Benítez: "I am optimistic about next season"

Less than three weeks after having been presented as Real Madrid's new coach, Rafa Benítez has given an interview to the club's website (full text, in Spanish, here) to discuss his first days in his new job, the pre-season and some of his plans for the season. These are some of the most relevant quotes:

The players in the roster determine pretty much how the team will play. We have offensive players, and so our idea will be to play offensive football. It is not a matter of the system, people think the style is determined by the 4-4-2 or the 4-3-3, and it is not like that. We will base our football in having the ball whenever we can, moving it as fast as possible to attack, and trying not to lose the balance between offense and defence. We will try to impose our football, but we need to be able to explore other options if needed.

We have talked to the players, and they are all extremely motivated to work to achieve our goals next season. The first thing I have done is explore their feelings about what went good and bad last season, what they think we can improve and how they would like things to be done, and the same with the rest of my staff and all the professionals at the club. With all this information, we will decide what is the best for the team.

Danilo and Casemiro are new players that will be important for us, and the managing staff is still working to try to rise the level of the team, but it is very difficult, given that Real Madrid's roster is very good. This team has won everything and proved its worth. The fans can be sure that we will be as competitive as we should.

We are aware of what Real Madrid means for millions of fans around the world, and so we will work hard to have a good and demanding pre-season while satisfying the universal duty the club has. It will not be easy, but we have done it in other clubs and it worked. The key is to be well organized, to prioritize sporting aspects, to reduce as much as possible the travel times and so on.