International Football Management

FIFA World Cup displayed on Trophy tour 

If you ever thought managing a club team was the hardest job in football, try being the Head Coach of an International team. When you are the Head coach of National team, you are put under even more pressure not just by fans and the media, the whole nation is looking towards you to deliver the goods for the country.

Due to the popularity of Club football being more popular in the sporting world nowadays, international teams hardly get much time to come together. The  other thing about international team management is that you are dealing with players who come from the same country but play for different clubs. This is why you need to keep your head together and try to make those players gel together aa a team.

The other issue that International managers have is squad selection. If you look at Roy Hodgson’s final tournament, which was the 2016 European Championships, Raheem Sterling was the only out and out winger in the team, which meant there wasn’t enough quality in wide areas on the pitch, so this meant that Hodgson had to re-compensate and put Daniel Sturridge who is traditionally a left footed striker on the right wing.

What was also surprising was the fact that the Premier League has a full array of talented young English midfielders such as Andros Townsend and Danny Drinkwater who had just won the League with Leicester City, so some people may have thought that Roy would also pick players who were in form and not those who weren’t like Jack Wilshere who had just came back from injury. 

Former England striker Alan Shearer backed up this point by saying “ we’ve had players who don’t deserve to be in the squad.” How on earth can he pick Jack Wilshere who hadn’t even started a game or played 90 minutes in over a year for Arsenal and only had 141 minutes on the pitch.’ So, he thinks that Hodgson got it all wrong in terms of squad selection.         

If you look at Spain’s 2010 World Cup winning team, half of Vicente del Bosque’s squad were either from Real Madrid or Barcelona, who are fierce rivals in LA Liga and as well as being two giants of world football. But this did not affect their performance in Both South Africa and the 2012 European Championships as they went on to become the first European team to win back-to-back trophies in their exquisite ‘Tiki Taka’ style of football.

Tiki Taka or Tiqui-taca is a Spanish style of football of which is based on a team keeping possession of the ball. It involves lots of short passing and movement from players on and off the ball almost like a triangle of three players trying to out-manoeuvre the opposing team’s defence. This tactic proved to be the blueprint of their back-to-back success. Del Bosque was also considered as one of the greatest international Football managers of all time. The 69-year old had a win percentage of 88% in all matches including an undefeated European Championship qualifying campaign in 2011-12. 

Barcelona are also good experts of Tikki Takka as they have really good technicians on and off the ball such as Messi and Andreas Iniesta.  

Germany’s counter-attacking style of football under Joachim Löw has also been eye-catching to watch, especially after winning their fourth World Cup in Brazil in 2014. In spite of Messi winning the Golden Boot, Thomas Müller who won the Silver Boot and Manual Nuer, who won the Golden Glove, were the two players who stood out for the four-time winners during that tournament.

Funny Caption of Zidane's head butt on Marco Materazzi

Marcello Lipi, who won the World Cup with Italy in 2006. Relied heavily on his full backs to do most of their attacking play. Fabio Grosso and Gianluca Zambrotta proved to be the catalyst to Italy’s success in Germany. Their ability to put crosses into the box for the likes of Luca Toni and Francesco Totti were a huge success in terms of their attacking prowess.  Although, the Italians did have a bit of help from Zinedine Zidane’s headbutt on Marco Materazzi during extra time. Had the French legend kept his cool on the pitch, things may have been different in terms of the outcome of the match.  He may have been a candidate to take a penalty in the shootout as well. 

Lipi was just the second manager to win the World Cup for Italy after Vittorio Pozzo, who claimed successive World Cups in 1934 and 1938.   

  

As for England, Although they had stars such as Beckham and Wayne Rooney, they were never able to grab a tournament by the scruff of neck and bring home the gold for the country. This was to do with many reasons such as injury’s and inappropriate behaviour on the pitch. Nevertheless, you could say that Cristiano Ronaldo did have a part to play in Rooney’s Red card against Portugal in Germany 2006, especially when he gave a blink at the England star as he was making his way off the pitch. But the former England captain later revealed that it was just banter and nothing else.  

