Orlandi’s Monday

From screaming to reconciliation

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If you fall, you get back up; if they push you, you move around; if they insult you, you handle it; if they kick you, you face up to them; if you fail you keep trying… Never surrendering is extremely important for professional footballers (and amateurs too) and it is something we must remember day by day. It is the “game by game” tactics that Simeone used last year to win the title and it is what keeps Blackpool awake. It is what must keep us all awake. Even though it might seem like a miracle.

What happened last week could be made into a movie. From the beginning to the end… We started by losing against the leaders, Middlesbrough. Woodgate hadn’t played a single game all season and he scored his first goal in more than 2 years against us. That says it all.

80 minutes fighting hard and during the last 10 minutes we went from the frying pan into the fire! Kike scored to make it 1-2 in the 88th minute and I saw tension in the changing room that I had never seen before.

What happens in the changing room stays in the changing room but I keep thinking about it and realised that sooner or later it had to happen. There were very difficult days that led us to call for a meeting on Friday in which we all looked into each other’s eyes and said what we had to say, which in a few words was that we are all together in this ship and we have to pull together and play with pride. It doesn’t matter if 5 of us or 25 of us are friends but what is important is that all 25 of us play and behave as teammates. We understood that and we managed to play on Saturday in a better mood.

We weren’t a terminally ill team on Saturday. We were better than Forest, and given the circumstances (there is no point talking about Bloomfield Road’s grass anymore), we scored 4 goals, and most importantly, we didn’t surrender when we realised the game was slipping away again. Yes, I remembered the game against Watford where we were 2-0 up and after they equalised we seemed to completely disappear from the pitch. On Saturday we didn’t do that. They score 2 goals to draw level and we went for the third. We found ourselves losing with seconds to go and we went crazy to try to equalise. It was a titanic effort, a respectable one. Even Lewis came up to try to score like a madman. It made me feel proud of this team again and I thought that O’Dea’s blood will have to mean something in the future.

I am talking about O’Dea’s blood, you should have seen the state of his ankle at the end of the game, then there was Tom Aldred’s sending off after managing to get a penalty on his debut, and I’m talking about finishing the game with 9 players, about me getting injured by pulling a muscle in my quadriceps and defending with one leg in the corners, cursing the referees family when I saw that he was adding nine minutes of stoppage time…

It was one of those afternoons that make fans love football, with 5 goals in 11 minutes, looking at the opponent’s angry face, an opponent that has won 2 games in a row but have now faced a team willing to die in their pursuit of salvation.

I scored my first goal at Bloomfield Road and it was a good one. An “alla del Piero” goal. I am a humble admirer of Pinturicchio (that’s what Agnelli used to call Alessandro del Piero) and when I managed to scored my goal, I thought the game was over. Very innocent of me to think that Blackpool could finish a game in 65 minutes…. We should make a video with all the goals teams have scored against us and take them to the football schools to teach the kids what not to do. It is incredible, to be honest, how we manage to concede goals in such important times of the game. I was still celebrating our 2-0 lead when they scored and we were cheering each other up and reminding ourselves not to give up when they equalised in yet another silly play. I finally managed to celebrate a goal with our fans, which is why I celebrated it so effusively but then in a blink of an eye everything went back to square one. Then it got worse.

Now I want to talk about Michail Antonio. He is so powerful, not even 3 of our defenders could stop him. I would love to be that strong, even if it was only for one day, to feel what he feels. One of his runs provoked the penalty and Alfred’s sending off and he shook us up.

I think I played the most surreal 15 minutes of the year. Before the game I had a temperature and to play twice in 4 days on a pitch like this doesn’t help. At the end I had pulled my muscle but I hope it is not serious and I hope to be back as soon as possible. I also got a very hard knock to my hip in the first half and now all my body hurts like mad. I spent all Sunday sitting on the sofa, with ice on my leg, ice on my hip, a blanket, a slight temperature and a hat watching the little mermaid with Norah. She doesn’t like my hair either and wasn’t shy to let me know. Charming!

I want to talk about 2 things about the team and the season. I explained earlier on that the atmosphere after the Middlesbrough game was rather tense. I want to clarify something: relationships in a big group are never easy. Are they easy in a couple? They aren’t. You still have arguments and misunderstandings and there is some shouting that you regret afterwards and then the reconciliations. You always end up making up…

Blackpool’s season? On Saturday night while I was watching Espanyol beating Malaga, I spoke to my journalist friend in Barcelona. I asked him if he could find an internet page in which I could easily see the stats of all the Blackpool games and when he sent me one I spent a long time looking at the stats. Yes, I am a bit crazy I know. Not sure whether it was a good idea or not as I discovered that with a bit of luck we could have had at least 10 more points!

Day 7: 0-1 against Watford. They score a penalty in the 68th minute and Ranger misses another penalty on the 81st. Day 9: 1-3 vs Norwich. 1-0 up and they equalise with an own goal and score the next in the 80th minute. Day 13: 0-1 vs Derby County. They score a penalty in the 81st. Day 16: 2-2 at Craven Cottage. 2-0 after 26 minutes and we concede in stoppage time of the first half. Day 18: 1-1 vs Bolton. They equalise in the 82nd minute. Day 23: 1-0 at Hillsborough. Sheffield beat us with a penalty. Day 26: 2-0 in Wolverhampton. They score in the 86th. Day 30: 1-2 vs Middlesbrough: We take the lead in the 81st minute and after equalising in the 85th they score their second in the 88th minute. Jornada 31: 4-4 vs Forest…

I am pulling my hair out just thinking about this (maybe that is why my daughter says what she says!). We could have 12 extra points or at least 9 or 10 more. There are still 45 points to play for and it feels like we are climbing Mount Everest because if you look back at the last 2 seasons, if we win half of those points that would be just enough to avoid relegation. We have to get our winter clothes on and start climbing the mountain. If Sir Edmund Hillary managed to do it, so can we.

On Saturday we are travelling to Ewood Park. Blackburn destroyed Stoke City in the FA Cup (they are going to miss Bojan for the rest of the season!) and it will be a very difficult Lancashire derby. But I never lost there with Brighton and I want to keep that track record. Then the midweek game against Brentford, a team who likes to play the ball and they play in a small ground similar to Bloomfield Road. We have to keep clenching out teeth and I keep thinking that if we manage to win an away game, the dynamics will change. I want to be in that position, I want to recover as soon as possible because I feel good on the pitch, I think I am playing well and I want to help my team.

An anecdote to finish. What do you think about the controversy in Spain because of Ronaldo’s birthday party? From the distance I think that they have exaggerated things. Yes they had lost 4-0 but if someone cannot celebrate his 30 birthday in peace, we may as well call it quits. Moreover for what I have read it was a party with family, friends, kids… We used to have big parties in Brighton with the Spanish army… I think the latest I got home after a party though was 11pm at night. Seriously, a footballer deserves a bit of privacy in his life. Maybe this privacy or the lack of it has put Cristiano on the spot. Saying that, what I really didn’t like was Ronaldo’s taste of music…that singer….

I hope I will be back next week with good news. Until we are not mathematically relegated we will keep on fighting.

Come ooooooon!!

Translated by Alfons Vinent.

Lost kids in the big city

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blackpool

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We play at home and we play better. We have adapted to Bloomfield Road’s “perfect grass” and with the help of our people and the pride that we haven’t lost yet, we are capable of facing any team. Very few teams like to play in our ground because they understand what it means to play against a wounded team on an impossible pitch…But we play away and we look like kids lost in a big city. That is what happened to us on Saturday in Norwich. Lost and scared.

