Tonglianglong's new coach Salvador: My goal is to lead the team to the top Chongqing is eager to return to the top league

Reporter Lu Mi reports On December 26 last year, Chongqing Tongliang Dragon Club officially announced that Spanish coach Salvador took over the team. Tonglianglong ranked fifth in the Chinese League last season, and the team, which is mainly based on the U18 team of the National Games, has caused a storm of youth in the mountain city, and unfortunately failed to surpass at the last moment. With a predominantly young player, a strong impact and an attacking focus, this team fits perfectly with El Salvador's coaching characteristics.

In an interview with this newspaper, El Salvador mentioned many times that he wants to make his team have a "winner" mentality, the Spaniard has ambitions, and he has a set of methods in training young players, Tonglianglong Club hopes that his joining can drive the development of youth training, which is not only for Chongqing football to cultivate talents, but also for the better development of Chinese football.

◆Football: After the end of last season, you received an invitation from Chongqing Tonglianglong, and soon Tonglianglong announced that you would officially take over, can you talk about the process?

Salvador: First of all, Chongqing Tonglianglong Club was very interested in me, and then I had a long exchange and communication with the club. Because at that time, I also received offers from other teams, and I had to evaluate them myself. I think coming to Chongqing is an opportunity, the club's plan is perfect, especially in terms of future development, and there is also a very serious and serious attitude, and I think this club is a good fit for me.

◆In the 2024 season, you led the team to play against Chongqing Tongliang Dragons, what impression did this team leave on you at that time?

I was very impressed with the Chongqing team last season, the first leg was Chongqing's home stadium, Chongqing's home stadium conditions are very good, the Chongqing fans are very enthusiastic, and the support for the team is very strong, which impresses me. Later, Chongqing went away and the whole game was very difficult because the result was very important for both teams and it was very intense. In my impression, Chongqing Tonglianglong is a very powerful team. The team's advantage at the tactical level is that the defense is very solid, especially in the first half of the game, Chongqing achieved very good results, once ranked second, and opened up a gap with the teams behind in points. At the time I thought it would be difficult to score goals against them and I saw that this team has a very good foundation and has good players who can create a better result.

◆In December last year, you officially started leading the team, how did you feel after leading the team for a while?

I don't want to name any one specific name here, but in general, in the players, I see a desire for football, for the game, for better results, and a lot of anticipation for the future. In the process of leading the team training, I saw how engaged they were, and this professional attitude made my job easier.

◆What did you do in the first stage?

I've just arrived to build the foundation of this team and prepare for the way we play in the new season. I want to play my character and play a more courageous kind of football. For us, it's not that important to the opponent, but we have to do our job first and foremost to let the players know what they should do at every moment of the game, which is what we are mainly working on in the first phase.

◆The training in Haikou has begun, what is the arrangement for this stage?

The main task of the new intensive training is to get to know the players better and let them better understand the tactical requirements of the coaching team. You have to know and know the players not only on the training pitch, but also off the pitch. We have to make the most of the training camp, not only to train together, but also to live together, so this stage is very important because the players can be more prepared in terms of technique, tactics and strategy. This stage is not only training, there will be a lot of Chinese Super League teams in Haikou to train intensively, and we will seek to play warm-up matches with them. This allows us to experience playing in more difficult ways in advance, to see how the players overcome the difficulties they encounter, and also to learn to have a "winner" mentality.

◆Before leaving Haikou, the club officially announced that many players had left the team, and after a large-scale blood change, what changes have been made in the personnel structure of the new season?

We will do a good job of combining young players and experienced players and we want to build a team with room for future development, which is one of the goals that the owner told me. In the future, we will cultivate more outstanding players, not only for our team, but also for Chinese football, and I hope to cultivate excellent young players for the national brand, which is a point that touches me very much. In the future we will start to bring in young players and, of course, experienced players as well.

◆Last season's three foreign players are gone, how is the introduction of foreign players going?

The three foreign players in the new season are now at a juncture of judgment, and we are considering all the possibilities to finally make the best choice.

◆Tonglianglong was a promotion horse in the Chinese League last season, and will be defensive in terms of technique and tactics, what kind of ideas do you have for the new season's style of play?

The idea in terms of style of play is that we want to be a team that aggressively goes forward and attacking, develops the ball into the opponent's half as quickly as possible, and then creates chances. This means that we have to build a team with a "winning mentality", to control the game, not only in the offensive phase, but also in the defensive phase we have to try to complete it in the opponent's half, to create more scoring opportunities and at the same time to actively and quickly counter-attack, as soon as possible to get the ball back after losing the ball, this is my vision for the new season.