Steve McClaren was undoubtedly England’s worst ever manager. Having only won nine out of eighteen matches, The former Middlesbrough boss failed to make the Three Lions qualify for the 2008 European Championships. McClaren took over from Sven Goran-Eriksen after England’s World Cup quarterfinal exit in 2006. This was also the second time that England failed to qualify for a major tournament for 14 years. Graham Taylor was the first manager who failed to make England qualify for a major tournament. This was the 1994 World Cup, which took place in the United States.

England’s most disappointing tournament came in South Africa 2010 under Fabio Capello. The Italian’s England side were placed in Group C which included USA, Algeria and Slovenia. On paper most you may have thought that the Three Lions would have sailed through to the knockout stages with ease, however, this was not the case as Capello’s side scraped through the group stage with two draws against the Americans and the Algerians followed by a 1-0 victory against Algeria. More fuel was added to England’s 2010 World Cup horror show with a 4-1 defeat to Germany in the knockout stages, especially when Lampard’s goal was controversially disallowed when the ball had quite clearly crossed the goal line.

A frustrated Rooney also had his say about England’s performance in South Africa, especially after the goalless draw against Algeria in the Group Stages. “Nice to see your home fans booing you’. This could have also been a sign that the players were lacking the support of the England fans throughout their performances during the tournament. Capello then spent two more years as England manager and then stepped down before the 2012 European Championships.

Euro 2012 was Hodgson’s first tournament in charge of the Three Lions. After making it though a tricky group of which included France, Sweden and Ukraine, England were knocked out of the tournament in the Quarter Final against Italy on penalties, which was their nemesis in knockout tournaments before Russia 2018.   

You could also say that Brazil 2014 was also a disappointing World Cup. England were put in a tough Group with the likes of Italy who beat them 2-1 in Manaus and Uruguay, who also defeated them by two goals to one in Sao Paulo. England were technically still in it but they needed to win their last game, which they did and hope that Italy beat Uruguay and Costa Rica which they failed to do so.

The 72-year old was also in charge of England’s Euro 2016 campaign, where The Three Lions suffered a humiliating exit at the hands of Iceland in the last 16. Although, you could say that this was due to Hodgson’s bizarre tactics such as playing Daniel Sturridge, who is naturally a left-footed striker on the right wing, putting Kane in charge of set pieces and waiting till the 86^th minute to bring on England’s quickest player in Marcus Rashford on the pitch. These were probably the three most brainless decisions of his managerial career.

Joe Hart, who was England’s first choice keeper at the Euros, also had a nightmare performance in goal against the Icelanders as he let in two relatively soft goals in which were easily avoidable. Match Of The Day pundit Alan Shearer described the match as ‘the worst performance he had ever seen from an England team ever.’ It also looked as if Hodgson did not have a clear game plan and therefore the players were confused about what system they should play in. Shearer also along with Gary Lineker described Hodgson’s England as tactically inept, meaning that the players did not show any skill or enough passion throughout the game.   

Post Hodgson’s exit, Sam Allardyce had the shortest stint as England Manager before he was caught giving advice on the FA’s rules on how to circumvent third party ownership of players after his first and only game in charge. The former Crystal Palace manager was sacked as National team boss by the FA as a consequence of his own actions. The FA then turned to England’s Under-21 boss Gareth Southgate. Interestingly, Allardyce still has the highest win percentage of 100% as England Manager. But it held no significance whatsoever as he was sacked a few days after his first game. Capello had the next best with 76.19%, but he failure to deliver on the biggest stage of all is what forced him to resign as England boss.      

Before Russia 2018, it had always been a struggle for Three Lions in major tournaments. Since 1996, England had never reached the last four of either a World Cup or European Championship.