It is difficult to explain anything without offending our fans. At the end of the day, it is for them that we play and they don’t deserve this. In Carrow Road more of the same: we started well, facing up a superior team that has premiership quality players and just pushing ourselves to the limit, until a stupid play in the midfield with a inoffensive pass ended up in Hooper’s first goal. From then on, it all became an impossible climb. We never gave up but it looked like we did.

I watched the highlights of the game yesterday and I was thinking, as I always do, if I couldn’t have done something more… The second goal, we have to admit that, was a hell of a goal that would have been the goal of the month all over the world, had it been scored by Rooney or Messi. In 25 minutes all our plans had collapsed, all our expectations had been destroyed and all our hopes completely gone.

Norwich and Blackpool are two opposite worlds. They look at the promotion play-off with joy whereas we look at our position of the table with despair, and these kind of things really show on the pitch. It multiplies the differences between both teams, and it doesn’t matter how hard we try, we become a desperate bunch. Sometimes, I rely on that desperation to push forward but we have to be stronger than we are, especially away from home.

In the coach we watched a video that didn’t help that much in the end but that I replay in my mind to keep my faith. The video showed Sunderland and Birmingham last season, when for most they were already relegated but managed to stay up right at the end. These examples help us and motivate us but then you need to get out there and play without fear, you need to repeat what you do in the training sessions, you need to be stronger than the rival, and it seems that we are not capable of doing this. I refuse to believe that everytime we play away we are going to get trashed because it has never happened to me before. I have never experienced a situation like this and our fans don’t deserve it as they are the ones who get more affected.

It has been a terrible season so far and we need to be men enough to face what we have got left with dignity and show our anger in every game to confirm that we deserve to stay up. Many will pass by this club, some will stay others no, but Blackpool with remain and their fans will suffer. It is for them and only for them that we must honour the colours we are wearing. I can’t keep thinking about the few but extremely good fans who accompanied us in Carrow Road. I could see them in the stands and I suffered with and for them, and I thought that we really have to beat both Middlesbrough and Forest who are coming to Blackpool next. We owe that to our fans.

In Norwich we also met the MLS team Chicago Fire who are doing their pre-season in the UK and were in the stadium watching the game. We were in the same hotel and I had a chat with Guly do Prado who trained with us a while ago. It was nice to see him and he is very excited about this new adventure in the US, in a league that is growing a lot and attracting more and more European players. Of course, if you are Gerrard or Lampard and they pay you what they get paid, even better!!!

I wanted to talk about a very especial letter that I received last week from a Brighton fan called James, who wrote to me to show me his appreciation and to tell me how worried he is about the team’s situation and how upset he was when Brighton didn’t renew my contract. I am very grateful for his support but must clarify that I wasn’t treated badly by the club. They simply thought that it was better to trust the young players rather than me, and they thought that I couldn’t offer much else to the club and decided not to renew my contract. Of course I didn’t agree with those reasons but I am a professional and I have to accept these things.

These kind of letters, like the one I talked about before from a Blackpool fan, give sense to our profession, way beyond the money. I don’t understand football without that communion between myself and the fans. I lived it in Vitoria and I lived it with Swansea, Brighton and now Blackpool. Like I did, of course in Barcelona. I am not going to lie though, and say that I was a Blackpool hardcore fan way before I arrived, but I have now been here for nearly 7 months and I am completely commited to this team because I felt respected and appreciated from day one. This is the way I am and I have always been. I suffer as much as the fans and I am now in a ship that is sinking but I am going to try my best to keep it afloat.

By the way, on Thursday the foot doctor brought a compilation of newspapers where my weekly column from am14.net is published and we had a good chat about it. I understand now why I never get any interviews!! I am out there every week and didn’t have a clue. I save lots of work to some journalists so I am wondering whether I should stop talking to them after all….

Jokes aside, we are playing against Middlesbrough next who haven’t lost a game in the last 7. They look at the premiership and have a coach like Karanka who has proved that he was more than Mourinho’s helper. A good friend plays there, Damià Abella, who is still recovering from a serious injury. He has been very unlucky as he started the season in the 1st eleven and I really hope he gets back to the pitch soon. However, it doesn’t matter how good they are. In Blackpool they will have to suffer a lot. On Bloomfield Road’s “perfect pitch” both teams will start from scratch and we will die to try to maintain our hopes.

Thanks for being there. To the tangerine people I cannot but being grateful for your unconditional support despite everything that is going on. Yes we are wounded but still breathing.

Come ooooooon!!

Translated by Alfons Vinent.

La excusa de los cobardes

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excusa

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A veces miras pero no ves, oyes pero no escuchas. Te desesperas porque no entiendes nada. Te hundes en la depresión preguntándote en qué puedes haber fallado y le das vueltas y más vueltas a las cosas. Y cuanto más lo piensas menos lo entiendes. Y no lo entiendo. Lo que pasó el sábado no lo había vivido nunca. Es el peor partido en el que he estado presente desde que soy profesional. Bueno, el del sábado no fue muy diferente al del Ipswich, pero claro, que te metan seis en casa… Aún se quejó poco la gente.

Fue un calvario. De locos. No hay excusa posible y hundido en el banquillo me fijaba en la cara de los hinchas y aún me deprimía más. Ya no sé si merecemos esto, pero ¡ellos no! Me acordé de aquel aficionado que me escribió la semana pasada, Eddie Scott, y con él de todos los demás que acudieron al estadio. Y volví a deprimirme.

Podríamos buscar excusas, que es típico en el fútbol. El campo, por ejemplo. Está horrible y no entiendo qué le hacen para que a cada partido esté peor, pero viendo al Bournemouth eso no se sostiene porque estaba tan mal para ellos como para nosotros. Me encantaron, lo reconozco. Y lo digo tal cual. Es un equipo humilde y bien trabajado, en el que los hombres suplen a los nombres y van todos a una. Todos quieren jugar, todos corren… Da gusto verles y me recuerdan mucho al Swansea. Cuando las cosas se hacen bien obtienes la recompensa y ahora mismo tienen sabor a Premier. Me alegraría por ellos, de verdad. El cansancio es otro clásico al que se recurre. Y no entra tampoco en los parámetros porque el equipo entrenó bien toda la semana, sin excesiva carga de trabajo y parecía llegar bien al partido.

Yo pienso que al balón hay que quererle más. Por mucho que corras, si cuando te llega la pelota no sabes qué hacer con ella ya puedes rezar a quien quieras porque no habrá manera. La pelota no miente y si la cuidas con mimo ella te respeta. Lo aprendí hace muchos años y sigo pensando que eso es algo imprescindible en el fútbol. Solo puedo pedir perdón a los aficionados del Blackpool por la parte de responsabilidad que me toca. No se merecen que les faltemos al respeto de esta manera con partidos así y aunque llevo ya cuatro partidos en el banquillo entiendo que es una situación desesperante.

El martes pasado volví a jugar uno de esos partidos que disputamos los que jugamos ahora menos. Otra vez contra el Fleetwood sub… no se qué. Jugadores muy jóvenes y que no se hasta qué punto sirvió al equipo. Jugamos en el estadio aprovechando el magnífico estado del césped y para dejarlo aún mejor para el sábado. ¡Madre mía, qué patatal!

