themanwhofellasleep
z-list internet celebrity
- Dec 14, 2006
- 690
- 0
Since there's been a lot of posts about Ramos, I thought I'd look at what managers actually do. There are lots of facets to a manager's role. Let's briefly ignore the role of DoF and just imagine the manager is in charge of player transfers.
1) The manager brings in the players he wants and sells the players he doesn't rate. For this he needs a certain amount of money and a good scouting network. It helps if the team is in a fashionable area (London, not Middlesboro, for example). Here, the manager's role is to look at the quality of a player, whether he will fit into the team, whether he can withstand the rigours of the premiership, whether he has the right mentality, and whether the team actually needs someone in that position. Of all the managers in the Premiership, I'd have to admit (sadly) that Arsene Wenger is probably the best at spotting talent and assessing whether players can make the grade. At Spurs we have a hit-and-miss record - for every Berbatov there is a Zokora or a Stalteri or a Gilberto or a Kevin-Prince Boateng.
2) The manager is in charge of tactics. He decides the formation of the team, who plays where, set-pieces, substitutions and a whole lot more. He will assess the opposition and understand their strengths and weaknesses and how to address them. This, supposedly, is Ramos's strength and was Jol's weakness. Time and again Jol was lambasted for throwing away leads against top 4 teams. In our victories over Arsenal and Chelsea in the CC we displayed excellent tactics and discipline.
3) The manager ensures that the players are in good condition, both mentality and physically. Ramos famously introduced a fitness/diet regime when he took over at Spurs. He also changed things around to ensure that there was a psychological break from the Jol regime and has spoken about trying to instill a winning mentality in the players. The likes of Mourinho and Ferguson are experts at getting players fit, but also ensuring that they have the right attitude towards playing.
4) The manager motivates the players. The manager should make the players give 100% for the team. They should come onto the pitch feeling confident of victory but aware of the need to work hard for it. They should be willing to do anything for the team. The opposition should feel cowed and worried before the game has even started. Keegan was a master of this in his first spell and Newcastle, and Mourinho was even better at it in his time at Chelsea.
5) The manager oversees player development. Together with the coaches, the manager should ensure that players work to improve, eliminating weaknesses, honing skills and disciplines. Mediocre players should become good players and good players should become great players. Players should not feel content that they are "complete" and should be constantly striving to improve. The manager should not be looking just at one game or one season, but should be grooming players for the future and ensuring that when older players run out of legs, there are other players ready to step up.
No manager is perfect, but the best managers can do most of the above, provided they are given time and support.
What tends to happen in reality is that managers are better at some things than other, and when this becomes apparent, the fans get impatient. So, we had Jol, who was good at picking the team and motivating the players, but was perceived as tactically naive. He was then replaced by Ramos, who was seen as being tactically more asture. The problem begins when people then realise that the things they had taken for granted under Jol start to unravel - people forgot the good work that Jol did in motivating the team, and only remembered it when the team started playing so listlessly under Ramos. Suddenly people are harking back to the days of Jol, when we had a settled team every week, playing in simple but effective formation.
It's hard to assess whether Ramos is right for Spurs because he inherited a squad from Martin Jol, and it is still unclear how much input he has in terms of scouting, and buying and selling players. He was clearly unhappy about the way the team started the season with only one striker willing to play for the team. I was willing to write off last season as he was using players he didn't rate, but it will be interesting to see how he does over the next few seasons - and I certainly hope he is in charge over the next few seasons.
Thoughts?
1) The manager brings in the players he wants and sells the players he doesn't rate. For this he needs a certain amount of money and a good scouting network. It helps if the team is in a fashionable area (London, not Middlesboro, for example). Here, the manager's role is to look at the quality of a player, whether he will fit into the team, whether he can withstand the rigours of the premiership, whether he has the right mentality, and whether the team actually needs someone in that position. Of all the managers in the Premiership, I'd have to admit (sadly) that Arsene Wenger is probably the best at spotting talent and assessing whether players can make the grade. At Spurs we have a hit-and-miss record - for every Berbatov there is a Zokora or a Stalteri or a Gilberto or a Kevin-Prince Boateng.
2) The manager is in charge of tactics. He decides the formation of the team, who plays where, set-pieces, substitutions and a whole lot more. He will assess the opposition and understand their strengths and weaknesses and how to address them. This, supposedly, is Ramos's strength and was Jol's weakness. Time and again Jol was lambasted for throwing away leads against top 4 teams. In our victories over Arsenal and Chelsea in the CC we displayed excellent tactics and discipline.
3) The manager ensures that the players are in good condition, both mentality and physically. Ramos famously introduced a fitness/diet regime when he took over at Spurs. He also changed things around to ensure that there was a psychological break from the Jol regime and has spoken about trying to instill a winning mentality in the players. The likes of Mourinho and Ferguson are experts at getting players fit, but also ensuring that they have the right attitude towards playing.
4) The manager motivates the players. The manager should make the players give 100% for the team. They should come onto the pitch feeling confident of victory but aware of the need to work hard for it. They should be willing to do anything for the team. The opposition should feel cowed and worried before the game has even started. Keegan was a master of this in his first spell and Newcastle, and Mourinho was even better at it in his time at Chelsea.
5) The manager oversees player development. Together with the coaches, the manager should ensure that players work to improve, eliminating weaknesses, honing skills and disciplines. Mediocre players should become good players and good players should become great players. Players should not feel content that they are "complete" and should be constantly striving to improve. The manager should not be looking just at one game or one season, but should be grooming players for the future and ensuring that when older players run out of legs, there are other players ready to step up.
No manager is perfect, but the best managers can do most of the above, provided they are given time and support.
What tends to happen in reality is that managers are better at some things than other, and when this becomes apparent, the fans get impatient. So, we had Jol, who was good at picking the team and motivating the players, but was perceived as tactically naive. He was then replaced by Ramos, who was seen as being tactically more asture. The problem begins when people then realise that the things they had taken for granted under Jol start to unravel - people forgot the good work that Jol did in motivating the team, and only remembered it when the team started playing so listlessly under Ramos. Suddenly people are harking back to the days of Jol, when we had a settled team every week, playing in simple but effective formation.
It's hard to assess whether Ramos is right for Spurs because he inherited a squad from Martin Jol, and it is still unclear how much input he has in terms of scouting, and buying and selling players. He was clearly unhappy about the way the team started the season with only one striker willing to play for the team. I was willing to write off last season as he was using players he didn't rate, but it will be interesting to see how he does over the next few seasons - and I certainly hope he is in charge over the next few seasons.
Thoughts?
