| 09 February 2007
Mariano De Pablos believes his first port of call as the new coach of Estudiantes is to tighten up the team's defence and to try and instil some confidence back into the players.
De Pablos was handed the coaching reins on Wednesday following the dismissal of Pedro Martinez, who was unable to halt the Madrid club's slide down the ACB standings.
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In this situation we have to look at how to go forward |
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Mariano De Pablos
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| Under Martinez, Estu had lost 10 of their last 11 league matches and De Pablos will take over a side who currently find themselves in the bottom four with a 7-13 record.
"The team is playing under the weight of many defeats," said the 32 year-old De Pablos.
"It has affected the confidence of the team and we must recover mentally all of the players, to make them feel they have the answer in their hands and to recover simple aspects of their play which the team has been missing."
Fortunately for the long-serving De Pablos - who has now coached Estu at every level - he has a little time to settle into his new role as the ACB has taken a break this weekend for the Copa del Rey.
But next week Estu face BC Siauliai in the EuroCup before hosting Caja San Fernando in the league, so De Pablos knows he needs to pinpoint the problem areas straight away.
"In this situation we have to look at how to go forward," he said.
"There has to be an increase in individual and collective responsibility in defense.
"Individually, I think that we need to improve our work on defense and rebounding, and it is all to do with desire - the desire to rebound and the desire to run."
At just 32, De Pablos acknowledges that he still has plenty to learn as a head coach, but he insists he does have some advantages over other would-be tacticians.
"Coming from inside it helps me better to understand the workings of the club better and it means I am endorsed by the club, the people who surround me," he said.
"A lack of experience is what counts against me but that can be compensated for with help from my coaching staff."
De Pablos also paid tribute to the work done by previous coach Martinez, who took over the team last January and led them to an eighth-placed finish in the 2005/06 season with 11 wins in his 19 matches in charge.
"For Pedro I only have words of gratitude. I think that he is a great coach, who in difficult circumstances has not been able to achieve the objectives he set for himself," De Pablos said on his club's website.
"Unfortunately in this business the head coach always pays the price when things are broken, but the first thing you have to understand is that to a degree all areas of the team share the responsibility." | 