El tema es que yo iba a jugar en mi posición normal, en el centro del campo, y en punta un chaval que estaba a prueba y del que no diré el nombre. Había entrenado toda la semana con nosotros y el día del partido no se presentó. Nadie sabía donde diablos estaba y con todo el lío me vino el entrenador del sub’18, que nos dirigía,y me preguntó si me importaba jugar en punta. ¿Por qué no? Ahí estaba yo, con el 9 a la espalda y al más puro estilo Michu. Al menos lo pasé bien y volví a jugar con los gemelos Oriol, que lo están pasando realmente mal. Me gusta tener buenos futbolistas alrededor y si por desgracia solo puede ser en estos partidos, pues adelante. Jonathan Legear marcó un golazo tremendo. Para quien no le conozca, decirle que quedó máximo goleador de la Europa League con el Anderlecht. Ya veis que el fútbol puede ser muy caprichoso. Hoy volveremos a tener otro partido de estos, en Burnley. A ver qué tal va.

Al menos ayer llegó mi familia desde Barcelona y después de diez días tenía muchas ganas de volver a abrazar a mis niñas y Laura no se podrá quejar porque se encontró la nevera llena. Os cuento. Mi casero es un futbolista que ahora juega en Londres. Le compraba la carne y el pescado a un tipo entrañable que se llama Taff, hincha acérrimo del Plymouth Argyle que lleva en su furgoneta productos de primera calidad congelados. Un buen día se presentó en casa y me dijo: “Me manda tu casero”. Desde entonces le compro filetes, pollo, entrecots, pescado… El viernes vino a casa y llené la nevera y el congelador. Postres, canapés… Todo previsto.

Y aprovechando que es un tipo al que le encanta el fútbol, nada mejor que tomarnos un café en casa, porque a Taff le encanta mi café, y charlar un buen rato de lo humano y lo divino del fútbol. El Plymouth está en League-2, la cuarta división, y el sábado (lo vi ayer) ganó por 3-0. Van quintos, en puestos de promoción y me alegro ni que sea por él. Al menos poder alegrarte de tus amigos es un consuelo.

Os quiero desear a todos unas fiestas de Navidad fantásticas. A pesar de todo, es una época del año que me gusta especialmente. Cuando éramos pequeños íbamos a casa de mis abuelos en Italia. Aterrizábamos en Bologna, alquilábamos un coche y recibíamos un bocinazo a los cinco minutos. Era un clásico porque mi padre siempre ha sido un conductor de dudosa calidad. Imaginaros que una vez le multaron ¡por ir demasiado lento!. Mi hermana y yo nos reíamos mucho en los asientos de atrás durante esas tres horas de carretera hasta llegar a casa de los abuelos y allí, al llegar, ya estaba preparada la mesa con una sopa de Passatelli impresionante. Mi abuela, a la que echo mucho de menos, era una cocinera impresionante. Y mejor persona. Me gusta la Navidad porque es momento también de recordar tu pasado y alegrarte de lo que has vivido. Tener la familia al lado significa mucho para mi.

Me pongo sentimental. No lo puedo remediar. Y de alguna manera me ayuda a superar este mal trago que estamos pasando en el equipo. El viernes jugamos en Sheffield contra el Wednesday, que perdió en Craven Cottage por 4-0 contra el Fulham y estará con ganas de recuperarse. Con las mismas que deberemos tener nosotros. Y con la esperanza que tengo yo de darle la vuelta a esta situación podéis imaginaros como me voy a tomar esta semana. Es el famoso Boxing Day, un día especial para los hinchas y supongo que a pesar de todo nos acompañarán para darnos su aliento.

Vienen días fuertes porque el domingo jugamos otra vez, en casa con el Rotherham, y algo me dice que pueden ser partidos importantes en muchos sentidos. Luego vendrá la FA Cup en Birmingham contra el Aston Villa y espero que para entonces el ánimo esté mejor en el vestuario y en el club.

Volveremos a leernos el cinco de enero. Un descanso al Orlandi’s Monday nos vendrá bien y espero que cuando volvamos a leernos, dentro de dos semanas, las cosas puedan verse diferentes.

Cowards excuses

por
excusa

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Sometimes you look but you don’t see, you hear but you don’t listen. You get desperate because you don’t understand anything, you get depressed wondering where you went wrong and you think again and again about the same things and the more you think about it the less you understand. I don’t understand anything. I have never lived through anything similar to what happened on Saturday. It was the worse game I have been in since I started my professional career. In fact, it wasn’t too different to the game with Ipswich but letting in 6 goals at home… More people should have complained.

It was painful. Crazy. There is no excuse and when I looked at the faces of our fans from the bench I got even more depressed. I don’t know anymore whether we deserve this or not but they definitely don’t. I remember Eddie Scott and all the other fans who came to the stadium. Very depressing. We could try to find some excuses, which is typical in the world of football, the pitch for example, it’s awful and every game gets worse. But the pitch was as bad for us as it was for Bournemouth. I really liked them, I must admit that. They are a very humble team who work very well and in which the men are more important than the names and they all work together as a team. They all run, all play… It is very nice to see them play and they remind me a lot of Swansea. When things are done well you get rewarded and right now they have the premiership in their sites. I would be happy for them.

Tiredness is another common excuse we use all the time but we trained very well all week, without too much physical pressure and we looked well going into the game. I believe that you have to want the ball more than they do. It doesn’t matter how much you run, if when you get the ball you don’t know what to do with it, you can pray as much as you want but you won’t get the job done. The ball doesn’t lie and if you use it will wisely it will reward you. I learned that many years ago and I still think this is a must in football. I can only apologise to the Blackpool fans. They don’t deserve these kind of games and even though I have been on the bench for the last 4 games I understand it is a desperate situation.

Last Tuesday I played in a reserve game. Again, we played against Fleetwood reserve team. Not sure why, they were very young players and we played on our pitch just to enjoy the quality of our grass and to make it better for Saturday’s game… Unbelievable.

The thing is that I was going to play in my normal position, in the midfield, and in front of a young player who was on trial, I won’t say his name. He had been training all week with us but on the day of the game he never turned up. No one knew where he was and in the middle of the chaos the under 18s coach came to me to ask me if i wouldn’t mind playing up front. Why not? so there I was, with number 9 on my shirt playing like Michu. At least I had a good time and I played again with the Oriol twins, who are really going through a tough time. I like to play with good players around me and if it can only be in these kind of games, so be it! Jonathan Legear scored a super goal. To those of you know don’t know him, he was top scorer in the Europa League with Anderlecht. You see football can be a game of ups and downs… We have another friendly, this time against Burnley. Let’s see how it goes.

My family arrived from Barcelona yesterday and after 10 days I was really looking forward to hugging my girls. Laura won’t complain as the fridge was full this time! Let me explain, my landlord is a football player who now plays in London. He used to buy his meat and fish from a really nice guy called Taff who is a huge fan of Plymouth Argyle. One day he turned up at my house and told me that my landlord had sent him and since then I buy my steaks, chicken and fish from him. On Friday he came around and I filled the fridge and the freezer. Desserts, canapés, the whole lot.

And giving that he loves football we had a coffee and a chat about the human and the divine in the game. Plymouth are in League 2, the fourth division, and on Saturday they won 3-0. They are fifth and in the promotion spot and I am happy for him. At least I can be happy for a friend which is better than nothing.

