It’s my last column of the season so I’ll start by praising a manager who has impressed me a lot, Chris Wilder at Sheffield United.
What he’s done at Bramall Lane in their first season back in the Premier League is incredible – they might have fallen short in the race for Europe but they’ll still finish with their highest top-flight placing since 1975.
From the outset he’s told his players, “Everyone’s writing us off” and that the one thing they must do is outwork every other team. They’ve played decent football but have a siege mentality too and have dug in, something that’s been beyond another promoted team, Norwich City, who can play some nice stuff but have lacked steel. With Sheffield United, though, they’ve punched above their weight magnificently thanks to a great manager and people believing in what he does and sticking with it.
His backroom staff are good too. I remember Alan Knill, his No 2, winning his only cap for Wales when he was a Third Division player at Swansea. He man-marked Marco van Basten and hardly gave him a kick but, in typical Welsh fashion, we never saw him again!
People focus on Jürgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola but Wilder has done remarkably well, and I’d also mention Nuno Espirito Santo at Wolves as the second season is supposed to be harder but his team always have a good go and are now set to qualify for Europe again.
On a general note, I do have a lot of sympathy for managers today. At my old club Everton, I watch Carlo Ancelotti’s face at times and he looks like a sheriff who’s just waiting for the outlaws to hit town – with that squad you never know what’s round the corner and it must be so frustrating.
I’ve seen some players this season who’ve fallen out with their manager and haven’t really made a contribution – instead of thinking, “I’ll show him” and making a thousand tackles, they’ve got their squillion-quid contracts and have gone through the motions. I still shake my head at the story of one Premier League manager who was told by a player: “You’re stupid, we’re not listening to you anymore.”
From the outside it seems very difficult for managers to use any motivation today unless it’s a kind word. You have to be a manipulator now and just manipulate people into doing what you want to do, and that’s hard work. A lot of the foreign managers come in and don’t like any raised voices anyway but I knew players like Dave Watson and Barry Horne who responded to a rollicking and would roll their sleeves up. Other players went under and you had to keep boosting their confidence but the point is, people respond to different kinds of motivation.
I don’t see many players bollocking each other either; instead it feels like the game has been watered down, with most of the aggression removed – it seems people prefer to have a go at each other on social media these days. For me it’s a downside of having players who are coached and coached: if everyone’s telling them what their parameters are – distances run and balls played and all these measurements – you can’t expect them to suddenly develop a personality from 3-5pm on a Saturday.
For that reason I didn’t mind seeing Frank Lampard swear at the Liverpool bench the other night. Modern football looks more like theatre at times but Lampard is a grafter. He’s grafted all his career and could end his first season as Chelsea manager with Champions League qualification and the FA Cup. It must help him to have known the mentality of the people there already.
It reminds me of when Kenny Dalglish became Liverpool manager or Howard Kendall took over at Everton – they knew the type of player that their club really needed, and you can’t tell me Lampard doesn’t know what a Chelsea player should be. One player he decided straight away wasn’t right was David Luiz.
I know Luiz was man of the match for Arsenal in their FA Cup semi-final but I still think you take him at your peril. Every now and again he’ll do something mad – you know what you’re getting 85 per cent of the time but you just hold your breath for the other 15 per cent. He doesn’t seem a dishonest person but if things get too easy he just seems to lose his concentration so I can understand why Lampard thought, “I can’t have him here”.
My advice for De Gea
Everyone’s nailing David de Gea after his Wembley nightmare and the one thing I’d say is I don’t think his technique is fantastic.
It never has been, and in this bad spell it looks even worse. He keeps going for lots of things with his feet because his body is always leaning back – he’s often not in a typical goalkeeper position when he makes his saves, though that doesn’t mean he’s not effective.
He’s clearly short on confidence, though. He never looks like he’s enjoying himself, yet, conversely, once you hit that spell, the only thing you can do is say, “I’m going to relax and enjoy my football”.
In his situation I just concentrated on enjoying it and didn’t look for things to do; if you take the pressure off your own shoulders it becomes easier. He’s putting pressure on himself because he doesn’t want to make a mistake.
Liverpool’s leaders
As a former Footballer of the Year, I’d like to congratulate Jordan Henderson on winning this season’s prize. I struggle today to see leaders, players who drive their teams forward, but he’s certainly been a driving force for Liverpool.
I also like James Milner – people want to talk about big names but Milner has played in different positions and has never let them down.
He’s not a Gazza but he is the type of player you want in your dressing room as that’s what clubs are built on – good, solid pros.
He reminds me of Paul Power, who came to Everton from Manchester City and helped us win the league.
Milner would be brilliant for Leeds next season but at Liverpool he can come in and have a rest and, at 34, that’s important.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/2OVx0JA
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