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“[…] Footballers acknowledge that a coach’s tactical intelligence, technical knowledge, and interpersonal skills, are important BUT they know that they are the ones who get the job done.
“Latest evidence of this is the polar views expressed by England coach Thomas Tuchel and England’s quarter-final hero Jude Bellingham, after their win against Norway…”
In the following guest column, Trendsetter Hawks coach and former Trinidad and Tobago international midfielder Travis Mulraine, who played professionally in Germany and the US MLS, suggests potential danger in exaggerating the worth of coaches:
Coaches have become carried away with the hype and focus that they are placed under nowadays. They see themselves in many cases as wand wavers, and ‘poof’ they transform teams and players—and, in short time, win championships and or promotions.
This is to be blamed on one man: the self -titled “Special One”, Jose Mario Dos Santos Mourinho.
When he took the Chelsea job, he coined the phrase and went on to claim that his job was to remove the pressure from the players and put it on himself—this, I suppose, in an effort to improve their performances.
Mourinho, who had just lifted the European Champions League with Porto, declared himself the “Special One”.
In truth, it was to feed his ego. And to garner the limelight.
Those who fell for that were: journalists, fans and football pundits, and, most importantly, club owners, who have since fired coaches left right and centre, but NOT the ‘ballers’.
Of course, they acknowledge that a coach’s tactical intelligence, technical knowledge, and interpersonal skills, are important BUT they know that they are the ones who get the job done.
Latest evidence of this is the polar views expressed by England coach Thomas Tuchel and England’s quarter-final hero Jude Bellingham, after their win against Norway. While Tuchel claimed England were “sloppy and lucky” to come away with victory, the double goal scorer claimed that “he (Tuchel) doesn’t have the experience of being in situations like these, and that sometimes you have to win dirty.”
(via Yahoo.)
Bellingham proceeded to thank his teammates for digging deep and getting the job done.
Tuchel later softened his stance to acknowledge the hardworking players that got him into a World Cup semis in his first stint as a national team manager. For a moment, Tuchel got carried away and had to be brought back down to earth by the people—or should I say person—that got the job done.
It will be interesting to hear what the fallout would be in the England camp since.
Question: Is Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni better than Mexico’s Javier Aguirre, Uruguay’s Marcel Bielsa or Brazil’s Carlo Ancelotti to name a few???
I don’t think so—but he’s got Messi. Is Messi better than Julian Quinones and Raul Jimenez? Is Messi better than Darwin Nunez and Facundo Pellistri? Is Messi better than Vini Jr, Cunha or kid sensation Endrick?
You get my point. Coaches need to come down to earth and quickly. Had Sir Alex Ferguson started his coaching career in the era of the ‘magician coach’, he would NOT have built the dynasty that he did a Manchester United.
After all, he took seven long years to win his first premiership title.
I am happy to see Arsenal stick it out with Mikel Arteta, who took them back to their previous glory days. You may ask: should a coach take culpability for failure? My answer is yes.
Let’s go back to Tuchel again. His decision to defend deep and concede possession to Argentina after going ahead proved fatal—England had 12% possession from Anthony Gordon’s opening goal to conceding Lautaro Martinez’s game winning goal.
England led Argentina 1-0 at the time, but went on to lose 2-1 after conceding goals in the 85th minute and two minutes into second half stoppage time.
In this case, the coach should take full responsibility for the tragic loss.
We will soon see the Special One in his second stint at Real Madrid, let’s hope in his first press conference he dispels the notion of special ones and tells the world that he has adopted a more sober approach to football.
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