I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas. Despite everything, I like this time of the year. When we were little we used to go to my grandparents house in Italy. We used to fly to Bologna and we would hire a car just to get beeped at every 5 minutes. My dad has never been a very good driver, he even got a ticket once for driving too slow!! My sister and I used to have a blast in the back seat during that 3 hour journey to my grandparents house, and when we arrived the table would be set and a really nice Passatelli soup would be ready. My grandma who I really miss, was an amazing cook and an even better person. I like Christmas because it’s also a good time to remember your past and to be grateful for what you had. Having my family next to me means the world to me.

I get sentimental, I can’t help it. Somehow it helps me to go over this situation. On Friday we are playing in Sheffield against Sheffield Wednesday who lost 4-0 against Fulham during their last game. They will want to bounce back from that result. They will be as eager as we should be. I still have hopes that we can turn this situation around and therefore I will take this week very seriously. The game is on Boxing Day, a very especial day for the fans and I hope that despite all, they will be there to support us.

There are tough days ahead of us, as on Sunday we play again, this time at home against Rotherham and I have got the feeling these two games are going to be very important. We will also be playing in the FA Cup in Birmingham against Aston Villa and I hope that by then the atmosphere in the changing room and in the club is better.

I will write again on 5th of January. A little break of Orlandi’s Monday will do us good and I hope that when you read my article again in two weeks time, we will be able to see things differently.

Come ooooooooon!

Translated by Alfons Vinent.

Esperando a Roy Keane o a VInnie Jones

por
keane

keane

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Fin de semana sin partido. El último ya hasta marzo. Así que ahora empieza lo bueno sin descanso. Ya no hay parones, no hay tiempo para lamentarse por un posible mal resultado porque viene otro partido seguido. El próximo, contra el Bolton. Hace poco estábamos ahí juntitos en el fondo de la clasificación y ahora los vemos de lejos. Son el ejemplo que tenemos que seguir. Cuatro buenos partidos y las cosas se ven de otra manera.

Esta semana ha sido dura, ¡muy dura! Hemos trabajado sin parar, con mucha intensidad y muchísimas carreras. Cuando tenía 20 años llegaba siempre el primero; ahora llego, que ya es mucho. El nuevo entrenador está intentándolo todo para sacarnos de ahí abajo. Están viniendo muchos jugadores. Todavía no he podido ni aprenderme los nombres. Ya os hablé de Jamie O’Hara la semana pasada. La verdad es que se nota que ha jugado en la Premier muchos años. Ha venido con ganas de demostrar que no está acabado. ¡Y de verdad que no lo está!

El viernes teníamos programado un amistoso contra el Wigan, que se tuvo que anular por la destitución de su entrenador, Uwe Rosler. No hay entreno que pueda acercarse a la intensidad de un partido. Por mil factores, sobre todo la tensión competitiva. Así que Lee Clark hizo todo lo posible para que la sesión se le asemejara lo máximo posible. No se si fueron dos horas y cuarto, me parecieron cuatro. Mucho fútbol, que me encanta, pero mucho físico también. Esto solo nos puede beneficiar y sobre todo a mi, que no tuve pretemporada y sí algún problemilla estos meses.

Cuando estoy tan cansado que la vista se me empieza a nublar tengo un truco. La verdad es que tengo mucha capacidad para motivarme, y poder mejorar, aunque sea un 5%, me encanta. Y empiezo a notar que el trabajo va dando sus frutos. El truco es pensar en las niñas. Un poco soft, pensarán muchos, pero es así. A veces estoy tan cansado que pienso en ellas y lo que me espera al llegar a casa, y me canso todavía más… Pero me funciona la mayoría de las veces. Corres, sufres, lo pasas mal, pero estás trabajando para darles a ellas la vida que se merecen. Hablando con Edu Oriol, que ha sido padre hace nada, después de una de las carreras me dijo: pensaba en mi hijo Biel, pero ni así. La verdad es que nos están haciendo sudar. Si fuéramos el Madrid y ganáramos cada fin de semana, igual no tendríamos que hacerlo, pero esto es más que necesario. Eso sí, luego hay que saber qué hacer con la pelota. Porque por mucho que corras, si tienes los pies como dos ladrillos, no le ganas a nadie. Así que el balón sigue estando muy presente.

Tuvimos el fin de semana libre y lo aproveche para ir a Barcelona. En el vuelo desde Manchester viajamos juntos los hermanos Oriol, su padre y yo. Y en el aeropuerto nos encontramos con Marc Muniesa, jugador del Stoke City y ex del Barça. Hace unos días fue el cumpleaños de los hermanos Oriol y aprovechamos para celebrarlo este fin de semana en Barcelona. Lo hicimos, eso sí, moderadamente porque después de la semana que nos pasamos trabajando a destajo en Blackpool no era cuestión de tirarlo todo por la borda. También el sábado fui al concierto de Antonio Orozco con Laura y nuestros amigos Curro y María. Llevaba muchísimo tiempo queriendo verle en directo aunque supongo que a algunos de vosotros no os sonará de nada. Nunca coincidía en Barcelona cuando él actuaba. El verano pasado lo hizo en Vilanova, donde tenemos nuestro piso actualmente, y compré las entradas. Un lugar perfecto delante del mar, al aire libre. Pintaba espectacular… Llevaba sin llover meses y esa noche llovió a cántaros. Tuvimos que salir corriendo todos y se anuló el concierto. Tenía esa espinita clavada, aśi que el sábado me lo pasé en grande. No sé si me pasó factura el trabajo de la semana, pero al llegar me había dejado las entradas en casa… Empanada total, cabreo del sector femenino… Y corriendo a casa a buscarlas. Llegué a tiempo para ver empezar el concierto y evité toda la cola que había montada. ¡Sensacional!

¿Y ayer? ¡Qué bonitos son los domingos en Barcelona! Salir a pasear con el día soleado, ir a desayunar con las niñas… Me encanta. No sé si a vosotros os gustan o no los zumos vegetales pero yo soy un fanático y la culpa de todo la tiene Jordi Gómez, el gurú de la alimentación y vida sana. A primera vista un zumo con apio, pepino, espinacas y manzana no suena bien pero tenéis que probarlo. ¡Sanísimo! Y riquísimo también. Luego comimos en casa de mis padres y volví por la tarde a UK en avión. Con las pilas cargadas, el ánimo recuperado a tope y dispuesto a empezar la semana a todo ritmo con el equipo. Siempre he puesto buena cara al mal tiempo y con esta disposición llegué ayer. Fue gracioso porque en el aeropuerto de Manchester, al llegar, me cruce con un aficionado del Bolton (o eso me dijo) y me bromeó con el partido del sábado, diciéndome que vendría a Bloomfield Road y que nos ganarían. Se quedó de piedra, o eso me pareció, cuando vio que le contestaba sonriendo porque le dije que el sábado le buscaría en la grada cuando marcásemos un gol y con ese ‘reto’ nos despedimos. No fue, para nada, desagradable, sino todo lo contrario y me volvió a convencer en este carácter próximo, educado y fiel que tienen los aficionados en Inglaterra.

Ahora empieza la semana y como siempre las palabras tienen que dejar paso a los hechos. Si trabajamos con la misma intensidad que esta pasada tengo el convencimiento de que debe darnos buen resultado. A nuestros hinchas, a vosotros, no sé qué puedo deciros. A veces me entra mal cuerpo porque recuerdo que tanto en Swansea como en Brighton dejé muchos amigos y grandes recuerdos y en Blackpool estoy viviendo una situación nueva y desconocida porque las cosas no salen como deberían. Y eso provoca que, claro, el ánimo no sea tan alegre.

