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| Article On Blues Management/coaching | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: May 3 2006, 09:05 AM (581 Views) | |
| StAndrews4Eva | May 3 2006, 09:05 AM Post #1 |
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Gil Merrick
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http://www.birminghamcity-mad.co.uk/news/l...=EDX1&id=281183 Be warned - its a long article but extremely well written and spot on. The article is the 3rd in a series by a blues fan who posts on another board. |
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| Dugarry | May 3 2006, 09:07 AM Post #2 |
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Geoff Horsfield
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I agree with what he said..... |
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| proccy_blues | May 3 2006, 09:12 AM Post #3 |
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Joe Bradford
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i don't - i'm not uefa qualified either, so have no working knowledge of modern tactics or coaching methods. the comments can therefore only ever be speculation and opinion, and that is the entirety of the article imo....and this is not a defence of sb or anyone else, just a statement of fact.. ;) |
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| mr penguin | May 3 2006, 09:17 AM Post #4 |
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Sponsored by Flybe.com
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Excellent article, imo. For instance : Bolton Wanderers are a team I often compare us to (given that, on paper, I feel we have a considerably stronger squad), and if you look at Stelios and Kevin Nolan, they have 18 league goals between them from midfield. Eighteen goals from two midfielders in one season. Can you imagine? And we're not talking about players who've cost millions here, or are playing for a glamour club..... That has to be a reflection on the way that Blues play, and the way in which the midfield fails to support the forwards. and Apparently Preston North End under Billy Davies have over 50 set piece routines that they work on day in, day out. I suspect we have no more than 3. Near post, far post and, well, maybe we just have 2. When we first came up, does anyone remember Paul Devlin's goal at home to Leeds United? It was from a 'training ground routine' at a corner, and worked very well, thank you very much. Where's that gone? Where have any clever little moves gone? To quote many, many people, 'what do we do in training?' Two of the reasons that we have failed to score enough goals this seasons. |
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| Hooby Groovy | May 3 2006, 09:27 AM Post #5 |
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Frank Worthington
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No, its not written by someone with coaching badges, and I've not got any coaching badges - but its spot on because its common sense And common sense seems to be a commodity in short-supply at St Andrews The article is absolutely superb, and tells it exactly how it is. I personally believe that the analysis is correct and I agree with the conclusion Perhaps the article could be forwarded to mr Sullivan in his preparation for the meeting on Friday? ;) |
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| Dugarry | May 3 2006, 09:47 AM Post #6 |
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Geoff Horsfield
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I agree with what you said... |
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| Deleted User | May 3 2006, 09:52 AM Post #7 |
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Deleted User
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**thumbup |
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| Mash | May 3 2006, 09:53 AM Post #8 |
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Paul Tait
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Make me the second I will always remember Devlins goal 1 because it was on my birthday 2 because I went on the pitch and got the away shirt and was the first to have it signed with gold writing :lol: |
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| nick_p | May 3 2006, 10:28 AM Post #9 |
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Kenny Burns
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Tell me Proccy, what's speculation about the facts two of Bolton's midfielders have scored more than all ten of ours? It's a damning article, and damning mostly because it's true. Anyone pretending otherwise is deluding themselves. We have no pace, we have no fitness, we have no plan C. And that's why we're playing Championship football next season - and God help us if the same management team and approach is in place. |
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| proccy_blues | May 3 2006, 10:58 AM Post #10 |
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Joe Bradford