       

Russia 2018 was also Southgate’s first tournament as England manager. This was England’s best tournament as they had never reached beyond the quarter-finals since Euro’96 when Terry Venables was in charge. England also achieved another historical feat in the Round of 16 against Colombia by winning a penalty shootout only the second time in 28 years, when the first came against Spain at Euro’96. Although, you could say that on paper, they had a relatively straightforward path through to the semis even though they were beaten by Croatia in the semis and to Belgium twice in the group stages and the third-place play-off.  

England also finished in third place in the inaugural UEFA Nations League tournament. This was brought in as an alternate route for qualification in the 2021 European Championships as well as another opportunity for World Cup qualification . This tournament was also devised by UEFA to reduce the number of international friendlies played in a year. It was also used to make international football more competitive outside of the World Cup and European Championships.

Portugal was the first nation to lift this trophy after beating the Netherlands 1-0 in the final.

What was also good from England at Russia 2018 is the fact that Southgate had a system in which the players were able to adapt to. This was a 3-5-2 system with Sterling playing off Kane. 

It was the complete opposite to Euro 2016, where you felt like there was a lack of understanding between Hodgson and his players, as there wasn’t drive or motivation from anyone to create a positive vibe in the dressing room. When this happens, it then forces the manager to make poor decisions in terms of their tactics or when to make substitutions, which can then ultimately result in a team being knocked out of a tournament in its early stages.  One hopes that this could be the start of a brand-new era for Southgate’s Lions. 

 Feature Images: FIFA World Cup by shiveeleaves  CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 

Zidane Head Butts Materazzi by Paolo Camera CC BY 2.0 

Football Management: Managerial Changes and Player Relationships

 Managerial Changes and Player Relationships

Jose Mourinho Post-match Press Conference
 Tottenham vs RB Leipzig  

It is never a good sign when a manager gets the boot from his football club when they are struggling for form. It is also not an easy job for the person who replaces him or her as the Interim Manager. This is because the players may have to adapt to the style that the new manager wants them to play. On top of this, there needs to be a good chemistry between the manager and the club, so that they can show faith in him. Chelsea have had a revolving door of managers in which most of them have had success in winning silverware.  

At least five mangers have been sacked in the 2019-20 season including Unai Emre and Mauricio Pochettino.

                                                       

During the 2015-16 season, ten mangers were sacked. This is the record for the highest number of managerial changes in a Premier League season. 

If we look beyond Mourinho’s first stint at Chelsea, Avram Grant who was the club’s Director of Football, stepped in as interim Manager in September 2007. The Israeli guided the Blues to their first Champions League final in 2008 where they lost to United on penalties. Chelsea also reached the final of the Carling Cup in that same season, where they were beaten 2-1 by Harry Redknapp’s Spurs.

When Andrea Villas-Boas was sacked by Chelsea in March 2012, his assistant Roberto Di Mateo stepped in as interim manager and guided Chelsea to their first Champions League win. This was the first European silverware since 1998 where the Blues won the UEFA Cup Winners Cup under Gianluca Vialli.

Rafael Benitez also guided the Blues to yet another European title, when they won the Europa League in 2013. But in spite his success, he was never able to win over the fans because of the relationship Chelsea had with Liverpool when the Spaniard was in charge of the Reds.  Benítez did not share a good relationship with Mourinho when the ‘special one’ was in his first stint at Stamford Bridge. This was because the Spaniard criticised the Portuguese for the kind of football the Blues were playing.

Benitez compared Mourinho’s Chelsea to Arsenal’s Invincibles, where he said that the Gunners played more a more attractive style of football. “To me, Arsenal played much better football two or three years ago. They won matches and were exciting to watch. Barcelona and Milan too. They create excitement so how can you say Chelsea are the best in the world?” This statement did not amuse both Mourinho and Chelsea fans, and that is why he wasn’t welcomed by Blues fans during his interim stint at Stamford Bridge.  