◆"Football": Chongqing Tonglianglong is dominated by young players, and you are also good at making young players play better, which is one of the reasons why you chose Tonglianglong, right?

Salvador: That's one of the things that impresses me about this club, there are a lot of great young players here, there's room for improvement, and I am motivated. In fact, for me, the aspect of a job that impresses me is not a contract or the annual salary, but in fact, the program that the club can provide is the core that really impresses me.

◆You came here, what did the management ask of you, and what were your long-term and short-term tasks?

The long-term goal is to develop high-level players for the future. If our young players can improve their level and there are more and more such players in a team, then our results must be very good, and at the same time, the club can also achieve a good internal circulation; The short-term goal is to make the Chongqing fans look forward to our game and let them see the team's wonderful performance, and I would like to take this opportunity to talk about my personal goal, which is to lead the team to the top this year.

I want to stay in this team for a long time, because only by working in a team for a long time can I implement the plans and develop them consistently. In this process, I will work with the team management, the management of the club and our chairman to build the club well, and only by doing it in one direction for a long time and steadily can the plan be steadily developed and executed.

◆In your opinion, what kind of process does it take to achieve long-term goals?

The first step is to identify young players who have the talent, the foundation and the potential to develop. Bring them into the professional system as much as possible at a young age and train them to adapt to modern football. It is important for them to master some basic characteristics, such as high intensity and high reflexes with and without the ball, including the ability to balance their feet and creativity in the game, which will take a long time to develop.

◆You said that you want to play high pressing and fast offensive and defensive switching, many Spanish coaches who coached in the Chinese Super League had this idea before, similar to Pedro, Tato, Javier, and then they encountered a lot of difficulties in practice, the main reason is that the technical ability of local players cannot support it. Do you think the domestic players can fully meet your requirements at the moment?

I think it's achievable, some of the Spanish coaches you just mentioned, they may not have the same goals as me, and each of us has different coaching characteristics. There may be coaches who value short-term results, but I take a long-term view. I want not only a game or a season's results, of course, I want to win games, I want to push up as much as possible in the season, and I hope that I can make some breakthroughs in other aspects, such as player development, player ability and so on.

◆You said that there is still room for improvement in the young players of Tonglianglong, so what are your thoughts in this regard?

It depends on what we do every day, and we have to ask the highest demands on the players. First of all, in terms of training, our daily training arrangements are completed in a high-tempo, high-intensity and high-confrontation situation, so this requires every one of our players, whether it is a young player or a relatively old player, they must have the highest requirements for themselves at every moment of training, otherwise they will not meet the standard of training.

As a coach, I am very strict with my players in training and in life, and the club has created a very professional environment on and off the pitch. For example, in terms of the daily nutritional intake of the players, as well as the management of the rest time, it is very standardized, and I think that if you do these details well, whether it is the young players or the experienced players, they can show their greater abilities.

◆Tongliang Dragon Club has just experienced an important stage of capital increase and share expansion, what do you think such changes mean for the survival and development of professional clubs, including the realization of your long-term and short-term goals?

This question is actually about professionalism. If a club can do that, it means that the team and the club can have more resources that can be used to better develop and develop the abilities of our current and future players. For example, there are more ways we can do it, and even better hardware tools and ways to help achieve long-term goals. The most intuitive effect is to make the fans have more expectations for this team, and at the same time, this expectation can push all our players to meet the challenges of the future in the best way and attitude.

◆Football: You mentioned that you want to lead the team to overtake, if you want to surpass, the pressure you need to bear will not be small, and on the mental level, what kind of work will you do?

El Salvador: A lot of times, stress is part of our adult job, you want to live well, you have to live better, you have to understand stress, you have to learn to live with it, you have to learn to eliminate the effects of it. In the arena, any team or individual needs to compete with their opponents, compete with the best, and influence them at the same time, and they must overcome the pressure in the game, get used to playing under pressure, and only by doing this, you will become the best player, and the team will become the best team.

◆Chongqing football has also had moments in the top league, after you get here, what is the most intuitive feeling when you see Chongqing football's desire for the top league?

