Yahoo Sports De Rossi discusses managerial spell at Roma: “I was seen almost as a friend by some players.”
Daniele De Rossi was at the sixth edition of the “Sport Industry Talk” of RCS Academy in collaboration with Corriere della Sera and RCS Sports & Events, interviewed by Walter Veltroni.
The legendary Roma captain and former coach discussed many topics, including what it takes to be a coach and the evolution from player to manager.
“Football is a simple sport and it brings you closer to people, but doing simple things is difficult.”
“All coaches want to emulate someone who seems brilliant like Guardiola, but this takes the ball away from the kids’ feet to do an hour of tactics.”
“The kid has to do one-on-one, play and have fun. Then, as you grow up, you have to do a different job, all sports are changing and moving towards a significant physicality. Football always goes towards those fast players.”
“Perhaps the greatest coach in Italy in the last 15 years is Gasperini, who changed the life of a club and a city.”
“Atalanta was a team that went up and down in Serie A and B and now it is a big name in Italian football. Now that it has won the Europa League, however, it is more fascinating, but winning a trophy does not change your path.”
“You can win the final like Atalanta did, but you can also lose it because of a missed penalty. Even Spalletti, who is a giant coach, is listened to differently after he won the Scudetto in Naples. For me, victory is not fundamental, but I feel that those who win have more weight in terms of attention.”
“Totti? The strongest and most fascinating player is Francesco, I played with him for many years. He had this light that he carried with him, this leadership even silently. He spoke with gestures, I also experienced it as a fan as a teenager.”
“As a footballer I liked helping my teammates, altruism is needed in a locker room with 30 players.”
“In my first coaching experience at SPAL they saw me as an unidentified object and I had to make them understand that I was at their service.”
“At Roma I came in as a flag bearer for the club and was seen almost as a friend by some players, so you have to find the right measures and the staff is also important.”
“The mental part and the management of the group is very important, you have to know how to read the people around you, then you need football knowledge. If you don’t have knowledge the players will immediately baptise you.”