Guus Hiddink was another interim manager who had two stints at Chelsea. During the Dutchman’s first stint in 2009, Chelsea won the FA Cup and finished in 3^rd place in the Premier League behind Liverpool and Manchester United who were champions for the 13^th time.  Hiddink then had a second spell at the Bridge, when he replaced Mourinho during the 2015-16 season. The Blues finished in 10^th place of the Premier League. This was their worst performance from a season in the Premier League.

Chelsea then called upon another Italian in Antonio Conte, who was sacked after guiding the Blues to their sixth Premier League title as well as an eighth FA Cup in the following season. But the former Italy boss was sacked after Chelsea failed to clinch a Champions Leagues spot despite their Cup success. 

Maurizio Sarri, who took over from Conte at the start of the 2018-19 season won the Europa League. This was the club’s second Europa League title in 6 years. However, the former Napoli manager decided to move back to Italy with his family at the end of the season, so the club called upon Chelsea veteran Frank Lampard, who had just started his managerial career at Derby County in the 2018-19 season. Sarri’s short stint at the Bridge was a short but eventful one, especially  when he had that ugly spat with keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, who refused to be substituted during last season’s EFL Cup final against defending champions Manchester City.      

So, it has been a revolving door of managers joining and leaving the club. Ranieri is the last manager to have a long spell at Chelsea without any silverware. The Italian spent four seasons at the Bridge, before returning back twelve seasons later to have the miraculous season with Leicester City.

However, Chelsea are not the only club to have had a constant change in management. Aston Villa have also had their share of having different personnel in charge, especially during the 2014-15 season, where the had a total of five managerial changes starting from Tim Sherwood, who replaced Paul Lambert temporarily in February 2015.

So how does a team cope with several managerial changes in such a short period of time? Well, know one really knows except the players. Each manager has their own agenda of how they want their team to approach the season this includes the tactics they employ for each game, for example what formation does the team start the game in and how they approach the game as a whole?

When a manager comes up with a plan of how he wants the team to play, it is then up to the players to respond to his tactics and implement them into the game. However, when a team frequently changes their manager, it can become very confusing for the players who are already at the club as they have to get used to a different manager and his or her tactics.   

This can then lead to a misunderstanding between the manager and the players and result in the manager leaving the club. Take Mourinho and Paul Pogba as an example. One of the reasons in which Mourinho was sacked by United could have been based on his relationship with the players and in particular the French superstar.  

The conflict between the pair was due to Pogba posting a story on Instagram based on United’s penalty shootout defeat to Derby County in the 2018-19 Carabao Cup. Apparently Pogba appeared to be laughing about United’s performance in the game, which displeased the ‘Special One’ and this resulted in a falling out between the two, which may have been one of the reasons why the club showed him the door. The other reason was due to a poor run of results.       

As far as the Beckham-Ferguson saga went. The Scot was miffed at the former England Captain after United’s FA Cup  loss to Arsenal. Ferguson’s expressed his anger at Beckham by kicking a boot at him, which left a nasty cut above his right eye. This forced the legendary superstar to leave Old Trafford and join Real Madrid in the summer of 2003.

This symbolises how important it is for managers to have a good relationship with their players, it also shows how important managers are to players.     

Feature Image: by Steffen Prößdorf via Flickr Creative Commons license CC BY-SA 4.0

Football Management: Press Conferences and Media Commitments

Former Republic Of Ireland Head Coach Giovani pondering on
question? 

One of the key responsibilities every manager has is to deal with the media by attending press conferences. Depending on the state of the team, managers will have to answer a certain amount of questions. 

If a team is struggling with form, it’s more likely that the manager will be ask more questions, especially about their future.

It is usually the strong-minded managers who thrive in press conferences. This is because they admit the truth but in a sarcastic manner. After City’s game against Burnley during the 2016/17 season he was asked about defender Fernandinho’s red card. His response was sarcastic in the sense that he actually asked Sky Sports reporter Geoff Shreeves what his opinion was. ’You are the Journalist not me.’ He also suggested Shreeves to talk to referee instead. ‘Ask the referee not me.’  Whether this was said to avoid any criticism towards Lee Mason’s performance in that game is another matter, but this could be one of the funniest responses in a press conference and post-match interview due to Pep’s sarcasm.           