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i'm not saying the article is definitely wrong, my point is and was, i'm not a qualified uefa coach so dont have the necessary expertise to accurately comment and, if my suspicions are right, nor is anyone else on this forum. therefore as stated they can only be opinions...similarly, you dont know for sure what or how many plans sb has at his disposal, nor do i and nor does the bloke writing the article. i wouldn't expect to be able to successfully prosecute a case at law without adequate training, and neither could i formulate top level tactics and plans without training, thats my point. so whether what is reported by him is truth or not, we'll never really know... as i said, i am not trying to defend sb in any way here, we're down and we'll see what next week brings. then we'll see what next season brings. but you wont draw me on tactics or footy planning, i've been close enough to know just how difficult it is - ask tuggy... ;) |
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| royalblue | May 3 2006, 11:46 AM Post #11 |
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royalblue
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**thumbup Excellent suggestion.Imagine the scence come friday. DS. Hi Steve, have you read this article on the team's coaching and tactics that was e-mailed to me? SB.No Mr Sullian.Let's have a good. Some time later.... DS. Well Steve what do you think? SB.Er..... I'll get me coat! Excellent article ( if maybe a bit long) and no I am not a coach but I know rubbish when I see it and that is what I have been watching for all of this season and most of the season and half before that.Shapeless,paceless,long ball rubbish.I remember more than once visiting fans singing 'your supporting f**king s**t and wanting to join in with them! SB is a nice bloke but he has lost the plot and it's time to go. Let your heart beat strong and all that. |
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| andyjjj | May 3 2006, 11:58 AM Post #12 |
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Geoff Horsfield
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Been saying it for months, it's Eric Black and the coaching staff that have turned potentially our best squad in 25 years into a poor team. Get them all out, keep SB (until December...) |
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| valleyblue | May 3 2006, 12:16 PM Post #13 |
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Paul Tait
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You don't need any UEFA badges to arrive at a judgement on what is before your eyes, nor to question why the Bolton stats are so much better than ours. In fact there's nothing in the entire article that your average Sunday league manager couldn't work out. It's been said by many on here and again you don't need some piece of paper to spot it - SB sends teams out not to lose games he never send a team out to go for the win from the off. |
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| proccy_blues | May 3 2006, 12:18 PM Post #14 |
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Joe Bradford
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in your (unqualified) opinion.... ;) |
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| valleyblue | May 3 2006, 12:21 PM Post #15 |
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Paul Tait
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Just because I don't have a UEFA qualification doesn't mean I can't have an opinion you know! Lineker, Hanson, Lawrenson, Andy Grey, Charlie Nicholas don't have UEFA badges yet you don't say they can't have an opinion. Stop being picky |
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| bluenosesouth | May 3 2006, 12:23 PM Post #16 |
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Paul Devlin
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Well personally I think this has touched on everything that appears wrong at the moment - excellent thread !! Now how the hell do we get this message over to the Club, the Board, the Manager and the (jokingly) coaching staff? Totally agree! This is exactly where we need to address everything for next season Come on boys - lets get back ASAP |
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| gene autry | May 3 2006, 12:24 PM Post #17 |
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Alex Govan
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Most of us are not politicians, yet it is quite socially acceptable to vote in elections. In fact they all encourage us to vote, using the information we have, what we have experienced and seen and what we aspire to. We don't need to be uefa coaches to criticise, all that a badge will do is make that criticism more detailed and acute. ;) |
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| dr.nick | May 3 2006, 12:26 PM Post #18 |
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Trevor Francis
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:lol: :lol: if only |
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| proccy_blues | May 3 2006, 12:27 PM Post #19 |
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Joe Bradford
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and able to speak from a position of knowledge, not guesswork - how many people voted for labour because they were fed up of tory sleaze? :rolleyes: ;) |
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| valleyblue | May 3 2006, 12:30 PM Post #20 |
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Paul Tait
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Proccy By your principles I need to attend a course in interior design before being able to form an opinion on what colour to paint my living room, because if i don't my opinion will be invalid as i do not have a qualification. Tell me do you ever form an opinion about something without first going on a course or are you incapable of deciding for yourself and so fall back on the guidance of your supposed "betters" |