Y, sin embargo, no tengo, de verdad, ni un mal reproche para nadie en el aspecto personal porque solo he recibido ánimos. En el supermercado, en la gasolinera, en el campo… Veo que a pesar de que, recordando una frase muy del Barcelona en los malos tiempos, deberían romper el carnet y quemarlo todo, los aficionados se mantienen fieles al equipo. Esperan una reacción, una señal de que la cosa cambiará. Y somos nosotros los que debemos ofrecerla.

Llevo cuatro meses en el Blackpool. No soy de ponerme a besar el escudo y hacer ver que soy de este club de toda la vida. Pero hoy por el Blackpool pongo la pierna delante de Roy Keane y voy al choque con John Terry. Y hasta me peleo con Vinnie Jones si es necesario (tengo un amigo loco de Barcelona que es del Wimbledon y me ha enseñado vídeos suyos).

Quiero decir con esto que podréis criticarnos que juguemos mal o que no ganemos, pero, os lo aseguro, nunca que no luche y me entregue como un animal por el equipo. Este es mi compromiso. Y ojalá con ello llegue la alegría.

¡¡Vamoooos!!

Orlandi: Waiting for Roy Keane or Vinnie Jones

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No match this weekend. The last free weekend until March. So now starts the moment of truth. No breaks, no time to moan about a bad result as we will have another game straight after. The next one is against Bolton. Not long ago we were together down there at the bottom of the table and now they are way up. They are the example that we have to follow. Four good games and things will be different.

This week has been tough, very tough. We have worked nonstop, with lots of intensity and lots of running. When I was 20 I always finished first, now I just manage to finish, which is good enough! The new coach is trying everything to get us off the bottom. We have signed quite a few new players, I haven’t even been able to learn their names yet. I wrote about Jamie O’Hara last week, the truth is that you can tell he has played in the Premier for many years. He has come to show us he’s not finished, and you can tell he is not!

On Friday we had planned a friendly against Wigan but it had to be called off because their coach Uwe Rosler was sacked. There are not training sessions close enough to the competitiveness of a game, mainly because of the intensity of a competitive game. So Lee Clark did his best to have a training session as similar as possible to a game. I am not sure if it was two hours and fifteen minutes or not but it felt like 4 to me. Plenty of football and I like that but lots of physical training too. This can only be beneficial to the team and more even for me, as I didn’t have a proper pre-season and have had a few problems with injuries over the last few months. The reality is that I am able to motivate myself and, if I can improve even if it is only by 5%, I will be happy. And I start feeling that all the hard work is paying off. My trick is to think about the girls, some will think that I am a bit soft but that is the way it is. Sometimes I am that tired that I think about them and what is waiting to me at home and I get more tired… But it works most of the time. You run, you suffer, you struggle but you work to give them the life they deserve. After one of the speed runs in the training sessions Edu Oriol told me that not even thinking about his son Biel could get him to go faster! The reality is that our new coach is making us sweat. If we were Barça or Madrid and we won every week, maybe we wouldn’t have to do this, but this is a necessity. But we will have to show that we can do it with the ball as well, because it doesn’t matter how much you run, if you have feet like bricks, you won’t beat anybody. So we have to keep playing our passing game.

We had the weekend was off so I went to Barcelona. I flew from Manchester with the Oriol brothres and their dad. And at the airport we met Marc Muniesa, former Barça player now at Stoke City. A few days ago it was the Oriol brother’s birthday so we celebrated this weekend in Barcelona. We did it moderation of course; we didn’t want to throw away all the hard physical work we had done in Blackpool over the week.

Also on Saturday I went to see Antonio Orozco in concert with Laura and our friends Curro and Maria. I had been wanting to see him live for a long time although I guess most of you would have never heard of him before. I was never in Barcelona when he was playing, last summer he played in Vilanova, where we have our apartment and I bought tickets. A perfect place, in front of the sea, open concert, it looked spectacular but it was rained off. It hadn’t been raining for ages in Vilanova and that night it rained buckets. We had to run for cover and the concert was called off. So I really wanted to go to this concert. I am not sure whether I was 100% because of the tiring week but I left the tickets at home, so as you can imagine the wife got really mad and I had to rush home to get them. Luckily I made it back on time and we even missed the long queues. Fantastic!
And yesterday? How beautiful are Sundays in Barcelona…Going out for walk, breakfast with the girls…I love it! I am not sure if you like fruit and veg juices but I love them thanks to Jordi Gomez, the healthy life guru. On first sight, a cucumber, celery, spinach and apple juice doesn’t sound too good but you should try it. Very healthy and delicious…

Later on we went to my parents’ house for lunch and then I caught the plane back to the UK; full of energy, in a good mood and willing to start the hard week with the team. I have always put on a brave face and this is not going to be any different. It was funny as when I got to Manchester airport I met a Bolton fan who started joking with me about Saturday’s game. He said he would come to Bloomfield Road beat us. He was shocked when before saying goodbye, I told him with a smile in my face that I would look for him on the stands when we scored a goal. It was a funny situation and again another example of the polite yet loyal character of the English football fans. Now, however, the week starts and words must not give way to facts. If we work with the same intensity as last week, I am convinced we will get a good result.

To you, our fans, what can I tell you? Sometimes I feel bad because I remember how I left good memories and friends at Swansea and Brighton and here in Blackpool I am living in an unknown situation as things are not going the right way. And the mood here is not that cheerful. However I have been given only support; in the supermarket, at the petrol station, on the pitch… I can see that, despite all the bad times the fans stay loyal to the team. I remember the bad times in Barcelona when the fans were saying that they should rip up and burn their membership cards. Here the fans are waiting for a reaction, a sign that things will change. And it is up to us to make that happen.

I have now been in Blackpool for four months. I am not one to start kissing the crest and pretending I have been a Blackpool fan all my life. But right now, I would tackle Roy Keane and clash with John Terry and I would fight with Vinnie Jones if necessary (I have a crazy friend in Barcelona who supports Wimbledon and has shown me a few videos of him).

I want to say that you can criticise us for playing bad or for losing, but I can assure you that there is not a game in which I don’t give 100% and fight like an animal for this team. This is my commitment and I hope with it, happiness will come.

Come ooooooooooon!!!!!

Translated by Alfons Vinent.

Orlandi’s Monday: dying but never giving up

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PULSA AQUÍ PARA LEER LA VERSIÓN EN CASTELLANO

Not even the football cliché of “the new manager effect” works at Blackpool… The game against Ipswich was one to be forgotten. We were so anxious that nothing worked out the way we wanted. At the end of the game, on my way to the dressing room, I could see the faces of the people leaving the ground and it made me even more annoyed because they weren’t even upset anymore. They were dejected and disenchanted, as if they had finally surrendered. As if we were on a path of no return, or on the way to a disaster that was impossible to avoid. And I will rebel against that.

The team needed a change in dynamics and like it happens 95% of the time, the one who paid for it was Jose Riga, our coach. I felt really sorry as it was because of him that I came to Blackpool. He had an idea of the game that it was very similar to the one I have been practising in my years in the UK, both at Swansea and Brighton, but things didn’t go the way we expected.

