Alfredo Grelak on ADN: «I'd rather avoid Colón, history counts» | OneFootball

On the eve of the crucial Matchday 32 clash in the Primera Nacional, AlfredoGrelak, head coach of Estudiantes de Buenos Aires, spoke at length with the program ADN on Radio Gol 96.7. The coach analyzed his team’s current situation, looked ahead to this Saturday’s match at 3:00 p.m. at the Brigadier López Stadium, and delivered some very important remarks about the pressure surrounding the Sabalero and his own working methods.

In addition, Grelak used the microphones to deny an old transfer-market rumor, clarifying that when he was close to taking over at Colón in the past, he never demanded a list of names nor did the deal fall through over rigid contract issues, putting the myths of that old negotiation to rest. “We never even got to talking about names, that wasn’t the issue,” the coach clarified in the radio interview.

His take on Colón: “It’s a roller coaster”

When asked about Colón’s marked inconsistency throughout the season, the Pincha de Caseros coach acknowledged how difficult it is to analyze the Santa Fe side, though he did not hold back in praising the squad’s individual quality.

“It’s true that in recent matches they’ve changed the names a lot, but you know the quality there is and the possibilities Colón has if they control the game,” Grelak said while assessing Saturday’s opponent. The coach stressed that the Santa Fe club “has players of a quality no one is just discovering now,” and highlighted experienced men such as Lértora, Rasmussen, and Pier Barrios, who in his view “have the quality and the stature to marshal a defense.” Given that, he warned that his team has the clear obligation to “try to cut all of that off” on the field.

Regarding the situation surrounding the Santa Fe institution, Grelak reflected on the pressure suffocating the Sabalero in the final stretch of the tournament. “All teams go through different phases early on, and that’s when those players have to step up when there’s a bad run of results, especially at a club where the demands are as high as they are at Colón, and take responsibility,” the coach analyzed. He also pointed to the footballing slumps caused by the environment: “Sometimes they struggle to complete passes, and you say they can’t have forgotten how to play, but clearly the pressure weighs on them, there’s a burden there.”

Along those lines, the coach was blunt when choosing whom he would rather avoid in the playoff stage. “If you ask me which teams you’d rather not face—even though they’re not in the knockout stage yet—of course, I’d rather avoid Chacarita, Quilmes… they’re teams with history, and when history is on the table, they’re not easy to face,” he said flatly.

The importance of mental health and the role of the psychologist

One of the high points of the interview came when the recent addition of a sports psychologist to Colón’s coaching staff was discussed. Grelak was categorical on the subject and stated that in Barrio Centenario they “took far too long to bring in a psychologist.”

The coach revealed that, for him, it is a non-negotiable area within his regular staff. “Having a psychologist within a professional coaching staff is very important because I’ve had one since I started, and the truth is we work side by side on the tactical, strategic, physical, and mental aspects,” he explained on Radio Gol. In that sense, he recalled his professional path: “I worked for years with Darío, who is a very well-known sports psychologist, from the time I started at Quilmes, and then when I got to Chicago I met Alejandro Pagano, and from then on I’ve taken him everywhere with me as part of the coaching staff.”

For Grelak, psychological support is an urgent need in modern football because of the context surrounding younger players. “Today kids need this tool all the time because of this world and the players’ needs, but with the demands institutions place on them and the reality these kids live in… young people today are having a really hard time, they don’t know how to get out of it,” the tactician said. For that reason, he concluded that a psychologist is “almost as important as the physical side in terms of having an effective support tool.”

Living with the “chaos” of promotion football and refereeing

Recalling his very tough previous experience in charge of San Telmo—where he suffered a points deduction, the impossibility of playing in front of his fans, and the closure of his stadium—Grelak explained how he works with his players to shield them from the controversial refereeing in the division. “I got a master’s degree in my San Telmo year, it was very hard,” he remembered about those episodes.

The tactician places a lot of importance on the issue of refereeing decisions, but with the aim of making sure the player does not enter the match thinking about those outside factors. As proof that this approach has worked at his current club, he highlighted: “This year we haven’t had a single player sent off for insulting the referee.” In his view, the key lies in “doing really intense work so the player doesn’t get caught up in refereeing; what he has to do is focus on playing, and only on playing, and not on dwelling on a mistake.”

Even so, the coach acknowledged the wear and tear coaching staffs suffer because of blatant mistakes. “Sometimes they’re human errors and that’s fine, you understand them, and sometimes you don’t. What referees sometimes don’t understand from the coaches’ side is that we lose our jobs, a lot is at stake… so not reacting to that is hard, very hard,” he confessed openly.

In line with that, the coach put forward a firm proposal to raise the level of the promotion tournament by questioning organizational priorities: “You’re also competing in a second division that is professional in a country whose football has 3 stars, that has played 3 other finals… I mean, come on, how much could it cost to implement VAR in a second-tier promotion division?”

For him, technology would be a necessary first step because, while it would not guarantee perfection, “it would reduce the margin for some mistakes because there are plays in the penalty areas where, no matter the team, it looks more like Titanes en el Ring than football.”

The current state of Estudiantes de Caseros and the Ian Vera case

Finally, the coach described the orderly institutional reality he has found at the Pincha de Caseros. “I found a very well-run club; it’s a club that has no excess, but the player doesn’t lack anything either. The club is up to date on salaries, and with everything we ask for, it tries to help us,” Grelak said appreciatively. He also highlighted that the institution has a very good training ground, which he considered “peace of mind for everyone, because all we have to think about is playing.” From there, he made the squad’s ambitions clear: “The hope, desire, and intention is always to be in the mix (the Reducido), and from there to be competitive and compete in the best possible way to achieve promotion.”

He also made special mention of youngster Ian Vera, a forward whose registration belongs to San Lorenzo and who at one point drew public controversy for playing in amateur football tournaments such as the Copa Potrero. Grelak acknowledged the extra role he has to take on with this kind of player: “A lot of the time you have to be more of a father than a coach.”

Fortunately, the player got back on track thanks to the Pincha dressing room. “Luckily there came a point where he was well supported by the squad, the older guys, and he started to understand that the way he was handling his professional life gave him a chance to keep growing,” the coach explained. Pleased with the process, Grelak concluded that after being left out at San Lorenzo and arriving in Caseros on loan,

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.