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| valleyblue | May 3 2006, 12:32 PM Post #21 |
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Paul Tait
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In response to that one I voted labour because they represented the ideas and principles by which I felt the country should be governed. The again I don't have a degree in politics so what do I know? |
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| ATL-Blue | May 3 2006, 12:43 PM Post #22 |
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Frank Worthington
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Steve Bruce appointed them most likely because they were yes men Bruce is ultimately to blame |
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| gene autry | May 3 2006, 12:44 PM Post #23 |
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Alex Govan
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From the article. I think the writer has adequatley stated his position for his criticism, and at the same time opened up the question to others - qualified or not. Once again, a long, but good article. **thumbup |
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| stephen | May 3 2006, 07:14 PM Post #24 |
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Jose Dominguez
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Blimey, what a fantastic article. I think he's mostly right but in a way that's not the point. The point is that someone has made a detailed, structured argument backed with evidence about how the season went wrong. I know we've all put bits and pieces onto the boards but this person has drawn together the various strands into a whole. It would be interesting to see if there is an equally convincing counterblast from someone with a differing opinion. |
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| The Concerned Potato Head | May 3 2006, 07:23 PM Post #25 |
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Big Bawss
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When any team is struggling, the easiest explanation for fans to cling to is that it's down to the 'coaching' or the 'tactics', which is fair enough, really. Any team has a manager and/or coaching staff. Therefore, it goes hand in hand that when the team loses, questions are asked of that manager and/or coaching staff. As I say, this is always one of the first areas to have fingers pointed at it. It's often harder to justify this though, but given the season that Blues have just had, I feel that such criticism can not only be made (as you'd expect), but can be fully justified. I have known that I was going to be writing this series of articles for a couple of weeks now, and as such, I've been putting a fair bit of thought into the things that I'd write, and the examples I'd use to illustrate points. One thing that I've been trying to think of is of any really good goals we've scored this season. By this, I don't mean a Jiri Jarosik thunderbolt from 30 yards out, I mean a genuinely good team goal - where a few players have been involved and the opposition have been carved open by crisp passing and quick movement. Without looking again at each goal we've scored this season, I can only think of one in the league, in 38 games - ironically enough it was against Manchester United at home, and was Jamie Clapham's first goal for the club (seeing as he appears to be dead now, I would guess that it's probably his last goal for the club too). The move consisted of the team breaking forward at pace from defence, a ball being played into a centre forward who had a midfielder flying forward to support him. The centre forward was able to lay the ball back to the midfielder who saw a great overlapping run made by a full-back, and put a through ball in behind the defence which the full-back drilled home first time. I have just described Clapham's goal, with good build up from Emile Heskey and Jarosik completely from memory, and I bet I'm not too far off in how I've described it - it's vivid in my mind because it was such a great footballing goal, gloriously manufactured by three players keeping things simple. As Liverpool FC once rapped, 'pass and move, it's the Liverpool groove'. Well this was a goal highlighting the virtues in passing and moving. Is that why it remains so vivid in my memory though, or is it more due to the fact that such a goal is such a rarity for Blues these days? I remember a similar fantastic team goal in Blues' first Premiership season by Jeff Kenna, of all people (another full-back marauding forward), against Spurs at St Andrews, when he and Clinton Morrison exchanged passes and showed great movement. Again though, I'm struggling to think of too many others. Now, I understand that it's hardly a fair criticism to level at a team that they don't score enough great team goals - Bolton Wanderers, a team I shall discuss later, hardly set the world alight with such goals. However, I'd say it is a fair criticism that we don't even look like scoring much goals on more than a 'once a season' basis. Very rarely do Blues fans applaud a missed chance saying 'that was a great move, unlucky', because Blues hardly ever put a good move together - there's Plan A and Plan B, but the alphabet appears to stop there when it comes to Blues' style of play. Over the course of the season, these two plans have been discussed to