Pablo Longoria admits to having made a mistake in the succession of Igor Tudor. Despite the alternatives proposed.
It’s an understatement to say that OM’s start to the season is not in line with expectations. Igor Tudor left this summer, Pablo Longoria opted for Marcelino after failing to successfully complete the Marcelo Gallardo and Paulo Fonseca files. A real technical upheaval for the club, which did not simply undergo a large squad review in the off-season but had to review its playing philosophy.
“ I have to be self-critical, especially because one of the biggest mistakes I made was a lack of analysis of the difficulties of moving on from a system like that of Igor Tudor.admits the president of OM in an interview with RMC. It is a mistake as a club, and I take it individually, for not having analyzed enough what was next in terms of the game in all the Italian clubs in which it was implemented. And that’s a mistake I made in building this squad: minimizing the impact of the transition from one style of play to another. »
Longoria, “Mr. Mea Culpa”
With Marcelino in charge, the Olympians had to relearn how to play in effect, moving from Tudor’s characteristic 3-5-2 to a rigid and disciplined 4-4-2. “ Many players who continued with us had internalized this way of playing in an important way. The construction of a very organized collective as Marcelino wanted to do or as Gennaro Gattuso wants to put in place is something that we took lightly. I thought the players’ adaptation would be easier. »
The facility would have wanted a certain continuity this summer. And agent Yvan Le Mée claims to have offered this possibility to Pablo Longoria, by suggesting the Italian technician Walter Mazzarri, newly appointed to the Naples bench to replace Rudi Garcia. A fan of 3-5-2, the latter coincided more with the Tudor style. So why didn’t it match? “ You have to ask Mr. Mea Culpa », replies Le Mée, in reference to Pablo Longoria.