I wish Jose the best, from the bottom of my heart, because apart from being a good coach, he is a great person. I am sorry I wasn’t able to help him more. It is the first time since I moved to the UK that my coach has been sacked half way through the season. Now I will concentrate on helping my new coach, Lee Clark, to try to get the team out of this situation. Every single coach I’ve had so far, Roberto Martínez, Paulo Sousa, Brendan Rodgers, Gustavo Poyet, Óscar García and Jose Riga himself, are a far cry from the typical direct British style coaches and I have been labelled as a one style player. Many teams are not interested in players like me because they think we can’t jump, fight or tackle. Or simply because if we don’t pull a face like a bull dog, it looks like we don’t work hard. Now my coach is a typical British one, so I have the opportunity to dispel those myths about me. In the first game in charge he decided to choose other players and I didn’t play from the start but I won’t get depressed by that. I am training well and it’s going to be a nice challenge to earn the trust of someone who wouldn’t normally put a player like me, on his favourite players list.

The game on Saturday was very bad. We abused the long balls trying to reach for the two strikers and we forgot to play football. I don’t believe this is what our coach wants. We should mix our style and try not to be too predictable. We can’t go from trying to always play the ball to, suddenly, trying to kick the ball as hard as we can. Fans expressed their dissatisfaction and to be honest I think they are totally right.

I liked the first two training sessions with Clark, very intense and focusing playing the ball so I am sure he didn’t like what we did yesterday either and he will try to sort it out.

The anecdote of the game was when the PA system called the name of one of our fans. His wife had got locked out of their house and she decided to call the club… Incredible! And very funny really, I couldn’t help but smiling on the bench, since we were still 0-0.

On Wednesday we visit Fulham a team with that many great players that it was obvious they were going to start climbing up the table. It’s going to be a very difficult game. Craven Cottage is one of my favourite grounds, it has some sort of magic. The new stadiums are very nice and spectacular but there are historical grounds in England that I really like. This is one of those, like Leeds Utd’s Ellan Road which we visit next.

I have only played once at Craven Cottage and that was in the FA cup with Swansea. Roberto said to me, ‘warm up, you are going on in 5 minutes.’ He then ended up putting three other players on instead of me! He often pulled those kind of jokes on me….

During the week of Halloween I had the opportunity to attend the Blackpool children’s party that was organised at Bloomfield Road. I had a great time. I love to spend some time with the little ones and make them smile. There were some really good costumes! Some were dressed as Batman. I would have liked to have been able to do these things with the players when I was a kid. I believe this closeness to the fans makes the players more human to them. They see that we suffer like them and that we become involved in what we are doing. Somehow you manage to make them understand that we are all in the same boat.

On the match program on Saturday there was a little interview with me. They asked me about the best moment in my career and I answered getting the promotion with Swansea and my debut with Barça. The interview was accompanied by a photo I had never seen. It was of me crying of happiness when the Swansea fans invaded the pitch after beating Nottingham Forest in the playoff semi-finals with Albert Serran, one of my best friends, next to me and I got emotional again. It’s nice to achieve something with a group of people you have been working with for many months, but what is even nicer is to make good friends in the process. In that team many of us were good friends and that was our secret. We weren’t the favourites, we didn’t have big names, but if I had to risk an injury for any of my team mates I would do it without hesitation. We were a team. This is what we need to achieve at Blackpool if we want to have any chance to stay up.

And this brings me to another anecdote this time a personal one. On Saturday my little Norah told Laura that she didn’t want daddy to go to Blackpool because in Blackpool daddy doesn’t smile. Kids kill you sometimes. Many times you don’t realise they are aware of nearly everything, including your moods and your problems. And I don’t want her to have that idea in her little head, I want her to see me smile in Blackpool.

Yesterday it was a day for the bed and the sofa. Norah is a bit sick and I took care of her and tried to relax myself. We are back at work today and I need to cheer up because for everybody the best thing is to see a smile in a team mate’s face. A few weeks ago, I wrote that this was a time for real men and I stand by that. Winning or losing we have to show that we deserve to wear this shirt.

Big hugs for everybody!

Translated by Alfons Vinent.

Photo: Peter Powell

Orlandi’s Monday: morir pero nunca rendirse

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Ya ni el todopoderoso topicazo del fútbol: ‘Entrenador nuevo, victoria segura’ funciona en Blackpool… El partido contra el Ipswich fue para olvidar. De tan ansioso que estaba el equipo, nada salió como esperábamos y al acabar, mientras me marchaba al vestuario furioso, pude ver la cara de la gente dejando las gradas. Y me desmoroné más todavía porque no veía enfado, no veía cabreo en los fans… Veía desazón y abatimiento, como si todos nos hubiéramos rendido a la evidencia. Como si estuviésemos en un camino sin retorno, rumbo a un desastre imposible de esquivar. Y yo me rebelo contra eso.

El equipo necesitaba cambiar la dinámica y como en el 95% de los casos quien lo pagó fue Jose Riga, el entrenador. Me supo especialmente mal porque fue por él por lo que yo vine a Blackpool. Tenía una idea de juego que se asemejaba a lo que yo venía haciendo con éxito en mis años en UK, tanto en Swansea como en Brighton, pero las cosas no salieron como esperábamos.

Le deseo lo mejor a Jose de corazón porque además de un buen entrenador, nadie puede decir que no sea una gran persona. Me sabe mal no haberle podido ayudar más. Es la primera vez desde que estoy aquí que cesan a mi entrenador a mitad de temporada. Ahora me centraré en intentar ayudar al nuevo mister, Lee Clark, a sacar al equipo de la situación en la que está… Todos los entrenadores que he tenido: Roberto Martínez, Paulo Sousa, Brendan Rodgers, Gustavo Poyet, Óscar García y el mismo Jose Riga se alejan bastante del estilo británico de fútbol más directo. Y a mi se me ha etiquetado como jugador de un solo estilo, y muchos equipos de la liga no se interesan por futbolistas como yo porque creen que no podemos saltar, luchar o hacer un tackle. O simplemente porque como no ponemos cara de perros de presa parece que no corramos. Ahora tengo a un entrenador de marcado estilo británico, así que tengo la oportunidad de desmontar muchos mitos. En el primer partido decidió confiar en otros jugadores y no salí de inicio, pero no me voy a deprimir por eso. Estoy entrenando bien y va a ser un bonito desafío ganarme la confianza de alguien que, de inicio, no pondría en primer lugar en su lista de preferencias a alguien como yo.

El partido del sábado fue muy malo. Abusamos del juego directo buscando a los dos puntas, y nos olvidamos de jugar a fútbol. No creo que esto sea lo que quiere el míster. Podemos mezclar un poco el estilo, no ser tan previsibles. No podemos pasar de querer jugar siempre la pelota a, de repente, maltratarla a gorrazos. Los fans demostraron su descontento y sinceramente, creo que tienen toda la razón del mundo.

Los dos primeros entrenamientos con Clark me gustaron, fueron intensos y con balón, así que seguro que a él tampoco le gustó lo que hicimos ayer y tratará de arreglarlo.

La anécdota del encuentro fue cuando se pronunció el nombre de uno de nuestros fans por megafonía. Su mujer se había quedado fuera de casa sin llaves y decidió llamar al club… ¡Increíble! Y muy gracioso, la verdad. Me tuve que reír en el banquillo… Porque todavía íbamos empatados.

El miércoles visitamos al Fulham, que por la calidad que tiene en su plantilla estaba claro que remontaría, y será un partido dificilísimo. Craven Cottage es uno de mis campos favoritos, tiene magia. Los estadios nuevos son muy bonitos y espectaculares, pero hay estadios históricos en Inglaterra que me encantan. Éste es uno de ellos, como Ellan Road, el del Leeds United, que nos viene después. Se respira futbol y es una gozada jugar allí.

