The player wouldn’t understand

Based on my experience, when cases like this against Deportivo happen, where so many players are facing suspension, I would only think about the next game. In that of Balompedica Linense. You can’t think beyond that. It can happen that you manage to take a break and then start the next week and injure yourself with a bad gesture in training. And you end up without that important player in both games. You can’t think about the afterlife inside the competition. You have to react as events unfold and you don’t want to predict or force things too much. Yes, it’s true that as the game goes on, if you soon get to a point where it’s decided, like what happened the other day with Badajoz, well, yes, you can sort it all out. But if you trust a certain player, because you consider him important in the scheme, the first thing you have to be clear is that the most important game is always the next one you play. Three points count the same against Linense and against Castilla. This is about addition.

And in those situations, it can also be counterproductive to remind the soccer player that he is in this particular situation. First, because he already knows. And secondly, because he didn’t want to understand that you were sending him a message to be careful, not to step foot or that it’s better not to play because there’s another game you want him to be in. The most important thing is now.

Javier Oreiro is the national football coach