Mellow yellow
Revista de La Liga caught up with Villarreal's highly-rated manager.
Last updated: 16th April 2008
Manuel Pellegrini: talking exclusively to Revista
The whole week the players train with the ball, they do not exercise without the ball.
Villarreal coach, Manuel Pellegrini
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Manuel Pellegrini's serene demeanour came across as he spoke to Revista about the fine job he is doing at Villarreal.
The title race may be heading for an early conclusion as Real Madrid hold a commanding nine point lead over Barcelona, but Villarreal have been the revelation of the season.
Currently in third spot, five points clear of Atletico Madrid, the Yellow Submarines look set to qualify for the Champions League for the second time in four years.
And with their debut showing in the Champions League in 2005-06 a real success - losing out to Arsenal in the semi-finals - Pellegrini has built another team capable of reaching the same heights.
Villarreal are a team full of flair and pleasing on the eye, with every single player comfortable on the ball, so what's Pellegrini's secret?
He told Revista: "The whole week the players train with the ball, they do not exercise without the ball. From Monday through to Saturday we always play with the ball.
"I speak a lot with the players, it's very important to know the personality of each of my players so we can have a collective spirit.
"The principle thing here in Villarreal expression, we have a very important project here not to grow one year to win the championship but to grow each year."
Calm
Pellegrini's calming influence may also be a factor as he is happy with the blend of youth and experience in his team and cites that as a factor in their success.
Rumour has it goalkeeper, Diego Lopez is a transfer target for by Spurs and Gonzalo Rodriguez, an Argentina international defender is also sought-after and highly rated by Pellegrini.
"The players in America are cheaper than here in Europe. Rodriguez and Diego Leal for me the best two defenders in La Liga.
"It's very important we have a lot of other players are very young - Santi Cazorla, Giuseppe Rossi.
"We have three or four players with a lot of experience, it's very important also for the team, like Robert Pires, Marcos Senna, Guillermo Franco, all in their 30s.
"So we have a mix of young players, experienced players, Latin and European players and we have, fortunately, a good team."
Difficult
And the Chilean coach believes that Villarreal can develop further, but it won't be easy.
"I think La Liga is different to other leagues in Europe because each game is difficult - we are always talking about Real Madrid and Barcelona and everybody thinks that they have to win all the games and it's very difficult here.
"Other clubs are trying to grow - like Villarreal and Atletico so Real Madrid and Barcelona are very important clubs and very huge clubs, so it's not as easy as the Press thinks.
Many people would believe that Villarreal do not have high expectations and are not put under pressure by their fans to be successful, but Pellegrini feels that is now not quite the case.
"I don't think that is true, people here in Villarreal are accustomed to [success] last year playing for something when we started the last year playing in the Intertoto Cup and we weren't playing well there were a lot of problems it's not that easy, people."
