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Post by stewart on Feb 2, 2017 0:50:27 GMT
Does English football really need clowns like these ?
For as long as he has been a manager in this country, Mourinho's responses during his interviews have been arrogant, offhand and dismissive, always refusing to maintain eye contact with the interviewer. Tonight he said to Martin Fisher, one of television's most respected and experienced commentators, that he should not be holding a microphone if he didn't know football. He could have sent out one of his players to fulfill the requirement of an interview, but no, he has to come out himself, miserable and cynical as ever, and show himself in his true colours, rude and obnoxious. The answer is simple: neither BBC nor ITV should ever approach him again, and leave him to stew in his own version of distastefulness.
Conte is a different kettle of fish altogether. He never sits in his allotted seat, instead he spends the whole match jumping up and down in his "technical area" (what a joke that term is), screaming and gesticulating at his players, do this, do that, go here, go there, instead of his letting them work out for themselves how the game should be played. Have we really reached the point when players are just puppets in some managerial board game ? Again, the answer is simple: dispense with these "technical areas", make these managers sit down where they are supposed to be, and make them rely on instructions given to the team before the match and at half-time. That should be sufficient if they "know football" as well as they believe they do.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2017 20:41:38 GMT
stewart
That's certainly an accurate assessment of Mourinho's post match approach to interviews, and there didn't appear to be any need to behave the way he did with Martin Fisher. I'm not sure that the common sense option of sending a player, or your Assistant to the media room instead is allowed. I'm fairly sure it's mandatory for the Managers to make themselves available for interviews after the match, certainly in the Premier League. On occasions for sure, you'll have just had a blazing stand up row with the centre half in the dressing room, or your wife has just called your mobile saying one of the kids has stormed out of the house, and she's worried. On these suchl occasions it would be better for all concerned if the interview wasn't compulsory. Slaven Bilic shouldn't have been put before a microphone last Saturday evening.
Arrogance isn't a particularly attractive trait, but does a football manager need to project total belief in what he's telling his players ? Would it be wise to be confessing to mistakes or telling players you got the tactics wrong ? Once you do, going into any future match, the seeds of doubt are sown in their mind that what you're advising could be wrong again. Would you want the General explaining the battle plan saying that he thinks it might work ? That it's the best he can come up and he'll keep his fingers crossed for success ? He needs to inspire total confidence, complete faith in the plan, not to betray any slight hint of doubt....it will come over as arrogance, but it can be what players require to see if that same belief is to be transferred to them.
Conte's buzzing about doesn't endear him to me. Scolari was the same, always pointing and shouting, and was hopeless at Chelsea. Knill was the same.....all week to plan for the match and within 10 seconds of the game kicking off seemingly frantically attempting to change everything. The constant instructions would drive me mad as a player, and you could sense that Rene Howe and certain others, quite used to the Martin Ling style of hands deep in jacket pockets, and observations only imparted at half time, wouldn't come back after the Summer for a season of Knill's antics and gesticulations. But.......it's undeniably what the majority of modern football fans wish to see. Almost without exception, every Exeter City fan that I used to have contact with 5 or 6 years ago, would complain of Paul Tisdale's 'lack of passion'. Shouting hollering, arms waving and pointing...it all apparently denotes 'passion'.... and it's lapped up by the modern day supporter.
Conte, who I know little about, is clearly an exception to this rule of thumb. I've looked at his wikipedia page, and despite his irritating touchline style....he's doing far more right than wrong in his team management. Here are a few snippets from the page that might be of interest:
Pirlo has also remarked approvingly of Conte's man-management and motivational skills. In his autobiography he recalled how Conte's introductory speech to the Juventus squad made a significant impact: "He needed only one speech, with many simple words, to conquer both me and Juventus. He had fire running through his veins and he moved like a viper. 'This squad, dear boys, is coming off two consecutive seventh-place finishes. It's crazy. It's shocking. I am not here for this, so it's time to stop being so crap.'... When Conte speaks, his words assault you. They crash through the doors of your mind. I've lost count of the number of times I've said: 'Hell, Conte said something really spot-on again today'.
“I did not have Zinedine Zidane or Roberto Baggio's talent as a player, and I have played with both, that even when they were circled they could try to break through or create interesting situations with the ball. When I was a player, my efforts and work-rate, my willingness to sacrifice fitness and humility made up for my lack of pure talent but sometimes, if I didn't find a teammate next to me, I might lose the ball. As a manager, my first thought from day one was that I wanted to find solutions for my players when the ball reached them, as I could not. If my players don't understand something, I force the player to ask me why we are doing such movement or working on certain tactics in training both offensively or defensively. I always want my players to be fully understanding of the problem. I want them to understand why we are doing certain things and why those things are useful.”
— Conte on his use of tactical systems.
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