Filipe Luis: "Simeone finds it hard to be chummy with his players"
The Brazilian left-back, who made 333 appearances for Atlético Madrid, spoke about El Cholo's interpersonal skills with his squad.
Filipe Luis is among the foreign players to have made the most appearances for Atlético Madrid. The Brazilian left-back, who is very familiar with Diego Simeone's working methods, has spoken out about how the coach's interpersonal skills and how he manages his players. “He demands the maximum in every training session, he always wants the best from every single player, but he is not so good at dealing with people. He doesn't find it easy to be friendly to his players. He struggles to understand people's personal characteristics but occasionally he will swallow his pride and be more open,” the Flamengo defender said in an interview for O Globo, as well as highlighting the double standards El Cholo has with some of his players: "There have been several episodes such as João Félix thowing a bottle or Luis Suárez being angry after being substituted. Let's say that he gets on well with some players but with others, he tends to have a more professional approach. It might look like he gets on well with everyone but that's not really the case”.
Filipe Luis is currently studying to gain his coaching license and is clear that he wants to go into management once his playing days are over. He analysed the methods of all of the coaches he has worked under during his career and tried to single out their best traits. “Is Simeone good at dealing with players? In a way but he is not one of the best that I have come across during my time as a player. [Brazil coach] Tite is brilliant at it, he makes all of them feel important and the way he has of talking to players is exceptional,” he explained, adding that Simeone is always open to discussing tactics with the team: "Which coaches have given me the chance to talk about the playing style? Up until now, Simeone. One day he said: 'We are going to score like this'. And I asked him to explain why. Mourinho's teams always plays in the same way, which is why his sides are difficult to open up".
Mourinho's training sessions, never a dull moment
While Filipe Luis feels that Simeone's social skills with his players is one of his weak points, he is in no doubt that El Cholo is the best possible coach Atlético could have: "He totally believes in what he does. The 11 players have to work extremely hard. He might change the tactics halfway through a game so that the team can adapt to the opponents. Sometimes I would have liked us to have had more possession, but what can I say? For Atlético, he's the best coach there is“.
Filipe Luis also spoke about his experience of working with José Mourinho, and confessed that he is a big admirer of how the Portuguese coach designs his training sessions: "I've had many memorable training sessions - with Mourinho, Jorge Jesús, Simeone... Mourinho's were by far the best. They were dynamic, intense. Jorge Jesús' were very simple, almost always the same. Simeone trains the team to compete against the next rival. If the opponents play a lot of high balls into the box, we will spend the whole week practicing defending crosses or the kind of zonal defending that he likes. When my turn comes, my training sessions will be based on the needs of the team. In my opinion, the defence needs more work than the attack. That will be my priority - a team that is hard to score against is a team that can win trophies".