death by people, and I don't intend to prolong that particular discussion, but when the long ball to Heskey isn't working, and getting the ball wide to Jermaine Pennant isn't working, Blues are lost. I often watch other matches on television or listen to them on the radio, and you hear a commentator say things like 'you can see what Blackburn are trying to do here', or 'it's obvious that Wigan have identified this as an area that will bring them success'. Now, seeing as I'm at all Blues games, I don't get the pleasure of a commentator telling me such things, but I very seriously doubt that similar things are said about Blues too often. The style of play just never changes, and Blues hardly ever, ever change anything on the basis of what they're up against. Other than a long ball up to Heskey or the ball wide to Pennant, Blues cannot do anything else. The only time I recall watching Blues this season and thinking 'blimey, look what we're doing here - we've clearly set out to achieve something' was against Chelsea at home, when we went with a central midfield trio to match Chelsea. Damien Johnson matched up against Frank Lampard, Stephen Clemence went up against Eidur Gudjohnsen and Nicky Butt played further upfield to try and keep Claude Makelele tied up. It worked against one of the best teams in Europe, and Blues got a result against the odds, and forced Chelsea into changing things. If we can look at Chelsea and consider how they play to influence our team selection, why don't we do the same against Middlesbrough or Charlton? 'Ok, if it's a top team, we'll think about them, but otherwise we'll lump it at Heskey or get it to Pennant, and we'll be ok' seems to be the case. I'm not saying that we should cave in and pay too much respect to every single team by picking a side to counteract them, but surely there should be more than one occasion in a season when you can clearly identify a tweaking of the tactics geared to the particular game you are playing, as oppose to simply maintaining the same old dross week after week, hoping that at some point it will pay off. So, it's all well and good me sitting here and typing all of this, but what could be done about it? Well, firstly, I don't have a UEFA Grade E badge (or any UEFA badge for that matter), and I don't get paid enough by Birmingham City Football Club (well, I don't get paid anything at all) for it to be keeping me up at night, but surely, surely, surely anyone involved in the coaching of the team must have seen that more needed to be done to try and alter the way Blues play? Surely...? Firstly, why don't our midfield players join in with play further forward, and chip in with goals as they link up with the forwards? Other teams do this, if you look at the amount of goals midfielders get. Yes, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Robert Pires and Christiano Ronaldo would all comfortably be Blues' top scorer this season, but so would Steven Davis, Stelios Giannakopoulos and Morten Gamst Pedersen. As mentioned before, Bolton Wanderers are a team I often compare us to (given that, on paper, I feel we have a considerably stronger squad), and if you look at Stelios and Kevin Nolan, they have 18 league goals between them from midfield. Eighteen goals from two midfielders in one season. Can you imagine? And we're not talking about players who've cost millions here, or are playing for a glamour club. For Stelios, read Pennant (both wide players who play the majority of games) and for Nolan, read Johnson (both central midfielders who play the majority of games). Pennant and Johnson have appeared in 67 league games between them this season. Stelios and Nolan have appeared in 65 league games between them this season. Pennant and Johnson have 2 league goals between them this season. Stelios and Nolan have 18 league goals between them this season. Now, Nolan's a fair player, but you cannot convince me, no matter how hard you try, that those two should score that many more goals than an equivalent duo in the Blues team, over effectively the same amount of games. That has to be a reflection on the way that Blues play, and the way in which the midfield fails to support the forwards. Perhaps I'm being a little unfair, and so let's add Nicky Butt, Stephen Clemence, David Dunn, Julian Gray, Muzzy Izzet, Neil Kilkenny and Stan Lazaridis into the equation. Now we have a total of nine Blues midfielders with 191 league appearances between them during the season, and two Bolton midfielders with 65 league appearances between them during the season. The nine Blues midfielders have 8 league goals between them in 191 appearances, whilst the two Bolton midfielders have 18 league goals between them in 65 appearances - double the return that nine Blues midfielders have got from over three times as many appearances. Yes, I know, I haven't included Jiri Jarosik, but even when you add him in, you now have well in excess of 200 league appearances from Blues players, and you are still only looking at 13 league goals against Stelios and Nolan's combined 18. Now, if the above doesn't tell you a little bit about the lack of a decent footballing system at St Andrews, not a lot else will. Midfielders HAVE to chip in with goals, and ours don't, and it's not even necessarily because they're no good - it's because our system doesn't allow them to get into the positions to get goals. Look at two of Nicky Butt's three goals this season. Late on at home to Fulham, and fairly late on at home to Blackburn. Both were 