How to improve Europe's best?

“For me, it is to try to keep improving, to make all the players better. Of course, I want to win every single game I play. I am a very competitive person, I get very frustrated if I lose a game, even if it’s a friendly.

“If you are a Barcelona head coach, you have to win everything. It’s not mandatory, but the atmosphere if you don’t do it is like you didn’t do really well.

“I have a great challenge to improve the performance of last year because we won almost everything.
“For me, it’s a big challenge, because I have got the most important players in the world.

“The challenge will be the same as last year: try to win everything, improving the individual skills of the players.”
So far, it’s a challenge that Barca are rising to. The first game under Giráldez’s stewardship was the inaugural Women’s Joan Gamper Trophy, in which they beat Serie A champions Juventus 6-0.

Since then, Barca have lost only one game with Giráldez at the helm: a 3-2 defeat against Lyon in the Women’s International Champions Cup semi-final.

Their league campaign so far has been faultless. They’ve conceded just two goals in nine matches, scoring 54. Their efforts to retain the Champions League have, too, got off to a dream start, with group stage victories against Arsenal and HB Køge.

The 4-1 victory over Arsenal is of particular note, with the Gunners riding high in England’s FA WSL this season.

But for Giráldez and his players, the eyes of the footballing world on them is far from added pressure.
“I think it’s an extra motivation,” he said. “The players are able to live with the pressure because they are the best players, some of the most important players in the world.”

And with so many eyes on them, how much do Barca stare back?

“Each week is different, but for us the focus is not the opposition, it is to keep improving like a team,” Giráldez said.

“Depending on the team we have in front of us, we have to adapt different concepts during training, but it’s not only about thinking about the other team, it’s about thinking about our different options.

“We try to put the focus on our game model, adapting small things for the game, thinking about the defensive or offensive system, the opposing team, the individual qualities, the best way to help individuals, the way the opposing team can hurt us.

“For example, one team might have three great running players attacking the space behind. We have to practice that.

“We have the feeling, when we are playing different games, that the opposing team plays against Barca and modifies their structure. So it’s not so important for us to analyse the opposing team. 

 

“For us, the focus is not the opposition. It is to keep improving like a team...”

 

“We have to analyse them when it’s the level of the opposition of PSG, Chelsea, Arsenal, Atlético Madrid or Real Madrid.

“In this case, we have to understand that they go to modify small details to play against us. The main focus for us is to keep improving as a team.”

Some might question what improvement looks like for a team winning by such vast margins, showing no sign of giving up the dominance of the previous season.

Giráldez returns to the idea of improving the individual skills of the players, a task facing coaches at all levels of the game across the globe.

Yet most coaches don’t have the likes of Alexia Putellas, Jennifer Hermoso and Lieke Martens, all nominated for the 2021 Uefa Women’s Player of the Year, at their disposal.

But for Giráldez, no matter the scoreline, nor the quality of the players, you can always improve. 

GIRÁLDEZ’S GAME MODEL: “THE KEY IS HAVING POSSESSION”

“I’m lucky because I’ve always worked with good players. When you have good players you can dominate games.

“I always try to have possession of the game. I try to put the opposing team under pressure during the build up and I try to win ball possession as high up the pitch as possible.

“When we are attacking I like to have four players inside playing in different channels in different squares so we have more options to receive the ball and make progress.

“One of the most important things for me when we are attacking is that we’re ready for the transition.

“It’s not only about intensity, it’s about being in good places. If we are not ready to recover the ball as soon as possible if we lose it, it’s because we are not well placed – it’s about being ready for the transition.

“When I have a situation under control, I try to disorganise it to keep improving the team. I have to modify something to try to adapt to different environments.

“If you watch our games, the key is having possession, creating different clear situations on goal, and identifying the superiorities of the game.” 

 

GIRÁLDEZ ON DEVELOPING HIS COACHING SKILLS: “FOR ME, IT’S ALWAYS ABOUT TRYING TO KEEP IMPROVING AS A PERSON”

Jonatan Giráldez does not turn 30 until later this month, but he already has an impressive CV.

A sports science student, he worked as an analyst, fitness coach and coach at youth level for the Catalan Football Federation, lectured at university and worked as a TV commentator.

Having discussed improving his players, how does he further his own skills?

“I always try to learn everything about my role. For me, it’s always about trying to keep improving as a person.
“All my experience, my background, I add to my pack so I’m as ready as possible when I have a new job.

“When I worked at the Catalan Football Federation, one of my main ways to keep improving was to try to learn about another head coach and another club.

“It’s not so important if you agree or you don’t with the other way the head coach decides, but you can learn many things.

“When you try to explain one situation and another person refuses your idea, it’s like a challenge or a debate. You can learn about the other person.

“Right now, it’s not so easy for me to learn about another head coach, because I don’t have enough time. But I try with my friends, my close friends explain different situations: if this bottle is the player, which is the best way to press?

“Discussing different situations is, for me, the best way to keep improving.”

He says: “One of the most important things for me is not paying too much attention when you are winning the game. It’s all about what is depending on you as a player. You have to keep improving.

 

“It’s not possible to make everything perfect during every single game. It’s not so important if we win 7-0, or 8-1, like the recent game against Real Sociedad.

 

“For me the question is why we conceded a goal, why we missed four balls in the defending half, why we created 18 clear situations to score but we only made eight.

 

“For me, it’s about paying attention to the ways you can improve. I think if you can improve your individual skills, it will be easier for the team to keep improving.”

 

This drive to keep progressing - which Giráldez says is “our mentality, both mine and the players” - is also served by the competition between the players. And he says the worst part of his head coach role is “having to decide, every game, the 11 players that can play.”

 

“I am not being fair with the players, because all of them deserve to play, Every session the intensity and the quality of the players is high. But I have to decide.

 

“When you have so many good quality players, they compete within themselves so the team performances keep improving.

 

“Of course I have to decide who plays, but up to now I’ve taken the decision I understand to be best for the team.

 

“It’s not easy for me, but the players have to understand the role they have. I try to give opportunities to all the players whilst trying to give the best for the team.

 

“The great performances are good for the team because the players have to win their place. They have to compete with the best players so it’s the best way for us to keep improving.”

 

Barca must maintain this focus on improving if they are to turn their promising start to 2021-22 into something which emulates last season’s success, something Giráldez calls “very difficult”.

 

When asked to reflect for a moment on the history-making Champions League victory against Chelsea, Giráldez refuses to get drawn into the grandeur of such an occasion.

 

“The attitude to playing the first league game, a pre-season game, it has to be the same as if we play a Champions League final.

 

“We have to create habits. It’s not so important who’s in front of us, we always have to play at the same level.

 

“We don’t say ‘okay, we’re going to play the most important game of the season’. No. We train for each game like we did the last.”

 

So that’s how one of the most successful teams in the world does it: focus on one game, then the next. It’s a simple approach that can be adopted by us all. And when you’re managing arguably the best team in the world, the simplest of rewards are still there too.

 

For Giráldez, the best bit about being Barcelona’s head coach is not the titles or the applause, rather “the emotion with which I leave the game”.

 

“It’s like I was playing for 90 minutes. I love it. I really love it.”