Desde que estoy en Inglaterra solamente jugué una vez en Craven Cottage, fue en la FA Cup con el Swansea. Y Roberto me hizo la mítica de: calienta que sales en 5 minutos… Para acabar poniendo a otros tres antes que a mi. Era muy propenso a este tipo de bromas conmigo.

En la semana de Halloween tuve la oportunidad de acudir a la fiesta que se montó en Bloomfield Road para los niños aficionados del Blackpool. Me lo pasé en grande. Me encanta pasar un rato con los peques y sacarles una sonrisa. ¡Hubo disfraces de muchísima calidad! Alguno vino de Batman también, pero bueno, eso es lo de menos. A mi me hubiese encantado de niño poder hacer estas cosas con los futbolistas. Creo que esta cercanía con el aficionado nos humaniza y acerca a ellos. Ven que lo pasamos igual de mal que ellos y nos implicamos en lo que hacemos. De alguna manera consigues, sin pretenderlo, que entiendan que estamos en el mismo barco.

En el Programa del partido del sábado salía una pequeña entrevista que me hicieron. Se me preguntaba acerca del mejor momento de mi carrera, y contesté el ascenso con el Swansea y mi debut con el Barça. La respuesta venía acompañada de una foto que yo jamás había visto. Salía yo llorando de alegría mientras los aficionados del Swansea invadían el campo después de ganarle a Nottingham Forest en la semifinal del playoff de ascenso a la Premier que acabaríamos ganando. A mi lado, uno de mis mejores amigos, Albert Serran… Y me volví a emocionar. Es bonito conseguir algo perteneciendo a un grupo con el que has estado trabajando duro durante meses, pero lo es todavía más cuando lo haces con amigos de verdad. En ese equipo yo tenía muchos. Y ese fue nuestro secreto. No éramos favoritos, no teníamos los ‘nombres’ que tenían otros, pero si tenía que jugarme la pierna por uno de mis compañeros, lo hacía, éramos un equipo. Eso es lo que tenemos que conseguir en el Blackpool si queremos tener la más mínima opción de salvarnos.

Y esto me lleva a recordar ahora una anécdota dura en el plano personal. El sábado mi pequeña Norah le dijo a Laura que no quería que papi se fuese a Blackpool. Porque papi en Blackpool no se ríe. Los niños te desarman. Muchas veces no te das cuenta de que se enteran de todo y son capaces de percibir tus estados de ánimo, tus problemas. Y no quiero que tenga esta idea en su cabeza, quiero trabajar para que me vea sonreír en Blackpool.

Ayer fue día de sofá y calma. Norah está enferma y me dediqué a mimarla intentando relajarme. Hoy volvemos al trabajo y tengo que venirme arriba porque el mejor ánimo para cualquiera es ver la sonrisa en la cara de su compañero. Hace pocas semanas escribí que este es el momento de los hombres y lo mantengo. Ganando o perdiendo, tenemos que demostrar que merecemos llevar esta camiseta.

Un abrazo a todos!

Foto: Peter Powell

Orlandi’s Monday: a time for real men

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PULSA AQUÍ PARA LEER LA VERSIÓN EN CASTELLANO

The pursuit of happiness gets more complicated every time. This is, without a shadow of a doubt, the hardest season of my professional career. The way everything started, you could tell that things would need time, that it wasn’t going to be a smooth sailing, but I never, in my worse dreams, imagined something like this. I struggle to sleep, I struggle to be happy and enjoy my job. Only the support of my family keeps me going.

On the other hand, I am one that thinks that the higher the hurdle is the higher you have to jump. And I know that only by putting more effort and being real men, we will manage to forge ahead. And I say real men because the game doesn’t lie. You have to stand up when things are wrong and try again and again. What we cannot do is stop trying, and I say that for everybody. I am the first one that have to show that I deserve to play in this category like I have done in the past, because right now I feel like I don’t give to the team what I am capable of and what I should give.

I didn’t want to write about the team this week, given everything that is going on, but what else can I write about? I don’t have anything else in my head and I want to apologise again to our fans, especially to those who came to Reading. I didn’t go to salute them at the end of the game and that is not nonsense to me. When the referee blew the final whistle, I stayed on the bench disheartened and demoralised. The world disappeared for me and I didn’t behave the way I should have had with the fans. I am truly sorry.

Despite our state of mind and how demoralised we feel, football goes on. In Spain it was the week of the Clasico and it looked like the world was going to end, like if the country would get out of the crisis depending on the match’s result. The truth is that it is a great game to watch, a clash between two great teams with different but beautiful footballing styles. On the trip to Reading, Edu Oriol and I, suggested a sweep stake for the game for £5 each. Peter Clarke and Jef Rentmeister won it. The idea was to enjoy watching the game together in the bus on the way home, after winning our game. Needless to say we weren’t in the mood to enjoy anything…

Barça lost the game but jumping up to conclusions after one game is too risky, especially when the opposition is a first class team. Was Madrid better? Ok, I read that Luis Enrique admitted that they were which is a good way of preparing the team for whatever has to come. By the way, if Casillas hadn’t miraculously stopped that shot from Messi and Barca had gone 2-0 up, the game would have been a different story!

I was surprised to see Suárez starting in the first eleven. That shows his dimension as football player. Normally, any other player would have had to get into the team slowly, building up confidence and adapting to the team, but if Luis Enrique decided to make him start is because he knows that he has a jewel in his hands. I think he can give Barca just what they have been missing lately: energy, ambition and desire, things that we haven’t seen since Guardiola left.

Suarez and Balotelli are flip sides the same coin, one at Barca the other at Liverpool. They are not very happy at Anfield with Suarez substitute and I read in ‘La Gazzetta dello Sport‘ that lots of Liverpool fans went to the club shop to return the Balotelli shirts they had purchased recently. I think that everything around Mario is magnified but he doesn’t do anything to change his image. And the fans in England forgive almost everything as long as you work flat out and fight for the crest you represent.

I am not saying Balotelli doesn’t try because on his own way he seems more involved than in other teams like for example my beloved Milan. But that is not enough. If you arrive to a club to replace the Golden Boot, the least you can do is to give your body and soul on the pitch and to thank your coach with your effort, and people don’t see that in Balotelli. And the fans are the ones who can better distinguish these things. I hope the situation changes because Brendan Rodgers deserves better.

I believe that Liverpool are also suffering the consequences of playing the Champions League, but they have the best coach in the Premier and I am convinced that things will get better. Will Mario get better? I wouldn’t bet on it.

I would bet on us. Yes. With my eyes closed and a heavy heart but I must do it. As you can imagine it hasn’t been a positive week. On Tuesday I got back into the team against Derby County and it was a tiring game. We ran after the ball for most of the game and we ended up losing by a late penalty after having tried hard all game. They were my first minutes after a few weeks and I felt the pain in the following days. Defeats damage you physically and mentally and it is very stressful for me. You try to be positive for the next game and before playing in Reading we were convinced it was going to be a step forward. And damm it, it couldn’t be.

At home, the little one Emma has had tooth ache and we haven’t been sleeping too well. The truth is that Laura is the one who wakes up in the middle of the night but when your baby cries all night you can’t sleep whether you have to get out of bed or not. If you add that I really struggle to sleep thinking about our games, the result is big dark circles under your eyes just like Beetlejuice!

