Mikel Merino: "The Odegaard thing was a surprise, we thought it would continue for another year"

hypnotic magic went the highest praise

, some also for

maturity and punch

.

Few outside of

, however, noticed the capital importance of

(Pamplona, ​​1996) in the successes of the past year of

, the rival with whom

opens its season

tonight.

And, in a very special way, in his leadership in that final stretch in which nothing went right for the San Sebastian team, rushed to an agonizing draw at

that sealed their qualification for the

.

La Real survived and the Navarrese was very much to blame for that being so.

Are you more proud of how you played before the break or how you reacted to the losing streak after? I'm much more proud of the second half.

We knew we could play well and get into a winning inertia, what we didn't know was that a team so young, after such a hard restart in which we didn't beat anyone, was going to know how to recover from a situation like this.

As a block, it was a master of maturity at forced marches. Are they a countercultural team? We are a team that plays what is good, what has given us performance in recent years.

Teams like Villarreal, Madrid, Barça and sometimes Sevilla continue to have the intention of dominating with the ball, with a style similar to ours.

Maybe we sometimes sin by having it too much and taking risks in areas where we shouldn't do it, which is something we are learning to correct. Has touch football gone out of style?

I think what has gone out of fashion is the old tiki-taka of Barça or the national team.

That proposal to dominate with the ball continues to exist and many people, including myself, think that it is the best option to win a game, but we must include many more nuances of modern football, because now it is played at a higher speed than it does. 10 years.

Having the ball has to be combined with quick transitions, with defending strong after losing the ball, with knowing how to fold back if necessary ... For this season they have lost Odegaard.

Today they will have him in front of them, it was a surprise for everyone, we thought he would continue one more season with us.

We are two people who understand football in a similar way and that made the rapport on the field very good.

But we are already thinking about the squad we have and that David Silva has arrived to occupy that position, a great signing, spectacular.

In addition to his quality, he has come with great enthusiasm and has a lot of experience at the highest level, which is going to be very good for a group as young as ours, because we are going to learn a lot from him. To learn? When I was a kid I paid attention to Gerrard, Yaya Touré, Bruno Soriano ... Players how can I be now, box-to-box, with arrival, physical presence ... Now I pay more attention to details.

In how Busquets is positioned to filter passes at the first touch.

Defensively, I look at Casemiro, see when he is aggressive and when he lets the rival receive so as not to be necessary.

I like De Jong the amount of threats he makes to set defenses.

They are tricks of each player that make them very good and I look to take advantage and improve. Tell me, how is football without changing rooms? The truth?

It is awful.

If it was already hard having to play without people, have your dressing room removed ... It's a bit like your home, your space for concentration, of assimilating the importance of the game.

In Valladolid we had to stretch and listen to the coach's talk in a hotel room and it's not even close.

As soon as you get to the field, to warm up directly.

You don't get into the dynamics and routine of the game until just before it starts.

It was a pretty bad feeling.

I hope it changes as soon as possible, but as long as it does not change, we will have to continue with it.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

• Real Madrid

• Real society

• Martin Odegaard

• Seville

• David Silva

• Casemiro

• sports

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