When it comes to mentioning about the referee’s performance in a game there is no one who does it better than Mourinho. It seems that every time his team wins, he congratulates the referee on his performance, but on the other hand, if he loses, he would then start questioning the referee’s decision making during the game. For example, after Chelsea’s home defeat to Southampton in 2015, Mourinho criticised the Premier League’s batch of referees by saying that referees are ‘afraid to give decisions for Chelsea.’

This is the reason as to why referees get mentioned in the media. Managers sometimes like to put them under scrutiny, particularly if they feel that the decisions, he or she makes have unfairly gone against them.

Feature Image:CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Found on Creative Commons by MAKEHOE

Football Management: Transfer Window and Squad Rotation

Money Box by Amar Patel 

The transfer window is the most hectic time of the season for clubs. Players and managers. This is where all teams battle it out to strengthen their squads by looking to add to them. The window came into action before the start of the 2002/03 season.

As those who are associated with football will know that there are two transfer windows. One at the beginning of the season and the other during the middle. The rule was set out by FIFA in 2002. The first Window lasts twelve weeks, the second one lasts one month. If the last day of either window falls on the weekend, there is an extra day that is used for clubs to make last minute signings the cut-off point for all transfers is 11pm on Deadline Day.

Players can be signed either on a temporary loan or yearly contract deal. It is then up to the club’s owner to speak with the player and his agent to make a deal in order to buy him. 

The highest Transfer Window amount for a Premier League season thus far was the 2019-20 season, which was £1,41billion.   

Neymar JR’s move from Barcelona to Paris Saint Germain for €198 million in 2017 is the most expensive deal in history thus far. Harry Maguire’s move from Leicester City to Manchester United for £80million is the highest transfer deal for an English player in the Premier League era.    

Generally speaking, it is the big clubs like Manchester City and Chelsea etc, who tend to do most of the work in both windows. However, most of the work is usually done in the summer as there is two-month break in between each season and so clubs are willing to spend more money as they have a longer period of time and there is a much wider range of players to buy. City spent a record £62.8million on Atletico Madrid midfielder Rodri in the summer of 2019.   

On the other hand, Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has not been afraid to go with a different approach, where he has been using some of the players from the academy and included them in the first team throughout his first season in charge. Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount are amongst those who started their career in the Chelsea Under 18s under Jody Morris and then developed as better players at Derby, Swansea, Aston Villa and even now at Chelsea.

It just goes to show that you don’t necessarily have to go looking for players from the Window itself, if you have a well-structured youth system at the club, there is always plenty of time to groom those players into potential stars of the game. Take Lionel Messi as an example, the Argentine magician started his career at Barcelona’s youth academy and has transformed himself into not only being a Barcelona legend, but also an icon of world football. 

Although, let’s not forget that the Blues had a Transfer Ban during the 2019-20 season for breaching the rules of Status and Transfer of players under 18. This includes the player's parents move to the new country for non-football reasons, both clubs are in the EU and the player is aged between 16-18 and they must live within 100km of the new club.

Bertrand Traore who played 25 games for under 16s and 18s was not officially registered by FA. Therefore, the club were banned from buying new players until the summer of 2020.

This was an unusual situation for the Blues as the like to spend big, especially in the summer Transfer Window.  

Chelsea still managed to sign Cristian Pulisic for £58 million from Borussia Dortmund in January 2019.  This was the club’s last big money signing before the Transfer ban was put in place. This was such a crucial move for the Blues as it was the last chance for the club to strengthen their first team squad by signing the Croatian midfielder.      

So, you can see how the Transfer Window plays an imperative part in football, especially on the business scheme of things. You can spend as much a you like, but the are still rules to that you have to stick to for purchasing new players for your club.  