I can certainly feel the longing. We have a lot of attention and support from the fans behind us, and I know how much the fans want the city to have a top-flight team again, and that's one of the things that keeps me motivated. I knew it meant more pressure on me and the team, but I came here to get good results, so I didn't hide it and be honest about what I wanted to do. Otherwise, wouldn't it be more chic to bask on the beach in my hometown of Valencia? I just wanted to achieve some great goals.

◆How much do you know about Chongqing?

I've been to Chongqing and now I know the city better. I know that Chongqing is a modern city that is developing rapidly, and I have also seen that there are some old parts of the city that are full of history, and there are also some very modern parts with a strong sense of technology, and the whole city is improving in all aspects. Chongqing itself is very famous all over the world, and it is also very attractive to me.

◆Have you communicated with the players since you came here? Have you talked about the topic of rushing?

When I met with the players on the first day, I explained to them my mindset and my goals, that we are going to build a team with a winning mentality, that we want to be the best, and that's the same thing.

◆Are you a coach who is good at talking to players?

I'm kind of a good guy with the players, and in my work every year and every day, I have a lot of conversations with my players, not only on the competitive level and on the football level, but also on a life and social level. I've always believed that the devil is in the details, and the trust between me and the players is also an important part of the work.

◆Football: Not many teams do this because there is pressure on performance. In your opinion, what is the most reasonable state for professional football to leave for young players?

Salvador: I don't want to make a distinction between young and older players, I think a lot of professional football thinks in terms of results and results. From the perspective of professional football alone, there is no need to distinguish between young and old, what I want to emphasize is actually talent and the player's own performance, whether the player is 16 or 40 years old, as long as he is talented, capable, and then has a good form and performance, then he deserves to play, this is one of the aspects that professional football values, and it is also an important part of professional football that needs to be considered.

◆Many clubs have said before that there are some developmental contradictions between youth training and first-team results, in your opinion, is there a contradiction?

Developing players and achieving results in professional football are two different parts and I think I'm honoured or have the ability to use some of the young players in the professional team and get them to do well in the first team.

◆You've spent most of your time in China leading youth teams, what has it been like for you?

It's a big deal for me, I'm a person who likes to learn and learn about different cultures, and in the process of working like this, I get to know all kinds of players and update my knowledge of football all the time. In the beginning, when I worked in Spain, I worked for some big clubs such as Atletico Madrid, Villarreal, Levante, etc., and later I also went to South America, where I worked in both the first and second divisions. After I came to China, I was more engaged in youth training or leading youth troops, which is another world for me, and looking at things from a different perspective and direction. Developing young players is also helpful for the development of coaches, and from a personal development perspective, the experience of coaching in China is very meaningful.

◆How did you combine the Spanish football philosophy with the realities of Chinese youth training?

In fact, it is a very simple process, in the process of cultivating and educating young players, instilling in them some of the Spanish football concepts and ways of thinking, just like teaching students to read, so that they can accept the playing style and philosophy of Spanish football from an early age. Spanish football is one of the best in the world today, and I think it would be a very attractive process for me to be able to advocate for these good parts of the Chinese youth system.

◆What do you think is the biggest difference between the training methods and processes of young Chinese players compared to those in Europe?

I think one of the biggest differences is in the organization of the game. In Spain, for example, there are a lot of community competitions, as well as a lot of national competitions, which means that the young players have a lot of games to play every weekend, organized in the form of leagues, so that players of different ages can get full training. Probably in China at the moment, young players are playing cup games more often, which means they don't have a year-round game cycle, frequency and leveling method, which is a certain difference from in Europe. I suggest that in the future in the process of development, we should have more teams and establish more leagues, which is very beneficial to the future development of Chinese football.

◆At present, Chinese football attaches great importance to youth training from top to bottom, from your experience, where is the breakthrough point?

The key point and the breakthrough is to give our players in the academy more opportunities to play, and if you play every week or play at a rhythm in the league, then the motivation of the players is completely different. A lot of the time the players are training, but the things that can be brought to the game are completely different compared to training, and if there is a game to play, then the level of commitment to training will be different, and the results of the whole process will be very different.

◆Tongliang Dragons is a very young team, in addition to leading the first team to achieve the goal of results, how to help the club develop holistically?

In this regard, the investors of our club also attach great importance to the development of the club's youth level. Because we want to build a stable club, I will do my best and give some advice with all the experience I have had before. While leading the first team to achieve good results, he also developed the club's youth training. It's also an exciting process if we develop good players to become members of the club's first team.