sloth
Well-Known Member
- Mar 7, 2005
- 9,018
- 6,900
I can see a day when our Premier League is just like American football with a coach for every position on the pitch
ON THE pitch football will not change much over the next few years.
But off it I can see a revolution in the way we coach our top players.
Suggestions that Arsene Wenger should be given a specialist defensive coach has sparked a big debate about what they are?
Should we have them? And what would they do?
Arsene is entitled to his own opinion but I think it won't be long before we go down the American football route and have specialised coaches for every position in the team.
I played out in America and got hooked on the NFL while there. I still watch it a lot on the TV at home. They are years ahead of us in terms of coaching.
They have quarterback coaches, wide receiver coaches, a coach for almost every conceivable aspect of the game.
I see nothing wrong with it. It will only improve the players and, as a result, improve the end product which is designed to entertain the fans.
When I was at West Ham we didn't have a specialist goalkeeper coach. Now every club has one I'm pretty sure.
Ernie Gregory was the team's goalkeeper for years and after retiring he took the reserves and did a bit of work with the goalkeepers.
But it was nothing targeted or position-specific.
The players should practise what they will be doing in matches. That means goal-keepers should work on saves, defenders on heading and defending, wingers on making runs and crossing and strikers on the obvious.
I believe Newcastle experimented with it some time ago and brought in Mark Lawrenson as a defensive coach.
They let in quite a few and it didn't seem to work out too well so I can understand the reluctance.
If you are the defensive coach and let in four at the weekend you'll be unfairly criticised and pigeon-holed.
But I talk to my coaches about it all the time and want to see more of it in the game.
For example we have young Kyle Walker with us at Tottenham. A good, promising right-back who could be the right-back for England for years to come.
He's great going forward but he would benefit from someone coming in to target the areas he needs to work on, the defensive side of his game.
Gareth Bale should spend about 45 minutes every day making runs and crossing, or cutting inside to shoot with his right foot.
Sometimes you have a group of about 20 players and you end up trying to do something that caters for them all and you come away afterwards and wonder what you have actually achieved.
What we must do is reassess what we mean by 'coaching'.
I guess most punters imagine it's a bit of fitness work, then a session where the players play a practice match or work on tactics relevant to the next opponents.
At Spurs we have Tony Parkes, our former goalie, who works with the keepers. Maybe I should get Kevin Bond to work more with the defence and perhaps Joe Jordan with the forwards, although we already have Les Ferdinand who comes in to help our strikers.
But I'm all for drilling the lads for what they will be required to do every Saturday.
If my chairman rings me today and says 'Harry, we want to bring in some more specialised coaches for you' I'd be delighted.
After all, we have expert dieticians, expert medics and expert fitness guys. Why not expert trainers to get the best out of your players?
It's a no-brainer for me.
ON THE pitch football will not change much over the next few years.
But off it I can see a revolution in the way we coach our top players.
Suggestions that Arsene Wenger should be given a specialist defensive coach has sparked a big debate about what they are?
Should we have them? And what would they do?
Arsene is entitled to his own opinion but I think it won't be long before we go down the American football route and have specialised coaches for every position in the team.
I played out in America and got hooked on the NFL while there. I still watch it a lot on the TV at home. They are years ahead of us in terms of coaching.
They have quarterback coaches, wide receiver coaches, a coach for almost every conceivable aspect of the game.
I see nothing wrong with it. It will only improve the players and, as a result, improve the end product which is designed to entertain the fans.
When I was at West Ham we didn't have a specialist goalkeeper coach. Now every club has one I'm pretty sure.
Ernie Gregory was the team's goalkeeper for years and after retiring he took the reserves and did a bit of work with the goalkeepers.
But it was nothing targeted or position-specific.
The players should practise what they will be doing in matches. That means goal-keepers should work on saves, defenders on heading and defending, wingers on making runs and crossing and strikers on the obvious.
I believe Newcastle experimented with it some time ago and brought in Mark Lawrenson as a defensive coach.
They let in quite a few and it didn't seem to work out too well so I can understand the reluctance.
If you are the defensive coach and let in four at the weekend you'll be unfairly criticised and pigeon-holed.
But I talk to my coaches about it all the time and want to see more of it in the game.
For example we have young Kyle Walker with us at Tottenham. A good, promising right-back who could be the right-back for England for years to come.
He's great going forward but he would benefit from someone coming in to target the areas he needs to work on, the defensive side of his game.
Gareth Bale should spend about 45 minutes every day making runs and crossing, or cutting inside to shoot with his right foot.
Sometimes you have a group of about 20 players and you end up trying to do something that caters for them all and you come away afterwards and wonder what you have actually achieved.
What we must do is reassess what we mean by 'coaching'.
I guess most punters imagine it's a bit of fitness work, then a session where the players play a practice match or work on tactics relevant to the next opponents.
At Spurs we have Tony Parkes, our former goalie, who works with the keepers. Maybe I should get Kevin Bond to work more with the defence and perhaps Joe Jordan with the forwards, although we already have Les Ferdinand who comes in to help our strikers.
But I'm all for drilling the lads for what they will be required to do every Saturday.
If my chairman rings me today and says 'Harry, we want to bring in some more specialised coaches for you' I'd be delighted.
After all, we have expert dieticians, expert medics and expert fitness guys. Why not expert trainers to get the best out of your players?
It's a no-brainer for me.
