprises there. What the interview does clarify IMO is that this is not a player we could have kept had we tried harder, as some have alleged.
[/quote]

Yeah more or less what we've always said, efficient bordering on robotic with little room for spontaneity.

 

[the count]

we were well served by consistant, professional but underestimated right full backs, in Finnan and Arbeloa

 

[doctor_mac]

[quote author=the count link=topic=39941.msg1287854#msg1287854 date=1298110914]
we were well served by consistant, professional but underestimated right full backs, in Finnan and Arbeloa
[/quote]

Agree with that.

 

[RolandG]

Good interview by Arbeloa. No thrills or frill much like his play.

Good player that we sold on the cheap.

 

[LadyRed]

Poor Sergio

 

[King Binny]

First up, is Real Madrid's versatile Alvaro Arbeloa, a utility player whose primary position is fullback. Arbeloa is a former Real Madrid youth team player who returned to the club in the summer of 2009 when club president Florentino Perez embarked on a pursuit of a second Galacticos recruitment policy.

The affable Arbeloa is known to be an TV/film aficionado, so we initially discuss his fondness for American TV shows (he's currently a fan of HBO's Game Of Thrones) and joke about the World Cup trophy the players have brought with them to the meet-and-greet. "No, we have to be really careful with the trophies and for now we have to keep this [one] away from Sergio Ramos," laughs Arbeloa.

Although he's been with Real for two seasons now, Arbeloa's arguably still best remembered for being one of the few defenders on this planet that actually managed to shut down Barcelona's Lionel Messi (on Arbeloa's debut for Liverpool in the Camp Nou in 2007).

When Arbeloa is told how Liverpool fans still hold him in fond affection, it's clear the feeling is still reciprocated on his part. "Always when I can, I try to watch Liverpool," said Arbeloa. "This [past season] at the beginning it was a little bit difficult and when they have changed the manager, I think they have improved a lot and finished better.

"So I am supporting them and when I was there I was really, really happy and the supporters were good to me."

Arbeloa's own assessment of the turnaround in Liverpool's fortunes is succinct. "I think the style under [Roy] Hodgson, they played maybe too many long balls," said Arbeloa. " I think Liverpool is the type of team that has to play more football. Technically they have some really good players and they need to play more football. I think with [Kenny] Dalglish, who was one of the best players in the history of Liverpool, they look more confident and they improved a lot."

It certainly doesn't hurt that Liverpool also picked up the whirling dervish otherwise known as Luis Suarez. "I think Suarez is a very good player, he was doing really good from the first day," said Arbeloa. "It was a little bit of a surprise because it's not easy to come to England to play that well from the first day and he did."

And his former teammates, does he keep in touch? "Yes I keep in touch with some of them, especially with Lucas Leiva, he's a really good friend. I think he had a good season and I think he's growing a lot at Liverpool."

As for his own form, Arbeloa's ability to fill in at both right and left back has been invaluable for Real. Some have observed that his on-field temperament at Real has been noticeably more aggressive to his previous demeanor in England. "Not really, I think that maybe you have to play different as the Liga and the Premier League are different and the style of the games are a little bit different," counters Arbeloa. "But I think my style is more or less the same, you have to improve, and you have to try to do new things, but I don't think that I have changed."

As our conversation ends, Arbeloa asks me for my own impression of Game Of Thrones (I'm also a fan of the show), and for a recommendation for his next viewing material (I suggest Spartacus).

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/jen_chang/06/12/alonso.arbeloa.silva/index.html