Cervera: "I like the group to take precedence over the individual"

CD Tenerife are not at their best but Álvaro Cervera (b. Equatorial Guinea, 1965) is confident the group is bouncing back. Before the Christmas break, the manager of the Canary Islands club spoke exclusively to LFP.es about the team’s situation and his role as head coach.

LFP.es: What is your assessment of this opening stage of the season?
Álvaro Cervera: After working well last season, this year we hoped to be higher up the table. At first, changes were made with the expectation of being able to compete with the teams at the top of the table and, because football is what it is, we haven’t been able to achieve our objective of being at the top and right now we’re battling it out with the teams at the bottom. It’s a not a good situation, but there have been good things despite the fact that the team hasn’t shown its best side. I can’t make a positive assessment, but there have been things that have helped us learn that the road is not the one we chose at the beginning.

"I like to highlight consistent players like Aitor Sanz, Vitolo and Carlos Ruiz" 

LFP.es: What is missing from the team to help it take off and look to the top part of the table?
Cervera: In a football team, so that things go as you want them to, aside from the fact that it’s a game in which factors like chance play a role, you have to combine many things, like putting together a good team, a good manager, people with the same objective. We brought some of these factors over from last year, because we’re more or less the same side, but we wanted to change our playing style and the running of the group, and it hasn’t given us the punch we need to be at the top. The conclusion is that last year we had less things to manage and we knew how to manage them well, and this season we’ve tried to aim higher, but we haven’t been as capable as we should have been.

LFP.es: What three players would you highlight as the driving forces of the team?
Cervera: We’re a team that feels more comfortable controlling matches, trying to ensure they’re not end-to-end games or close scores, that’s not our style. That’s why I like to highlight consistent players like Aitor Sanz, Vitolo and Carlos Ruiz. They’re the first names on the team sheet because you can always rely on them, whether they playing well or not. Their performance levels tend to be the same and team thrives on this kind of player.

"The fact that La Liga has managed to make allocations even and the salary cap makes everything much more equal"

LFP.es: This season Ayoze Pérez’s departure was significant; do you think the team has been affected a lot by his absence?
Cervera: Whenever you lose a player like that it affects you. Last year the team was A, B and C and one of those letters was Ayoze Pérez, who was the finisher. Even so, the team had to do a lot of work behind so that he could express everything he has as a footballer. He’s a very young player, with very good qualities and as long he’s lucky wherever he goes and finds a place that completes him as a footballer he’ll be successful.

LFP.es: You’re part of the Canary Islands club’s history, with over 100 games behind you in the dugout; what is your assessment of this phase of your career?
Cervera: It’s an important phase for me, because it’s where I’ve spent the most time. From the beginning objectives that weren’t easy have been achieved: first, promotion, and then, survival. And this year, as I said, we had the highest expectations and so far we haven’t met them. On Tenerife a great deal of importance is attached to everything surrounding football, so it’s a tough and difficult time.

LFP.es: Is there more pressure to achieve results at a historic club like Tenerife?
Cervera: All teams with a history, and one that’s not very distant, have pressure, because you play with the past in mind. On top of this, on Tenerife there is a huge passion for football and a great deal of importance is attached to what the team does, of course there is more pressure.

"At Tenerife the pressure his greater because of the club’s history and the passion for football"

LFP.es: How would you describe yourself as a manager? What do you demand from your players?
Cervera: I’m someone who believes that the work you do every day is what determines your success. The work during the week is the most important thing because it helps the manager select the next line-up, seeing who is in better or worse shape. From there, I like to analyse everything I can about the team and the opposition, and that matches resemble what we intended as much as possible. I like the group to take precedence over the individual, something I learned when I was a footballer and I’ll never change.

LFP.es: Do you believe the competition will be as competitive as it was last year again and the excitement will be maintained until the end?
Cervera: At the beginning of the season it looked like teams like Real Betis, R. Valladolid CF and UD Las Palmas would be at the top. Betis had an inconsistent start, but the others are up there and everything will depend on the ability of the other teams to take points from them. But I don’t think there are more than 3 or 4 teams at a higher level than the rest. The rest could be 4 or 5 points further up or down. The fact that La Liga has managed to make allocations even and the salary cap makes everything much more equal.