'must win' games for Blues in which later on, Butt appeared to take it upon himself to join in with the attacks and get beyond the strikers. Both goals were from within the six yard box. What's the harm in having a midfielder doing that all the time, and not just in the desperate dying stages of games? The reason is that the style of play Blues adopt takes very few risks. Eight Premiership teams have conceded more league goals than Blues, including FA Cup finalists West Ham United. Blues are a team that set up not to lose games (pretty ineffective this season, really), and never set up to go on and win games. Our central midfield pairing will almost certainly be two dogged, gritty, battling players - Johnson and Butt, or Johnson and Clemence, for example. In the Bolton home game, both Butt and Clemence had to go off, and the result was that Steve Bruce was left with absolutely no option but to play Johnson and Jarosik in central midfield, with Lazaridis and Pennant on the flanks - a very, very attacking midfield. The result? Blues took control of the game with attacking football, and won 1-0. Yes, at times they were left a little open at the back, because having three attack-minded midfielders with only really Johnson in there to be disciplined and help out at the back is always going to lead with that. However, it was a risky team forced upon Steve Bruce, and it paid off. Had it not been for the injuries, Blues would never have been forced into that formation with those personnel, and they may never have got the three points. The fact is that if you are a team set up in a safety first way, generally the best result you'll get is a draw (Wigan and Everton away recently). If you set up to take a few risks, you stand a chance of being caught out, but you also give yourself a hell of lot more chance of scoring goals and ultimately winning games. There's often Blues fans who complain that we don't leave a player forward when we're defending corners, and maybe that's a fair criticism. There is the argument though, that leaving one player forward isn't worth it, because if the ball's cleared to them, they're going to have to do really well to beat two defenders, or hold the ball up (given that they're likely to be a smaller player). Sod it though, what do Chelsea and Barcelona do? They leave three players up. The opposition then have to leave at least four players back, meaning that defensively you're looking at 7 on 6, and if you clear the ball from the corner, you've got three players straight into play on a counter-attack. Yes, you may concede the odd additional goal from corners, but I bet you'll score on the counter-attack on more than one occasion in a season too. That's why it's a risk! You will never, ever score on a counter-attack from defending a corner if your furthest man forward is marshalling the edge of your own penalty area. You give yourself a chance if you take a risk. We're not Chelsea or Barcelona, granted, but then again, we've been playing the likes of Charlton, Manchester City and Middlesbrough, and they're not Chelsea or Barcelona either. Football is littered with successful managers who are risk takers. A man in the news at the moment, Luis Felipe Scolari, is one such manager. Contrary to popular belief, he is not necessarily an attack-minded coach - quite the opposite in fact. The risk he took was that when he took over the Brazil job, he actively encouraged gamesmanship and the like - he told his players to waste time, put the ball into Row Z, foul the opposition, etc. In Brazil, this was frowned upon to the point where there was a national conspiracy that he was actually Argentinian, and he was trying to ruin Brazilian football. In the opposite way to what I have suggested Blues might need to do, Scolari took the risk of toning down the 'samba' football, encouraging his time to 'bend the rules', and he was rewarded by winning the World Cup, and is now considered the best international manager in world football. As I say, it's not the same risk, but it's someone who was prepared to stake his reputation on something that people didn't consider right, but he pulled it off. Otto Rehhagel won the European Championship with Greece in 2004. His risk was putting into practice his belief that the 'sweeper system' was now so out-dated, that modern day strikers wouldn't be able to play against it. He employed the sweeper system, top teams such as France and Portugal twice (managed by Scolari) couldn't break Greece down, Greece nicked goals, and there you go, European Champions. Even Steve Bruce's great mentor, Sir Alex Ferguson has taken countless risks down the years - none more so than a team picked at Villa Park on the opening day of the season that contained the likes of Giggs, Sharpe, the Nevilles, Butts, Scholes, etc and got beat 3-0. 