The Mail Bag
Moyes on Managers
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The Sunday Times has an interesting article written by David Moyes about the pressures of management in a World Cup.
I think the interesting bits are where we perhaps see glimpses of his own thinking as a manager — his thoughts on tactics, the 'face' of the manager and the longevity needed to build a team at club level compared to international tournament team building.
These are all issues that have been debated on ToffeeWeb — Moyes's tactical nous, his demeanour and messages he can give off in interviews, as well as the amount of time he has had to make the Toffees a force again. Interesting reading.
Andy Morden, Posted 30/05/2010 at 11:14:03
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He also says that: "Games at the highest level, more and more, are being played tactically, with coaches needing continual adjustments. You have to tweak, move and alter your team during the 90 minutes and flexibility is important."
BETTER PLAYERS...then let the other coach worry about tactics and tweaking.
Sorted.
In, for want of a better word, ' poorer ' teams you can improve your chances of not getting beaten, by work rate, application, effort, etc etc.
It's Boxers Vs Fighters, We, on most occaisions, have been fighters, but the United and Chelsea wins have shown that we can, when we set our mind to it, stand toe to toe with what passes for the best in a pass-and-move slugfest.
Better players are a must, but without the effort to back it up, well it's wasted.
True Champions can box AND fight. How often over the years have we, in both sports, seen the challenger come out for the first few rounds / 20-25 mins of the game, start with a hiss and a roar and, then having weathered the fighting storm, the Champ proceeds to box his ears off?
Better players have Brains and Brawn and know when to use them. If you don't think they do, well watch the Brazilians (and others) quietly kick lumps of all and sundry in this World Cup AND pass them to death.
Personally, I found Moyes's comments about tactics and substitutions slightly divorced form reality. He spoke as if they were something that he has mastered and employs all of the time to the greatest effect. I'd suggest the former he is increasingly adept at (primarily in stopping the opposition ever dictating a game) — although his almost exclusive use of the 4-5-1 and nothing else can call that into question. But substitutions are still very much in the "only change it when we are desperate / the 70-mins mark" mode.
Given the choice, though, would you rather lose Arteta this summer or Moyes?
The manager is FAR more important than the players because the manager gets the best out of his players, picks the tactics and signs new players.
It is rare for a manager to be good at all these things. Walter Smith signed some great players in his time at Everton, but he was tactically inept.
For me, Moyes is unsurpassed in the current PL in terms of signing players. His motivational skills are right up there as well. Tactically he is improving all the time, but still has work to do before he is at Mourinho's level. I think he would admit that himself.
However — yes there's always a "however" in there somewhere — we need to take the next step forward. We are a team that is difficult to beat e.g. how many times have Chelsea beaten us in the Premier League in the last couple of seasons? Indeed I think in 2009-10 season we only lost a couple more games than Arsenal and Man Utd.
The difference is in the wins column. Against Stoke and Wolves we managed draws when in the home games at least we could and should have been looking at 3 points. In many respects, I see a similarity between my club, Everton, and my national team, Republic of Ireland — both difficult to beat, but both needing to move on from that and turn some of those draws into wins.
I have to say that I find DM's near obsession with 4-5-1 to be very frustrating. It's hardly the most adventurous formation is it? I can understand using it against the so called big guns/mega rich clubs in the PL... but when we play teams like Wigan, Stoke, Wolves etc!!
If we are going to move forward and actually challenge the top 4, we have to be more adventurous and that doesn't mean switching to 4-4-2 with 20 minutes to go when we are desperately looking for an equaliser/winner. Come on, DM, be less cautious — "he who dares, wins" and all that stuff!!!
I will give you the next one: keep the players on the bench / in the squad happy. Well, stands to reason dunnit, the 11 starters are already happy as Larry, they're starting... add;
Once they go over the white line they are on their own.
So at a vote of 51% to 49% it's Moyes out.
But only if the new bloke (me) knows these rules, which I do... I can do that job, giz a job.
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1 Posted 30/05/2010 at 19:10:46
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Please don't ever leave us David. I really don't know what I'd do.