Jose Bordalas: Getafe manager who purists hate – Guillem Balague column
The football in Spain has long been fragmented between the two ends: the positional game descending from Johan Cruyff and the heavy ideals of ownership and the pragmatists who prioritize the structure, intensity and consequences.
In the second camp, Bordalas stands in the Unapologelically, but was inspired by the first.
Simply, he was not given the chance to put it into practice, because the clubs he directed on three floors of Spanish football did not have players to perform such football.
For aesthesia, direct and uncompromising football brand is unusual. It is not resistant for players and fans.
Beyond the cartoon, Bordalas’ methods are based on structures and details.
Training sessions can take three hours, double the usual length. Players are weighed every morning and those who return overweight after holidays are forced to train with extra kilograms to their bodies.
Once upon a time, he challenged a ball to reach his players to reach Madrid’s M-50 motorway, and presented a 500 euro (£ 432 £) and a starting place to be successful.
He performed a similar test at the former club Alcorcon: Try to remove the ball from the stadium. This is the reinforcement of his mantra – his effort, competitiveness, and always pushing limits.
Players often admit that they feel drowned with their demands – and many admit.
Juan Cala, who played in Getafe between 2015-2018, said, “He made me crazy like a father … But he experienced the best moment of my career.”
Even before moving to fashion, Bordalas saw three basis: high pressure, organized defense and a physical ability that allows players to take up too much space on the field.
It is a high, aggressive pressure, which forces its competitors to go for a long time, as well as compact defense lines and emergency transitions. There is no tolerance for sterile property.
Return numbers. Getafe is constantly taking place among the teams that defend the most distant of their goals, capturing the most foul teams.
Conclusion? They allow the least shots on the target. Aesthetic sacrifice is the price of security.
Recently, Bordalas has added an AI tool to its ammunition, hoping that technology can position the best position with the ball without the ball and give clues about how to force mistakes.
Bordalas attaches great importance to improvisation and the points where others see obstacles.
Take Christius Uche. In the summer of 2024, Getafe signed as a midfielder from Ceuta for 500,000 euros (£ 430,000), and rediscovered as a striker to solve famine.
Nigerian scored goals and was sold to Crystal Palace for £ 17 million after 33 matches, four goals and six assists.
Critics calls the approach. Bordalas calls it realistic.
“I would love to check the ball more,” he said. “I’m a good football lover, but you have to adapt to the players you have.”
This adaptability allowed it to develop in environments where others failed. From Hercules to Elche, to Alaves to Getafe, it was constantly increasing with modest talent teams.