'You never win anything with kids', Alan Hanson famously remarked. In Steve Bruce though, it appears that no risks will be taken - it must always be safety first. Why else would Maik Taylor not be permitted to go up for a corner in the last seconds of injury time against Newcastle United when Blues need a goal or else they will be relegated? Why else did it take several injuries before Jarosik was given an opportunity in the middle of the park? Why else did it take countless injuries before the likes of Neil Kilkenny, Marcos Painter and Matt Sadler were thrown into the team? Bruce seems to always opt for the things that he feels safest with. He will change things when he has to - either because of injuries, suspensions or sheer lack of form for someone to the point that if he doesn't drop them, he may well be institutionalised. However, at the very first opportunity he will revert to his 'safe bets'. In the past, Bryan Hughes used to force his way into the side, do well for a few games, have a poor game, and be dropped again for a month. The same went for Darren Carter. Even last season, Clinton Morrison went through a relative 'hot streak' over the Christmas period playing alongside Heskey, and then Walter Pandiani was signed, who was probably considered a 'safer bet', and Morrison was out. (And I was no big fan of Morrison, either). Even this season, Kilkenny came in, turned things around slightly and gave us a better look as a team, then he suffers a knock, and we've barely seen him for four or five months. Nico Vaesen came in and after 11 consecutive games in which Blues conceded goals, kept a clean sheet as Blues won at Sunderland, played in a defeat against West Ham, kept a clean sheet as Blues beat Fulham, and was then exposed by an abysmal team performance at Manchester City, was sent off (unfairly) and has not been seen since. Olivier Tebily came in against Chelsea, transformed the side with his no-nonsense, high energy performances, is left out for 'personal reasons' at Goodison Park and in a giant game against Newcastle United, can't get back into the team. The fact is, if you're Kilkenny, Vaesen or Tebily (or Latka, come to think of it), you are a lot easier to drop than Butt, Taylor or Melchiot. It's that simple, really. The higher paid, more experienced people seem to always be picked ahead of those who have been at Blues since the Division One days, or those coming through the ranks. It's not just my opinion - the evidence seems to speak for itself. It took one bad game for Hughes, Carter or Morrison to be dropped. It takes 6-10 bad games for people like Butt, Taylor or Melchiot to be dropped. If Butt, Taylor or Melchiot miss a game for a reason, they're straight back on. If Kilkenny, Vaesen or Tebily miss a game for a reason, they better get used to waiting for another chance. Talking of Kilkenny, and talking of taking risks, here was a kid who would collect the ball, pass, move, look for the ball again, and would then attempt a risky through ball into the channels behind the defence - it was about the only time this season we saw Heskey and Forssell facing the goal and running onto a ball. So half of the through balls (or even more) don't come off and are intercepted - some are going to come off, and when they do, you're more than likely going to have created a decent chance. However, the Blues 'safe bet' players who come into the team once Kilkenny has given one too many passes away don't try such things. They play a safe ball 10 yards sideways. Now, there's nothing wrong with that - Makelele has made it an art form, but then he's passing it 10 yards to Lampard, Cole, Robben, Gudjohnsen, etc who can all pick a killer pass. If Chelsea had a team of Makelele's, they'd play with no pace and they'd never break teams down. Blues do tend to have a team of these 'safe bets', and as such, they play with no pace and never break teams down. Manchester United scored a goal recently at White Hart Lane, when the ball went from a Spurs corner to the back of Spurs' net in less than 16 seconds. Manchester United did not score that goal by playing 10 yard passes, and, back to an earlier point, they did not score that goal because they had everyone in their own penalty area defending the corner. Again, I know that we're not Manchester United, but we should be good enough to be able to do similar things on occasions. Darren Bent's goal against us at The Valley was a quick counter-attack. Why don't we do it? Is that we don't have the players to do it, or, as I would suggest, is it that we don't set ourselves up to take one or two risks, so that we could possibly play with a bit of pace in our game to expose teams? In the first few weeks of the season, it was obvious that Blues would struggle if they simply relied on the long ball to Heskey or the ball wide to Jermaine Pennant, yet they never looked to change it. Never. I am at a loss to name a counter-attack in which Blues created a chance this season, let alone scored. When you pick players with no pace, and set up a system designed to be 'safe', the fact is you won't score a great deal of goals - in-form strikers or not. For all the criticism that Heskey, Sutton, etc have received, a strikeforce of Shevchenko and Owen would have struggled to score many goals for Blues this season - we haven't missed an absolute glut of chances. (I didn't use Henry as an example, as he'd clearly have scored about 20 goals, but would have just done it all on his own - I deliberately picked 'chance takers' rather than a genius.) Of course we have missed chances, but so have Chelsea and every other team. Our style of play just does not create enough chances. So, if you're going to insist on a one-dimensional style of play, taking very few risks and with the experienced, low tempo players that Blues have used this season, you're going to have to win games somewhere. Set pieces it is then! But no... Blues appear to be the worst team in Britain at using set pieces. Every single one, Pennant jogs over and proceeds to either hit the first man, or loop a ball up with no pace whatsoever, so a goalkeeper can pluck it out of the air, or any of our forwards can only loop a header high and wide because there was