Each club has their own policy for buying players from the window itself. This includes the players having medical check-ups before signing contracts with new clubs. If they pass the medical test, this means that they are eligible to play for their new club. This contains no health issues such as ongoing injuries.

The medical also includes general health issues such as dental check-ups to ensure that they are physically ready to start playing for their new club.

It is then up to the medical team to inform the manager if the player is fit or not fit enough to play.

The other issue managers have is where to fit him or her in the team?  Some players go to clubs which already have a settled squad and therefore there is the likelihood of not getting enough game time as there could be a number of players who can play in the same position as your new signing. As, a result of this, some managers are having to frequently rotate their starting line-ups for each match.  

This is why some clubs prefer to do their business in the beginning of the season, so that they can plan ahead in terms of the future. However, some teams would generally use the January Window as a safety net if they are struggling for form or have a number of players out with injury.    

This is one of the reasons as why managing a football team is the one of the most stressful jobs in sport, you need to have the ability to adapt to different situations, especially with players who have on loan contracts as they can only stay at the club for a limited amount of  time. So, this is why some manager like to build a full squad of players, so that if most of his first XI are out with injuries, he still has other players that he can depend on to fill the role of another player’s absence. This is otherwise known as squad rotation.

However, the negative side of squad rotation is that if there are a group of players who are in red hot form, they would not want to be on the bench in the next game, particularly when their performance in the last game was of high quality.  You would generally find that the team who makes fewer changes and picks up fewer injuries in a whole season has a great chance of winning silverware. Take Leicester City’s incredible season of 2015-16 where Claudio Ranieri made as fewer changes than any other team in that season.    

The key thing about squad rotation is that you need to have a group of players who can fit into the same role of the player who is out with an injury. If you take Tottenham Hotspur as an example, when skipper Harry Kane was out for the last part of the 2018-19 season, Mauricio Pochettino already had a replacement in Lucas Moura, whose last-minute goal against Ajax sent them through to their fourth European Cup final in 35 years.

So, you could say that squad rotation only works if all the players are in good form and have a good chemistry with each other along with a desire to win as well as playing under a top-class manager such as Sir Alex, who liked to make a few tweaks to his side for every game due to the depth of talent that he had in his squads. This is why managers face such a hectic time in the Transfer Window, they are looking to add more depth in their squad, so that it enables the team to become more successful in winning football matches.

Feature Image: Money Box by Amar Patel

Football Management: Home Fans and Tactics

 Winning the Home Fans and Tactics

English Football Grandstand

One of the qualities managers need to have a successful career is the ability ‘win the home fans.’ This means that both the manager and his players need to adapt to a winning mentality to ensure that there a positive atmosphere at the club and also the fans are satisfied with their team’s performances.

If you look at Jose Mourinho’s first two seasons at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea never lost a game at home throughout those two seasons and had only lost six away games. The reason for this was the winning mentality of Mourinho, which rejuvenated his players to stay as a unit and be tough to beat. This is what he called ‘parking the bus’. This was usually implemented by the ‘Special One’ when he was intending to either draw or secure victory in tight games.    

However, it was not only Chelsea’s double season dominance that made the fans fall in love with Mourinho, they also admired his personality and passion for the game. So now if you look at people like Guardiola and Klopp, you can see that they have made the City and Liverpool fans fall for them due to their personality and more importantly desire to achieve more success with their clubs.  

It is usually said that if a team wants to have the chance of winning the league, they would probably need to make their home ground a ‘fortress’. This means staying unbeaten in all of their home games throughout an entire season. Although, on their quest to win the 2018-19 title, City did lose one home game to Crystal Palace at home, but still managed to keep hold of their title on the final day of the season.

