Sevilla Manager Jose Luis Mendilibar gives advice to Sergio Ramos – ‘We have to change his ideas’

Sevilla Manager Jose Luis Mendilibar has told Sergio Ramos that he must change his mindset now that he is back at the club, following his debut in a 1-0 win over Las Palmas.

Los Nervionenses got off the bottom of La Liga with their first win of the season, with another debutant in Dodi Lukebakio getting the winner in the latter stages. Ramos spoke after the match saying that he could ‘die happy’ following his second debut at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.

Mendilibar was not quite as overjoyed as Ramos, and told Diario AS that the 37-year-old needed to adapt to being in a team that was not as good as he is used to.

“He is the one who speaks on the field of play, the one who calls the shots. But we have to change his ideas, he wants to play out from the back and that is not our game. We play more directly and from there we play in the opponent’s half. We arrived at a difficult time last season and there are things that we do not want to happen again.”

“He also has to play our game. He has played in clubs that have always dominated, now he is in a team in which we are not so dominant. And we all have to change the mindset, Sergio also has to change his mindset.”

Those words might not be what Ramos or Sevilla want to hear, but following another summer without significant investment, it looks as if Mendilibar will try to construct a more humble team. Certainly one of the things he brought at the end of last season, leading to their success, was an extra competitive edge, without which Sevilla looked lost in their opening three matches.