no pace on the ball. Has anyone at the club ever seen Frank Lampard or Christiano Ronaldo take a free-kick or corner? If he decides not to cross, has anyone ever seen Pennant hit the target with a shot from a free-kick? The only occasions anyone has managed to wrestle the ball off Pennant this season was during Kilkenny's brief foray into the side, when he took some set pieces, and was infinitely better than Pennant, and when Pennant went off injured at home to Blackburn, and Julian Gray took the set pieces, and again, he was far, far better than Pennant. Apparently Preston North End under Billy Davies have over 50 set piece routines that they work on day in, day out. I suspect we have no more than 3. Near post, far post and, well, maybe we just have 2. When we first came up, does anyone remember Paul Devlin's goal at home to Leeds United? It was from a 'training ground routine' at a corner, and worked very well, thank you very much. Where's that gone? Where have any clever little moves gone? To quote many, many people, 'what do we do in training?' It doesn't just apply to attacking set pieces either. How much preparation do we put into other factors too? It goes back to my earlier point about preparing to play the opposition, and not simply preparing your own one-dimensional game in the hope that finally it will come off. I read an article with John Terry recently, in which he commented that prior to a game against, say, Liverpool, then he will be shown Sami Hyypia's last ten runs at set pieces (assuming he'll be marking Hyypia), and if he's still not happy, he has access to his last 50 runs. That might have come in handy for Blues in the first 60 seconds of the FA Cup Quarter Final when Hyypia scored from a set-piece, but can you honestly imagine Blues doing such preparation? I may be wrong, but I can't imagine it, and there's been precious little evidence on the pitch this season to suggest otherwise. Do we consider doing some work on throw ins, because we're so, so poor at them? Do we consider trying something different from the kick-off, rather than a ball back to Nicky Butt and a long ball into touch sailing over Heskey's head? If we're going to surrender possession in such a way from the kick-off, why not learn from Rugby, and get it as close to the opposition byline as possible and gain territory? Or - and shoot me if this is crazy talk - why not knock it back to Butt, who can then turn, knock it back to a full-back, who can look up, see if anything's available further forward, and if not, knock it inside to a centre back, and we can keep the ball for more than 3 seconds? Seriously, am I missing something? Is keeping possession for a little while from your own kick-off such a bad idea? Is it madness to suggest that you keep hold of the ball for a little bit of time, even in your own half, and draw the opposition forward so they're chasing the ball, and just bide your time and look for a teammate, rather then surrendering possession? Finally - and even now, I only feel like I have touched the tip of the iceberg as to the underlying problems behind the scenes when it comes to the footballing side of things at Blues - I'd like to mention an interview I saw recently with Chris Coleman. Now, granted, Fulham are hardly world beaters, but at the same time, I'm sure that all Blues fans would love to swap their league position for ours, and would love to swap their home form for ours, and would love to swap their style of play for ours. Anyway, during this interview, Chris Coleman openly admitted that he is hopeless as a coach. He said that he understands football, and knows what he wants to achieve, but couldn't coach that to the players whatsoever. However, he spoke of his assistant Steve Kean as being a fantastic coach, to the point where Coleman is able to sit down with Kean, tell him what he wants his team to achieve in the forthcoming game (what he wants Fulham to do, how he wants to stop the opposition, etc) and Kean is able to take that onto the training ground and begin to implement it. I personally have no grudges against Steve Bruce - I like the guy. He is honest, open and no one in the press has a bad word to say about him, unlike many of his peers (the press have bad words to say about his peers, I mean, not that his peers have bad words to say about him...). However, it is painfully obvious that he is not a coach, and it is becoming increasingly obvious that he doesn't have much of a coach in his backroom staff if what has been on display this season is anything to go by. It's too late now to save this season - the damage is done (and was done many, many months ago) - but surely, surely Bruce has realised that if he genuinely believes he is the right man for the job, then he has to surround himself with the right people. He has to, because ultimately if the dreadful displays we've had to endure this season are down to the coaching, then ultimately the buck stops with him, as he is the person who has chosen these people. Things have to change with respect to the coaching side of the club, and things have to change with regards to how the side play and move on from here, although I will discuss this in more detail on Friday. However, unless drastic measures are taken behind the scenes (I would imagine Bruce leaving would be the last resort - there have to be plenty of options before that), this season will have just been the start of quite a decline. ^^^truth.com |
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7:21 PM Jul 11