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Coach Gerard Nus' System Paying Off For Rayo OKC

The young coach has Rayo OKC on the verge of a postseason berth
Matthew Levine (@NASLInsider} | Oct 27, 2016

Photo credit: Rayo OKC

Rayo OKC coach Gerard Nus is a big believer in collective work, from the office staff, to the coaches, and to the players. Over the last two months, the club has certainly been pulling in one direction: towards The Championship, the NASL’s four-team postseason tournament.

After a slow start under Nus, who took over just before Rayo OKC’s draw on the road with the New York Cosmos on Aug. 7, the club has been firing on all cylinders at a crucial stretch of the campaign.

‘We always said this is a building process,” Nus told NASL. “When you arrive to a place, it takes time. I think we are getting better and the players are more used to the system. When you start any company, it’s not successful from the first day. It takes time – weeks, months, it might take years.”

When results weren’t going Rayo OKC’s way. Nus noticed that there was one quality that the team has always shown.

 “Something I feel really proud of – even in the first game – we always had that fighting spirit,” he said.

What has changed since, though, has been the results – in a big way. Rayo OKC is now in the driver’s seat heading in to the final weekend of the Fall Season. The club hasn’t lost in its last nine games and has won the past four. A positive result on Sunday night against Indy Eleven or a loss/draw by Minnesota on Saturday would see Rayo OKC through to the postseason.

“The good thing now is the reward and we deserve it,” Nus said. “The team has been competing and fighting in every single game. We’ve improved some details and we got better in many things and that’s why we’ve come out of the recent games with victories.”

Despite gaining coaching experience around the world – in England, Spain, and with the national team of Ghana, among others – Nus is getting the opportunity to be the head coach of a senior team for the first time. It’s a role he’s blossomed in over the course of the Fall Season.

“The most important is that I know it’s what I want to be from now on going forward," he said. "As a head coach, I enjoy it and I like it. It’s something I’ve always been dreaming about.”

While having vast experience as a young coach, Nus has also had plenty to learn during his time with Rayo OKC so far.

“In some places I was lucky because I got a big role, so I’m quite familiar,” he said. “In some places I was managing training and the game plan, which are some of the most important aspects of a coaching staff.

“The thing that I’m more responsible for is the one-on-one talks in key moments – halftime, pregame. It’s something I try to get better at every game.”

During the club’s unbeaten streak, Rayo OKC has shown a penchant for pressing high and trying to play a possession-based game, which has worked to great effect. It has also allowed the club’s attacking players to get in more dangerous spots, including Michel, who now has 14 goals on the season and recently picked up an assist in the club’s important 2-0 win against the Fort Lauderdale Strikers.

“First thing is we want to have more of the ball,” Nus said of the team’s playing style. “I’m a big believer in that. I feel if you have the ball you are more in control of the game – you can create chances, make the other team run chasing the ball. Sometimes we have more possession and sometimes not, but that’s one of our targets.

“The other thing is compete. We want to be sure they we’re going to have a better desire to win games and that’s a mental thing.”

Rayo OKC has shown that desire to climb back into the race for the postseason and head into the final weekend poised to clinch the final berth in The Championship. For Nus and Rayo OKC, that would mean continuing the season where his tenure began against the Cosmos.

“We have good character, we’re really competitive, and have shown we can beat anybody,” Nus said.   

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