The trouble with football managers is that they are too much the same. They accept their own limited lifespan at clubs, they operate within very limited tactical confines, they will recite the same set of values to the media (even in broken English) and, in an environment which presents an appearance of rapid change, by reinforcing their own homogeneity, they become bastions of conservatism. And they are not the only collaborators. Interview any player and he will testify how much a new manager has been a new broom, brightened the whole atmosphere, lifted the club even when he has started out on a losing run. The old manager, who months earlier had been the equivalent of Red Bull, went through the traditional reverse stages from boring smoothie to flat lemonade with the top left-off ………. And in the background, willing to collaborate with any new vichy regime are the fans, who shell out on a regular basis to check out whether changes at the top represent revolution, or the status quo. But as they have only ever seen the status quo they are all too keen to confuse it with revolution and collaborate through their debit cards with an endless cycle of change that inevitably becomes more or less the same thing.
Take our 92 Premier and EFL clubs, add in 24 from the National League if you like ….. now find one of those 116 that plays a tactically very different game from the rest. Does anyone field two 6’5” strikers, wide men who sling in crosses all the time, two rampant wide defenders who’ll do much the same when given the chance, a lone centre back, who operates behind a mobile version of Vinny Jones tackling everything that moves? Does anyone play a back five and hoof long balls forward at every opportunity? Does anyone play a sweeper? Does anyone send their keeper up for every corner and free-kick? Does any team never commit a deliberate foul? Or never argue with the referee? Does anyone really kick anything that moves, is any team going down theatrically every time anyone has the ball in the opposition box? Is there a team known for its long-range shooting, its dead-ball precision? Is anyone out there trying to make total football viable? Who is not playing a pressing game and instead leaves players upfield and is putting in challenges only when the opposition nears the danger area?
Of course teams do play in slightly different ways, but in truth the range of acceptable game plans is ever-narrowing and under media scrutiny the ability to put tactical plan and result together to transform them into cause and effect is only going to become more acute. For football managers that means matching up your opponent’s 4-3-3, it means ensuring your players run as many miles as the opposition during a game, it means making your tackle count – well count, pass-completion, your players know what’s expected …….. In the end it’s a very similar product in a different coloured box. And if your players are enjoying themselves you might get a winning record and be up the league and your opponent for a series of infinitessimal differences, or even totally random reasons, will be losing quite a lot with players who aren’t enjoying that experience ……… And once you know you are likely to win or lose you do whichever MORE.
Last season Leicester proved that you could beat teams of far better players with 40% possession or less, but not only can’t they replicate that, having become infatuated with their ability to improve their team on paper with better players, but also all their opponents are determined to prove their original philosophy was correct by implementing it more efficiently this time round. And when tiny differences are identified, like Sean Dyche doesn't change his team, we stand open-mouthed at the outrageous originality of such an unimaginable approach.
Tuesday night in Gillingham will be red bricks in February. 48 will abandon St Valentine to flood down from Chesterfield. Musselburgh's legacy to Pennock will add a teaspoon of extra muscle to the Division One stew, Mr Caldwell might perhaps try to sprinkle a bit of piquant passing on top. Whether the result will be poisonous only time will tell. Roses will always do on Valentine's Day, and if they're rejected they'll be welcome on our grave.
Take our 92 Premier and EFL clubs, add in 24 from the National League if you like ….. now find one of those 116 that plays a tactically very different game from the rest. Does anyone field two 6’5” strikers, wide men who sling in crosses all the time, two rampant wide defenders who’ll do much the same when given the chance, a lone centre back, who operates behind a mobile version of Vinny Jones tackling everything that moves? Does anyone play a back five and hoof long balls forward at every opportunity? Does anyone play a sweeper? Does anyone send their keeper up for every corner and free-kick? Does any team never commit a deliberate foul? Or never argue with the referee? Does anyone really kick anything that moves, is any team going down theatrically every time anyone has the ball in the opposition box? Is there a team known for its long-range shooting, its dead-ball precision? Is anyone out there trying to make total football viable? Who is not playing a pressing game and instead leaves players upfield and is putting in challenges only when the opposition nears the danger area?
Of course teams do play in slightly different ways, but in truth the range of acceptable game plans is ever-narrowing and under media scrutiny the ability to put tactical plan and result together to transform them into cause and effect is only going to become more acute. For football managers that means matching up your opponent’s 4-3-3, it means ensuring your players run as many miles as the opposition during a game, it means making your tackle count – well count, pass-completion, your players know what’s expected …….. In the end it’s a very similar product in a different coloured box. And if your players are enjoying themselves you might get a winning record and be up the league and your opponent for a series of infinitessimal differences, or even totally random reasons, will be losing quite a lot with players who aren’t enjoying that experience ……… And once you know you are likely to win or lose you do whichever MORE.
Last season Leicester proved that you could beat teams of far better players with 40% possession or less, but not only can’t they replicate that, having become infatuated with their ability to improve their team on paper with better players, but also all their opponents are determined to prove their original philosophy was correct by implementing it more efficiently this time round. And when tiny differences are identified, like Sean Dyche doesn't change his team, we stand open-mouthed at the outrageous originality of such an unimaginable approach.
Tuesday night in Gillingham will be red bricks in February. 48 will abandon St Valentine to flood down from Chesterfield. Musselburgh's legacy to Pennock will add a teaspoon of extra muscle to the Division One stew, Mr Caldwell might perhaps try to sprinkle a bit of piquant passing on top. Whether the result will be poisonous only time will tell. Roses will always do on Valentine's Day, and if they're rejected they'll be welcome on our grave.