- Oct 19, 2004
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Chris Davies, Swansea’s match analyst, was captain when Rodgers managed Reading’s academy team. “Brendan’s rise has coincided with the rise of the Spanish teams but I can say from experience he was putting these things in place, travelling to Spain and Holland, studying, and doing it back in the late 1990s,” said Davies. “Even if Barça had never been successful, Brendan would be playing this way.”
“A Spanish boy is born pure, just like a Welsh boy, an English boy, an Irish boy or a Scottish boy. The Spanish boy is not sprinkled with something special, it’s about the coaching and the philosophy he is taught as he grows up.”
By proving this, Rodgers has removed the excuses for every British team and coach. It wasn’t easy. Davies says: “People think Brendan just pats them on the back and says, ‘Go out and play’. And it’s so far from that. So much detail goes into the specific movement patterns of each player. Key is the discipline to it.”
Rodgers works painstakingly on shape, starting with “phase one” of any passing move, when goalkeeper Michel Vorm has the ball. He looks at “sub-groups”, for example the three midfielders, who must keep close together so they can always give each other passing options. Focal to the thinking are “transitions”, the areas to which players go when Swansea switch from possession to retrieving the ball.
“Brendan’s worked with top foreign players at Chelsea — and says English players are technically as good. The different way foreigners play has nothing to do with technical ability, it’s tactical awareness, so what he does is teach people the game,” says Davies.
Swansea, all team-ethic (“if you’re an individual, even if you’re brilliant, you’re out of the squad,” Britton says), harbour no egos.
Chris Davies, Swansea’s match analyst, was captain when Rodgers managed Reading’s academy team. “Brendan’s rise has coincided with the rise of the Spanish teams but I can say from experience he was putting these things in place, travelling to Spain and Holland, studying, and doing it back in the late 1990s,” said Davies. “Even if Barça had never been successful, Brendan would be playing this way.”
“A Spanish boy is born pure, just like a Welsh boy, an English boy, an Irish boy or a Scottish boy. The Spanish boy is not sprinkled with something special, it’s about the coaching and the philosophy he is taught as he grows up.”
By proving this, Rodgers has removed the excuses for every British team and coach. It wasn’t easy. Davies says: “People think Brendan just pats them on the back and says, ‘Go out and play’. And it’s so far from that. So much detail goes into the specific movement patterns of each player. Key is the discipline to it.”
Rodgers works painstakingly on shape, starting with “phase one” of any passing move, when goalkeeper Michel Vorm has the ball. He looks at “sub-groups”, for example the three midfielders, who must keep close together so they can always give each other passing options. Focal to the thinking are “transitions”, the areas to which players go when Swansea switch from possession to retrieving the ball.
“Brendan’s worked with top foreign players at Chelsea — and says English players are technically as good. The different way foreigners play has nothing to do with technical ability, it’s tactical awareness, so what he does is teach people the game,” says Davies.
Swansea, all team-ethic (“if you’re an individual, even if you’re brilliant, you’re out of the squad,” Britton says), harbour no egos.