TUCKER, St James — MONTEGO Bay United (MBU) head coach Carlos Aitor Garcia Sanz says he will not be trying to reinvent the wheel when the Red Stripe Premier League champions start the defence of their title next month.

The Spaniard, who took over as head coach three weeks ago, said he has inherited “a good team and good system” and will only try to improve on what he has seen so far.

“I will try to get a smooth transition,” he told the Jamaica Observer West in an interview at the club’s base at Wespow Park on Monday.

“I can’t come to a team that just won the league and say ‘forget about everything I have my own ideas’, I think that does not work.”

Garcia Sanz is the fifth head coach to take charge of MBU in four years, taking over a club that is coming off their first Premier League title.

The former coach at DAV Santa Ana in the Barcelona League, who turned down offers in Asia and the US, opting instead to take up the job at MBU, has started to use video simulations in his teachings.

“We have started working on a system from the very first day. They are used to playing the ball, so I am introducing structures to make this more efficient. I see that last year they were the best defensive team, so I look at the videos and say that you are doing really well, but this is where you can improve, these are my systems to improve,” he explained.

The only flaw he says that he has been able to see from both watching videos and from training on the field, is that the team tends to bypass the midfield a lot, when attacking.

“From the back they usually have good possession of the ball, but at times they tend to play the ball long. So, I say if you want to have more possession of the ball we have to be able to play the ball short, so we are putting in systems to achieve this,” he points out.

Garcia Sanz stressed that he is happy with the team he has inherited, adding that there is all-round strength.

With all the options he had, Garcia Sanz said he was sold on the job when he first spoke to Orville Powell, the former president of MBU in February.

“I wanted to go to a place where I could build and grow with the team. I did speak to other teams in other countries, but after speaking to Mr Powell in February, he told me what he wanted to do with the team and after five minutes I was absolutely in love with the ideas… my mind was made up,” he told the Observer West.

He said, however, that there was a slight glitch in June when Powell announced his resignation, but he added that when he spoke to Sandra Christie, who is heading up the management team at MBU, he realised not much had changed.

“When I spoke to Ms Christie and she had the same plans and ideas, nothing changed, same goals, same ambitions,” he noted.

Despite some initial doubts, he said the welcome he received from the entire club has smoothed his arrival, as he continues to learn the culture of the country and the players he will be in charge of.

“At first, new country and new things, I had a little doubt, but the players and coaching staff and management at (MBU) received me well and that made things very easy.”

The players are happy and responding well, I think they like what I am putting in and that’s why it has been so smooth a transition,” he explained.