Do we need a technical area?
The comments of Tim Sherwood got me thinking and how management has changed over the years. We never used to have technical areas but now we see a manager prowling them all the time directing play like a conductor with a band.
Sherwood recently explained that he is trying to tone things down a little on the touchline after having a face to face with the Benfica boss and hurling his gillet against Arsenal. His chest was pumping that day and he was full of emotion, well rage to be more precise, not an ideal scenario for a leader who needs be thinking with a clear head. Whatever he is feeling his side need to see a clam exterior for the most part.
“I’ve had so many well wishers in the game, especially English managers. They all want me to do well. Ex managers want me to do well.
“I feel the pressure of that because I really want do well, because I want to fly the flag for English managers. But I want to do it in my way. I know I’m in a privileged position to be given this opportunity at a big club and a lot of them start at a different level, but it hasn’t spoilt their enthusiasm in wishing me well.
“It’s a shame when you hear some people who should know a little bit better. It’s a tough job. Until you’ve stood in that technical area, you don’t really know. As much as I was close to it for many years, until you’re there and the buck stops with you, you can’t really comment.
“I do respect the people who have been in there and told me. And the other ones who have just passed comment, then I would say to them ‘you don’t know’.
“With respect to the man in the street, I don’t listen to that too much but I listen to managers who have been in the situation. I don’t want to tell you who’s contacted me but some people have given me a little bit of advice.
“But they know that I’m my own man and I’m not going to be anyone different and that’s absolutely right. If I can try and be a bit calmer and not manage on emotion too much, I think it would help. Because I was allowed to sit up there and make a few notes and you see a different game up there. I’d never give a ball away by sitting up there.”
A manager comes up with his tactics for a game and sends his team out with their instructions. Now what would happen if he, or any of his staff, were not allowed to communicate with their players until half-time. No sending messages on from the trainer, no arm waving, no calling people over to give instructions when he see how the opposition are playing, no drinks bottles, in fact no technical area at all.
What is wrong with the manager having to sit in his seat and be able to do nothing until half-time?
Do we really need a technical area where we have the opportunity for managers putting their head in people faces or players grabbing staff round the neck (Gatuso and Jordan). Do we need face to face confrontations and hurling of water bottles.
Yes it is TV, it is good for the media, it gives them something to talk about but what use does it actually serve the game itself, let's not forget we are talking about a football game here, not a circus act.
Should managers be able to influence proceedings while they are going on or should it be like rugby where the men on the field have to figure it out and only get instructions during the break?
Would that really make much difference to the game or would we see teams just playing for 0-0 at half-time, the way Tottenham have for the last few years.
Football is about going out and playing the game, not being told every 5 minutes to do this do that like some robot. Don't we want players to be able to think for themselves. It would certainly highlight who can read a game and who can't and leaders on the pitch would suddenly become very important, as would experience.
It's a pipe dream because there is no chance of it ever happening but I do wonder if the game would be different if we took, in this aspect, a step back into the past. Would it aid passionless decision making, which is the ideal scenario for a manager, or would it add to their frustration, not being able to make changes.
Arsene Wenger for instance loses it when he is sitting down, Sherwood blows his top standing up, there is never an ideal that will suit both.
I guess we'll never know the answer.
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All in all a good day's tipping, 13 correct out of 19, plenty at very nice odds against prices, plus the only two games where I predicted a scoreline both came up trumps for a very tasty 90/1 double.
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| Do we need a technical area? |
“I’ve had so many well wishers in the game, especially English managers. They all want me to do well. Ex managers want me to do well.
“I feel the pressure of that because I really want do well, because I want to fly the flag for English managers. But I want to do it in my way. I know I’m in a privileged position to be given this opportunity at a big club and a lot of them start at a different level, but it hasn’t spoilt their enthusiasm in wishing me well.
“It’s a shame when you hear some people who should know a little bit better. It’s a tough job. Until you’ve stood in that technical area, you don’t really know. As much as I was close to it for many years, until you’re there and the buck stops with you, you can’t really comment.
“I do respect the people who have been in there and told me. And the other ones who have just passed comment, then I would say to them ‘you don’t know’.
“With respect to the man in the street, I don’t listen to that too much but I listen to managers who have been in the situation. I don’t want to tell you who’s contacted me but some people have given me a little bit of advice.
“But they know that I’m my own man and I’m not going to be anyone different and that’s absolutely right. If I can try and be a bit calmer and not manage on emotion too much, I think it would help. Because I was allowed to sit up there and make a few notes and you see a different game up there. I’d never give a ball away by sitting up there.”
A manager comes up with his tactics for a game and sends his team out with their instructions. Now what would happen if he, or any of his staff, were not allowed to communicate with their players until half-time. No sending messages on from the trainer, no arm waving, no calling people over to give instructions when he see how the opposition are playing, no drinks bottles, in fact no technical area at all.
What is wrong with the manager having to sit in his seat and be able to do nothing until half-time?
Do we really need a technical area where we have the opportunity for managers putting their head in people faces or players grabbing staff round the neck (Gatuso and Jordan). Do we need face to face confrontations and hurling of water bottles.
Yes it is TV, it is good for the media, it gives them something to talk about but what use does it actually serve the game itself, let's not forget we are talking about a football game here, not a circus act.
Should managers be able to influence proceedings while they are going on or should it be like rugby where the men on the field have to figure it out and only get instructions during the break?
Would that really make much difference to the game or would we see teams just playing for 0-0 at half-time, the way Tottenham have for the last few years.
Football is about going out and playing the game, not being told every 5 minutes to do this do that like some robot. Don't we want players to be able to think for themselves. It would certainly highlight who can read a game and who can't and leaders on the pitch would suddenly become very important, as would experience.
It's a pipe dream because there is no chance of it ever happening but I do wonder if the game would be different if we took, in this aspect, a step back into the past. Would it aid passionless decision making, which is the ideal scenario for a manager, or would it add to their frustration, not being able to make changes.
Arsene Wenger for instance loses it when he is sitting down, Sherwood blows his top standing up, there is never an ideal that will suit both.
I guess we'll never know the answer.
----------------------
All in all a good day's tipping, 13 correct out of 19, plenty at very nice odds against prices, plus the only two games where I predicted a scoreline both came up trumps for a very tasty 90/1 double.
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