DUTIES OF A TEAM HEAD COACH/MANAGER

Here are some of the duties of a Team Head Coach/Manager

1) Planning/directing training and recommending acquisition or trading of players
2) Assessing player’s skills and assigning team positions
3) Evaluating own and opposition team capabilities to determine game strategy.

I am particularly interested in the 3rd one: Evaluating own and opposition team capabilities to determine game strategy.

To better explain it let me give an example. Let’s look at an article by Jonathan Chong entitled
WENGER FRUSTRATED WITH DEFENSIVE TEAMS

In the last paragraph Wenger is quoted as saying: “It’s important that these teams don’t get away with only defending any more and they have to start to take risks as well.”

I don’t even know where to start. In college if you know that no matter how hard you study you can’t get Grade A or B you just study hard enough to pass the course. Similarly, some teams are content with a draw. They just want to accumulate enough points to avoid relegation. What good is it to play attacking football but lose the game and 3 points? A draw = 1 point. Half a loaf is better than none.

There is nothing wrong with “packing the bus” in front of goal. I call it the “lockdown“. If you know that the other team has packed the bus in front of goal then don’t try to take the ball into the net. Score from long range. Since the area is crowded the keeper won’t be able to see the ball. Just as simple as that.

Best defense is the best offense. Defense creates offense by pressuring the ball, forcing turnovers, and asphyxiating your opponent with a counter-attack. Defense makes you dictate the tempo of the game. Defense wins championships. If you have the best defense a goal would be enough to make you win a game. If you have the best offense but no defense you have to score so many goals in order to win.

Way back some teams used to depend on offside traps. It was their defensive strategy. Not for long though. Other teams found ways to break those offside traps. It is the duty of the Team Head Coach/Manager to evaluate the opposition team capabilities to determine game strategy. If one team puts 10 players behind the ball, if you are a good coach you would tell your players to immediately make a cross to the other side of the field as soon as the other team’s 10 men are coming close to your player in possession of the ball. In fact, it’s an advantage to you when the other team puts 10 men behind the ball. It will be easier for you to counter attack because the other side would be wide open. So, isn’t it riskier for a team to put 10 players behind the ball? Am failing to understand what Wenger means by saying: “they have to start taking risks as well.” I would like to know what risks Arsenal takes. Attacking more and defending less? Isn’t that the reason why they are on 5th position? Duh! Hello!

You play to win the game. You win the game by taking advantage of the other team’s weaknesses and not just by playing attacking football. That said, doesn’t it make sense that if you don’t want to lose you have to reduce your weaknesses/risks? And Wenger wants these other teams to start taking risks as well? Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

In war, if you know that you can’t beat your enemy on the ground, if you know that you have an aerial advantage you use it. Not fair? What is fair about war? Football game is a war. You play to defeat the opponent. If you know you can’t defeat them then at least settle for a draw. There is nothing wrong with that. If other teams don’t like that then the onus is on them to find ways to beat such a team. If you are a coach/manager and you don’t think you can come up with new ideas then you better put up or shut up, just step aside or just wait to be shown the exit.

Folks, everyone is expendable.

“After giving this careful consideration, I have concluded that a change in our football operations is in the best interests of the Denver Broncos,” owner Pat Bowlen said.

Mike Shanahan former coach of the NFL Denver Broncos was known as a genius, a mastermind and, yes, a Super Bowl Champion but just got fired. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3800768

It’s about what have you done for us/me lately?

You get my point?

“I don’t know if necessarily they’ll find a better football coach,” said linebacker Bill Romanowski, a key player on the Super Bowl teams. “Mike is an outstanding football coach, one of the better coaches I had, if not the best. But players start to get tired of the same routines, the same kind of play calling. A new fresh coat of paint sometimes does a whole lot of good.”