Coming back to Klopp and Guardiola, the thing that stands out from their managerial tactics is the way they use the crowd to get behind the players. This is one of the main reasons as to why City and Liverpool have dominated English football for the past two to three years. This is why the Etihad Stadium and Anfield are such daunting places for visiting teams to come and play, it is the home fans of both these teams that get so jeered up by both of these managers which then enables both sets of players to consistently perform at the highest level and achieve more success.

What is even more enthralling about these two mangers is their ability to make good players into top class players, take Raheem Sterling and Sadio Mane as an example. When Sterling started his professional career at Liverpool, he looked a good player but wasn’t really showing his full array of talent until he came to City and Guardiola, where the Catalan completely changed the England winger’s game, where he is now known as one of the top attacking midfielders in the country.

The same has happened with Sadio Mané at Liverpool, where his game has completed elevated under Klopp after he joined the Reds from Southampton in 2016. So, you can see that some players can thrive under a top-class manager and become even better players.    

If you look back at Unai Emery’s short stint at Arsenal, he was never able to win the fans over with his style of football as the team were inconsistent in getting positive results. Although Arsenal reached the final of the 2019 Europa League, the Spaniard failed to obtain any trophy success as well as a top four finish in his first season at the club.         

This is the main reason as to why managing a football team is one of the toughest jobs in sport, you are being constantly being monitored by the club, fans and the media and you know that one mistake could result in a sacking by the owner.     

Some clubs such as Chelsea have strict owners, where they demand success almost season after season. That is why there has been a revolving door of thirteen managers at the club since Mourinho’s first stint at Stamford Bridge. André Villas-Boas, Avaram Grant Carlo Ancelotti, Guus Hiddink, Antonio Conte and Maurizio Sarri have also had their opportunities at the club but were sacked the season after either winning a piece of silverware or reaching the final of a competition. This is why it is so difficult to manage a team like Chelsea, as not only do you have to win the hearts of the fans but keep faith in the owners as well.     

    

Di Mateo was also sacked five months after winning the Champions League The former Chelsea midfielder was dismissed by Abramovich following a poor run of results. So, you can see that managing in big leagues such as the Premier League is fun but difficult as the level of competition is more superior than any other League around the world. 

The best Premier League managers have always been the ones who thrive under pressure. This includes making the right decisions at the right time. If look at Manchester City’s home game against Leicester City, Vincent Kompany had not started a game in ages and because it was such a crucial moment for the defending champions as they knew that one slip up could have tilted the title towards Liverpool, but thankfully when Guardiola’s decision to start with the experienced Belgian paid off as his wonder strike in the 70^th minute moved City towards the brink of winning back-to-back Premier League titles.    

So, you can see that the best mangers are the ones which make big decisions at crucial times. Whether these decisions are tactical or based on instincts is another matter, but the ones who get them right more often are the more successful when it comes to winning silverware consistently for a period of time.

Coming back to Sir Alex, there were also some rumours which say that before every United game used to bribe the referee to try and get all the decisions in his favour. Whether this is true or not is a debatable subject, but it seems as if most referees were reluctant to give decisions against him as they may have felt pressurised due to his respectability and power. Also, the fact that Manchester United is the most powerful club in the world in terms of its fans and legacy may have led to the referees being pressurised to make decision in favour of him rather than against him. 

He also had a huge say about how much extra time the fourth official would signal after 90 minutes. This is what United fans named as ‘Fergie-time’, where United won most of their game under the Scotsman. Although this sounds like cheating, Ferguson never got punished for it. 

So, you can see that Ferguson was a real winner meaning that he would do anything in his power to ensure that his team were winning more matches. 

Tactics are essential for any manager in the game, they are the key to winning games of football. the best managers have always been great tacticians, which is what Ferguson was.     

In terms of using tactics, He would usually go for the military approach, where he liked to have a box-to-box midfield. This tactic included midfielders who could attack and defend at the same time. However, what was more crucial was how the players responded to these tactics and they did so. but this was varied accordingly to who United were playing.           

Feature Image: English Football grandstand by marblegravy CC BY-NC-SA 2.0