On October 11, Diego Martínez will complete 100 days as coach of Espanyol. That is the time that coaches usually ask for before drawing the first conclusions about the performance of their teams. In the case of the Galician coach, in this time he has had to build a team after many losses and a good number of signings. To analyze his work in these first 100 days, La Vanguardia has contacted three experts who shed light on his performance.
Luis García, former Espanyol player and coach, confesses that Martínez's choice was to his liking because of his vocation to "continue training, to learn about other cultures and improve aspects of his game models" by choosing to take a sabbatical year after his time in Grenade. “That indicates the degree of involvement of the desire to improve that he has. He is a serious person, with clear ideas and who transmits well”, he assures.
Moises Hurtado, former player and coach of the club's lower categories, is of the same opinion, highlighting his proposal for being "attractive" compared to that of Vicente Moreno, whose results "were good but the game proposal was a little more boring" . However, he is surprised that “the club's main asset, De Tomás, did not come into his plans in the beginning. “There the club shoots itself in the foot. You have to bring a coach who knows how to manage this player and, if not, be clear that it is going to be a way out, ”he reflects.
For Ángel Gómez, sports director of the club between 2012 and 2016, “any project is difficult to start but in this case it is multiplied by a thousand because there have been many factors external to him that are hurting him a lot. Internal changes, many players who have left, others who have arrived, the situation of De Tomás… ”, he explains. Luis García also emphasizes these difficulties and adds that "in the first days he has not had the fortune to obtain results that perhaps could have been favorable, but he needs time", he supports.
To the coach's credit, Gómez highlights as a positive being able to “hook the fans. He is rational, but also very passionate, he talks a lot about the attitude, about competing, about the parakeet feeling. People like that. He has entered with a good foot, ”he points out. For his part, García emphasizes “the clarity of his message. He has managed many situations that are not easy and he has done it with clarity”. Hurtado, on the other hand, emphasizes that he “is a coach who takes the emotional factor very much into account. The fans appreciate it, because with other coaches he has not been completely fair and with Diego, with worse results, and even sensations, he is being more patient”, he warns.
For Gómez “the football part is the negative point, probably because he hasn't had the time to fit the pieces he has”. Something in which he agrees with Hurtado who highlights the lack of "solidity in defense". “We are conceding a lot of goals, there have been individual errors and goal failures. These errors when they occur a lot and repeatedly come for something. The coach has to analyze it and stop it, because there are a lot of goals”.
Both Hurtado and Gómez consider that the coach's note would be enough so far. “I think the intention is good and the desire is evident. The squad is still not what he expected, but there is room for improvement”, highlights the former youth coach. “I would give it a five because we are out of relegation. If he was in decline he would be a four, ”says Gómez. Meanwhile, Luis García prefers “to be patient. You have to give time. The game models are not understood by the players in eight or nine weeks. I'm sure the results will come. He is a coach who is going to give us a lot of joy”, he concludes.
