Oscar Garcia has told his players they must play without fear ahead of tonight’s play-off semi-final first-leg against Derby at the Amex, kick-off 7.45pm.The Brighton & Hove Albion head coach told seagulls.co.uk, “If they fear playing in this kind of game then they will not play. The players need to enjoy themselves and fight for our chance in the play-offs.
“If you have fear to play this kind of game then maybe you need to be something else other than a footballer.”Oscar also insists he was not fazed by critics who questioned his style of play earlier on in the season after a poor run of results – and the players have earned their chance in the play-offs.
“When you are low down in the table – and we were 16th at one point – then it is normal that some people don’t trust what you are doing.
“After the opening three defeats of the season, some of the players told me that in three of four months we would be in the play-off position.
“I don’t care about the critics; I am only focussed on winning games for Brighton, for the players, and the fans who believe in what we are doing.”
Meanwhile, Oscar told media that his inspirational former Barcelona coach Johan Cruyff has been huge influence on his coaching style of wanting his teams to play attractive passing football – but says he has a long way to go to emulate his coaching idol.
When asked of the similarities between himself and Cruyff, Oscar said “He is a genius, I am a coach. He was always positive, had a philosophy to keep the ball to play forward to create chances by keeping positions.
“I learned a lot of things, but I also learned a lot from Jose Mourinho, Sir Bobby Robson and Louis van Gaal. I have tried to take the best qualities from each one to be a good manager. You can learn from all the managers and I was lucky enough to be their player.
“From the first day I arrived here I wanted to improve as a coach and a manager. It is what I ask of the players to improve and be better every day.
*“I don’t care about the age of the players, you need to have the mentality to improve every day and this year they have done that.”
Original article
“If you have fear to play this kind of game then maybe you need to be something else other than a footballer.”Oscar also insists he was not fazed by critics who questioned his style of play earlier on in the season after a poor run of results – and the players have earned their chance in the play-offs.
“When you are low down in the table – and we were 16th at one point – then it is normal that some people don’t trust what you are doing.
“After the opening three defeats of the season, some of the players told me that in three of four months we would be in the play-off position.
“I don’t care about the critics; I am only focussed on winning games for Brighton, for the players, and the fans who believe in what we are doing.”
Meanwhile, Oscar told media that his inspirational former Barcelona coach Johan Cruyff has been huge influence on his coaching style of wanting his teams to play attractive passing football – but says he has a long way to go to emulate his coaching idol.
When asked of the similarities between himself and Cruyff, Oscar said “He is a genius, I am a coach. He was always positive, had a philosophy to keep the ball to play forward to create chances by keeping positions.
“I learned a lot of things, but I also learned a lot from Jose Mourinho, Sir Bobby Robson and Louis van Gaal. I have tried to take the best qualities from each one to be a good manager. You can learn from all the managers and I was lucky enough to be their player.
“From the first day I arrived here I wanted to improve as a coach and a manager. It is what I ask of the players to improve and be better every day.
*“I don’t care about the age of the players, you need to have the mentality to improve every day and this year they have done that.”
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Original article