From the bad times though, one can only recover with work and more work and this is what I am going to do this week. I will prepare myself for the next battle. I won’t think about anything else. We have to overcome this situation by all means possible. And working hard is one of those….

You can feel the tension in the changing room and I really hope that things start to get better because we are a very united team and I wouldn’t like to see that union to break. We have talked and talked, we have tried to get out of this situation and we must keep together and have faith in each other. If that fails then it will be impossible to change this negative dynamic. This week, Joan Oriol and José Cubero should get back into the team. When we have had a full team we have been competitive, so I hope this situation gets better and I can soon write about how we celebrate our victories.

Big hugs for all.

Come oooooooooon!

Translated by Alfons Vinent.

Orlandi’s Monday: el momento de los hombres

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La ansiada búsqueda de la felicidad se hace cada vez más complicada. Esta temporada está siendo sin duda la más difícil desde que soy profesional. Tal y como empezó todo se podía intuir que las cosas necesitarían su tiempo, que no iba a ser un camino de rosas, pero ni en mis peores pesadillas podía imaginarme esto. Me cuesta dormir, me cuesta mantener la alegría y disfrutar de mi trabajo. Sólo el apoyo que tengo en casa me mantiene en pie.

Por otro lado soy de los que piensa que cuanto más alta es la piedra, más alto hay que saltar. Y sé que solo poniendo de nuestra parte y siendo hombres sacaremos esto adelante. Y digo hombres porque el campo no miente. Hay que dar la cara y si las cosas no salen, intentarlo una y otra vez. Porque lo que no puede ser es ni siquiera intentarlo. Y eso todos, yo el primero. Tengo que demostrar que merezco jugar en esta categoría como lo he hecho todos estos años, porque por ahora siento que no aporto lo que puedo y debería aportar.

No quería hablar esta semana del equipo, por todo lo que está pasando, pero de qué voy a hablar si no… No tengo otra cosa en la cabeza. Y quiero desde aquí pedir perdón a nuestros fans que vinieron a Reading, en primera persona y de forma especial. No les saludé al acabar el partido y por mucho que pueda parecer una tontería es un hecho que no puedo pasar por alto. Cuando el árbitro pitó el final me quedé sentado en el banquillo, entre desanimado y hundido. El mundo desapareció para mi y no me porté como debía con ellos. Lo siento de verdad.

Más allá de nuestra depresión y la obligación que sentimos, el fútbol sigue. En España fue la semana del Clásico y parecía que el mundo iba a acabarse, como si el país saliera de la crisis dependiendo del resultado. Lo cierto es que es un partido que merece la pena ver porque es un choque de trenes, un espectáculo y un reto entre dos estilos preciosos. En el viaje a Reading, Edu Oriol y yo propusimos una porra al resto de compañeros. 5 libras cada uno. Los ganadores fueron Peter Clarke y Jef Rentmeister. La idea era ver el partido todos juntos en el bus, de vuelta a casa después de haber ganado y disfrutarlo… Poco pudimos disfrutar.

El Barça acabó por perder pero sacar conclusiones a partir de un solo partido es aventurarse. Más cuando quien te ha ganado es un rival de primerísima calidad. ¿Fue el Madrid mejor? Vale. Ayer leí que Luis Enrique lo reconocía, lo que es una buena manera de preparar lo que venga. Por cierto, si Casillas no saca esa mano milagrosa a Messi y el Barça se pone 0-2, es evidente que el partido habría sido otra historia.

Me sorprendió ver a Suárez jugando de inicio. Eso muestra la dimensión que tiene Luis. Normalmente otro futbolista habría entrado progresivamente en las alineaciones, poco a poco, cogiendo confianza y automatismos, pero si Luis Enrique decidió ponerle de entrada es porque sabe la joya que tiene entre manos. Aporta lo justo que le ha faltado al Barça: esa energía, ambición y ganas de superarse que no se ha visto en el campo desde que se marchó Guardiola.

Suárez tiene que ser la cara en el Barça que ya es la cruz Balotelli en el Liverpool. En Anfield Road no están demasiado contentos con quien ha llegado para sustituirle y ayer leí en ‘La Gazzetta dello Sport‘ que muchos hinchas del Liverpool fueron a Anfield a devolver las camisetas que habían comprado con su nombre para cambiarlas por otro jugador. Creo que todo lo que rodea a Mario se magnifica, pero él no hace nada por cambiar la imagen que se tiene de él. Y eso que aquí en Inglaterra la gente lo perdona casi todo… Menos que no sudes la camiseta y luches por el escudo que representa.

Yo no digo que Balotelli no lo intente porque a su manera se le ve más implicado de lo que estuvo en otros lugares, sin ir más lejos en mi querido Milan. Pero eso no es suficiente. Si llegas a un club para hacer olvidar al Bota de Oro, lo menos que puedes hacer es dejarte el alma en el campo y agradecer con tu sudor el esfuerzo del entrenador que ha apostado por ti y eso no lo ve la gente. Y la gente, la afición, es la que mejor sabe distinguir esas cosas. Ojalá cambie la situación porque Brendan Rodgers lo merece.

Creo que el Liverpool, en el fondo, está pagando el desgaste de jugar también la Champions, pero tiene al mejor entrenador de la Premier y estoy convencido que la situación del equipo se encauzará. De Mario… Pues no sabría si apostar por él.

Por nosotros apuesto. Sí. Con los ojos cerrados y el corazón encogido pero debo hacerlo. Como podéis imaginar no he vivido una semana especialmente positiva. El martes pasado volví al equipo contra el Derby County y fue un partido de mucho desgaste. Corrimos detrás de la pelota la mayor parte de los 90 minutos y acabamos perdiendo de penalti después de intentar ganar de todas las maneras.

Fueron mis primeros minutos después de algunas semanas y lo noté los dos días siguientes. Las derrotas si algo hacen es perjudicar a tu cuerpo y tu mente, es muy estresante y yo lo paso especialmente mal. Intentas sacar buenas conclusiones para el siguiente partido y para jugar en Reading estábamos convencidos de dar un paso al frente. No pudo ser. Y maldita la gracia que significó ese partido.

En casa, la peque, Emma, ha estado malita por los dientes y hemos tenido noches de poco descanso en casa. Lo cierto es que Laura carga con la mayoría de las tareas nocturnas, por no decir todas, pero uno no duerme cuando tu bebé llora, por mucho que no tenga que levantarme. Si a eso le sumamos que me cuesta horrores dormirme pensando en nuestros partidos, el resultado son las ojeras de Beetlejuice.

De los malos momentos uno solo sale con trabajo y más trabajo, y a eso voy a dedicar esta semana. A prepararme lo mejor posible para la próxima batalla. Sin pensar en nada más. Hay que salir adelante como sea. Y por trabajar no quedará…

En el equipo se empieza a notar la tensión y de corazón espero que las cosas empiecen a mejorar porque somos un grupo unido y no me gustaría ver el mínimo atisbo de desunión en el vestuario. Hemos hablado y hablado, hemos intentado darle la vuelta, tenemos que seguir unidos y no perder la confianza en los demás. Porque entonces si que sería imposible cambiar la dinámica. Esta semana deberían volver Joan Oriol y José Cubero. Cuando todos hemos estado, hemos sido competitivos. Ojalá todo esto pase pronto y pueda contaros pronto como celebramos nuestros triunfos.

Un abrazo a todos.

¡Vamoooossss!

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