Miguel Herrera and Tigers They have made a dumbbell that they both needed. The coach has found a version of himself in which he has put aside his explosive personality to become a mature character focused 100% on court issues, while the team now demonstrates the movements of an offensive engine that so much he longed for his hobby. It is a combination that is working in this league in the search for the eighth star for the whole of the Autonomous University of Nuevo León (UANL).
This does not mean that Herrera has left behind the euphoria that characterized him for years with América or with the Mexican team, on the contrary, he continues to celebrate with jumps and screams every time André-Pierre Gignac or Carlos González scores. However, that explosiveness only remains for the celebrations or for when it is necessary to give corrective indications, no longer for when it is necessary to claim something from the referee. He describes himself as a more mature coach.
— How do you think you have changed as a coach and as a person in these six months?
– “There are always new things to learn and involve them in your work. I have been more serene on the bench, vibrating with the team and claiming what I have to claim but without being ostentatious, without being so emphatic in the work of the whistlers, because I have realized that it does not leave us anything good. I’m more focused on the game, obviously I had to evolve and part of the blows that life gives you are also teaching you, ”Herrera replied to El Economista.
The new maturity is noticeable in the statistics. Miguel Herrera He completed an entire football year without receiving a single red card, counting the current Apertura 2021 and the Guardians 2020, directing Tigres and América, respectively (he did not direct during Guardians 2021). Those weeks in which the managers of their teams spoke more about their indiscipline than about their performance, as in the Apertura 2019, where they tied their record of three expulsions, are beginning to be left behind.
In his first stage in the city of Monterrey (2004-2007), directing the Rayados, Herrera added eight expulsions in seven tournaments, in addition to showing off a farandulera facet that later he replicated in America and in the national team, constantly appearing on television programs and commercial even of political parties. With his arrival in Tigres, all that has been left behind.
“He is a very media technician, very popular, however, he came here and has dedicated himself 100% to working with the team. He was never criticized by the fans of Tigres for having been in Rayados, at that time he was starting his career, he was very explosive, very accelerated, but with the maturity he has acquired, he is another Miguel. His temperament has been solving it, he used to mess with the referees a lot and not anymore, he is not even the same as in his statements with reporters he criticized the refereeing work. There is a world of difference, ”explains René Fernández, a journalist for Televisa Monterrey with 16 years covering Tigres.
Herrera has Tigers 90 minutes from advancing to its eighth Liga MX final in the last 10 years. He is trying to exploit the fact of being the most experienced coach in the current league with 22 out of 33 possible participations, while Andrés Lillini from Pumas and Diego Cocca from Atlas have two and Ariel Holán de León lives his first, understanding that this is also his debut tournament in Mexico. There you can also see the profile of maturity and solidarity of the coach of the royal club.
“It motivates me to always be in the league, whoever is (referring to the coaches). I am happy with the great work that my coaching staff always does, I am not alone, I am always in good company, I always have a coaching staff that gives me their opinion, ways of thinking and I value and thank them very much ”, says Herrera, who in Tigres is surrounded by three assistants: Álvaro Galindo, who also accompanied him in America, Tijuana and Tecos; Óscar Escobar, who accompanied him in America and Tijuana; and Marco Antonio Ruiz, who only joined him at the UANL institution.
On the side of the club there is also enthusiasm to see a new version under the command of Miguel Herrera. Only in their most recent game, the first leg of the semifinals at home against León, Tigres fired 30 shots at goal against only eight received, in addition to winning possession with 62% against 38%. The royal team consolidated the offensive vocation of their coach in the 90th and 95th minutes with so many that they turned it from 0-1 to remain with a 2-1.
“I work to achieve the goals that are asked of me and that are required of me in the teams where I go. I liked the philosophy of being a coach looking for the rival goal and at the beginning it was just looking for that and I evolved in the process, in talks with people who have helped me grow trying to balance and today I am able to have that balance. As long as you are fighting and your players have dedication, determination and conviction, people will continue to see the teams that I have to lead with pleasure and knowing that they are teams that can fight for access to the final and for titles ”, emphasizes Herrera.
That offensive vocation that was rarely seen with Ricardo Ferretti at the helm of Tigres, putting Gignac, González, ‘Diente’ López, Leonardo Fernández, Luis Quiñones and Javier Aquino in the same lineup has excited the public and helped them to Herrera to connect in less than six months.
“It did inspire the change of technician, idea, philosophy and scheme. ‘Tuca’ gave a lot of priority to the defensive order and Miguel likes to play more vertical. At first it was difficult for him, there were boos in the stands of the University stadium, the defense looked very bad and with ‘Tuca’ it was not like that, people were getting desperate, but now Herrera has thrown them into the bag with football, because He tries to modify if he is losing, it is seen that he is trying to turn the result around with an offensive team and when people see that he is delivering that, they applaud him. Tigres left without winning but with applause, there is more and more that connection between the platform and the coach ”, describes the journalist René Fernández.
Tigers looking for his eighth title of MX League in the current Apertura 2021 to tie León with the fifth highest figure behind the 13 from America, 12 from Chivas, 10 from Toluca and 9 from Cruz Azul. For Miguel Herrera, this would be just his third crown after those obtained with America in 2013 and 2018, although if he achieves it this year, unlike the previous ones, he would leave without a single red card in the regular phase, showing that the screams They are only for festivities, not for indiscipline.
kg
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx