Warrior Coaching

Yes it’s true the country is Football crazy for the next few weeks as all eyes look toward the national Football team to make us proud.

 
Some love football, some hate the game but no matter where you stand there are some fantastic lessons to be taken from observing the games and thinking how we can apply those lessons to other aspects of our lives.  Watching the England v USA game got me thinking about Man Management.

Now there are many people up and down the country right now discussing their choice of line up to play Algeria on Friday and what tactics they would propose if they were in charge for a day.  Though only one man actually gets the honour of that task and that is Fabio Capello.  He’ll be mulling over the performances and considering his options for the next throw of the dice.  As an armchair fan it appears that maybe his choice of Man Management so far is flawed. 

When selecting personnel for a task it is important to fully understand their strengths and weaknesses and position them in such a fashion that you stand the best possible chance of succeeding as a team.  Then you must decide on how you will go about implementing the plan with your line up in place.  And sometimes it is advisable to tweak the plan to accommodate the limitations of your staff.

So what does this have to do with Fabio, England and Man Management? 

Well from the performances so far it appears that Fabio is hell bent on forcing square pegs into round holes and there is a lesson to be learnt.  Fabio has been very open about the fact that he likes his team to play with width; he looks for wingers to run down the flanks and cross the ball in to his target men to attack the goal.  It was this preference that cost Theo Walcott his place in the squad because time and again Theo didn’t do as he was told and played too narrow for Fabio’s liking.  Now the good news is Fabio has a plan, but the bad news is there is a flaw.  The tactic he has chosen does not fit the strengths and abilities of his staff.  And instead of revising the plan he is more interested in forcing square pegs into round holes.  You see, without Beckham England’s wide players have shown they are not that good at crossing the ball.  And to make matters worse England’s talisman Wayne Rooney actually has been removed as a threat to the opposition by Fabio’s tactics as Ferguson will tell you Wayne Rooney is very competent in the air but his World Class ability only becomes apparent when the ball is at his feet.  If we had Shearer, Drogba or a centre forward of the style of Les Ferdinand in the squad then I could understand the tactic.  But we haven’t?  Yet the tactic remains.

So what are the alternative options?  Well you only have to look at the style of play of Argentina.  They have a player called Messi who many dub as one of the biggest talents at the World Cup and in many ways he is similar to our Rooney.  He is short, tenacious, fast and World Class coming from deep with the ball at his feet.  Both play almost like midfielders upfront and can finish as good as any player that has ever graced the game.  Yet Messi is allowed to play in a system which allows him to shine and Rooney is left to get so frustrated he is in danger of getting himself red carded as for 90 minutes he watches the ball constantly flying over the top of his head.  And if he does lose his mind and get himself sent off then as much as Rooney has to be responsible for his actions you also have to look at the guy who put him in that position.  You have to question the Man Management.

Man Utd and Barcelona have developed a free flowing style where Rooney can get involved in attacks with the ball at his feet.  The ball is played on the deck and often never rises above waist height as it is threaded through the opposition’s formation.  This is the environment where these players have flourished and if you don’t provide them the conditions they are accustomed to then you can not expect the results they are used to achieving.

So what can we learn from this?

Well next time you are in a meeting considering a strategy for the next phase of the plan spare a thought for the personnel you have and ensure you really do understand their strengths and weaknesses.  As much as it is good to stretch people and develop them it is not always effective to re-invent them into something they are currently not.  It is possible, yes, but why would you do it when you don’t need to?  It takes huge resources and they won’t be as effective as they are in their preferred style.  Simply be prepared to compromise on the plan so that you get the best possible output from the workforce that you have and refrain from trying to hammer square pegs into round holes.

 Like the saying that trainers have in sports:

‘You can make a fast man faster, but you can’t make a slow man fast’

And teams in other environments can share the principles in their own agenda’s.  Don’t be fooled into believing that there is only one way to sell, one way to pitch or one way to implement a plan.  That is not the case.  There are many ways to realise an idea and to do it the right way you have to maximise the strengths of the individuals involved and create and environment that caters for the weaknesses ensuring they are minimised. 

That is the art of Man Management.