Fabio Matias promises Botafogo aggressive and with emotional control and praises the squad’s commitment: ‘I’m very impressed’

Fabio Matias will most likely do this Wednesday, against Junior Barranquillahis last game as interim coach of the Botafogo, since Artur Jorge is arriving. In an interview with “GE”, the assistant to the permanent committee promised an aggressive team in the match soon, with a full house at the Nilton Santos Stadium, valid for the group stage of the Libertadores.

– You can expect an aggressive team, but with very high emotional control. A team that will give its all throughout the game, but will compete. There’s a really cool phrase here, and I’ve been using it a lot, which is “When we compete, we are unbeatable”. When we compete, we win duels, hardly anyone beats us. It’s a phrase we use a lot internally because the game of football is very based on duels. The more duels I win within the game, I will have advantages. That’s what can be expected. A team that will give itself from the first minute to the last – said Matias, who revealed that he has references in the Netherlands team:

– I had an opportunity, during a period of my life when I worked at Desportivo Brasil, to travel outside Brazil. It was something very good for my career. I knew a lot about that Dutch school. Cruyff, Ajax, Rinus Michels… It is the basis of the offensive game, structure, 4-3-3 positional used in Guardiola’s Barcelona. I got a lot of that from that period. Today it is very difficult to work in the grassroots scene because there is a lot of visibility, television broadcasts grassroots games. Imagine, in the first under-17 games, you suffer two 4-0 defeats, you are already at risk of being fired. Often, the coach, because of this, stops doing things he believes in.

The black and white interim coach praised the Botafogo squad, which impressed him due to their commitment on a daily basis.

– I am very impressed with this group of players in terms of work. We separated the cast into groups and ended up with smaller groups. The guys train hard, they go to the end, they ask for more. Training ends and they ask for more things. This is commitment to the club. “Ah, but you earn a salary, you’re paid well…” Come on, commitment isn’t just about you being here. A lot of people come and are just present. It’s being inside. I’m impressed. I’m not saying anything more. I’ve seen grassroots groups that work much less than this one and the guys here are renowned. This is a favorable point – said Fabio Matias, who spoke about people management:

– Today, 50% of the work is related to management, and it is not fashionable. Management is not knowing how to manage, it is knowing how to deal with people. The other 50% is knowledge. If the athlete looks at you and doesn’t trust you, forget it, it won’t work. The athlete has to see it and say “fuck, that’s it, that’s good”. That’s what training is for, for you to insist, to say that the guy is good. Then there’s a game, and the player does the same thing he did in training. It’s a fight of conviction, to make the guy convinced that everything will work out. If you talk a lot about coaching and management, I’m a much more direct guy, I always like to talk rather than elaborate or create big scenarios. It’s 50/50. Those who have a lot of management, some lack knowledge. Those who know too much may lack management.