Roy Hodgson - Manager

https://football-italia.net/cannavaro-choosing-my-next-club-in-england-italy-or-spain/

Cannavaro quoted as saying we either interviewed him for the job or at least requested an interview.

 

I would think he's top of the relegation shortlist. We're clearly preparing for relegation, while hoping for something else.

Now wasn't the time but give it 4 months. He's certainly respected by everyone in the game and has one of the best tactical minds of a generation.

 

Has he?

 

I’m not sure he is the best tactician in his generation or whatever but he has shown himself in China to win titles with the best players in league and would be a draw to prospective players.

 

Serious question - on what are you basing that?

 

Personally I'm very sceptical about the fabled draw of famously good players as coaches - I'm never really convinced by it. I think players know it's better for their careers and potential for winning trophies (if that's the level they're at) to be under the best coach and tactician, rather than the bloke who can show off about how many medals he's got compared to the squad he's leading, and there's absolutely no guarantee that playing talent translates, of course. In Cannavaro's case, it certainly hasn't been proven yet.

 

I would have agreed but it seems that Stevie G has helped Villa shop in a new market this winter.

 

Mmm, I do think that's extremely contextually specific, though - Gerrard was literally Coutinho's captain whilst they played on the same team together - they know each other personally; not to mention the fact that Barcelona were absolutely desperate to get rid of him, and Villa were one of the very few teams where that matrix of paying (2/3rds of) his enormous wages and actually having a place for him in the team joined up.

Apart from that who are we really talking about? The Digne signing was all about his situation at Everton and relationship with Benitez, and I really don't think Calum Chambers is a case of being lured there by the promise of how incredible Gerrard will make him. On top of that, of course, he's in no way, shape, or form, representative of a new market.

They'd also already managed to sign Buendia and Leon Bailey alongside Danny Ings in the summer under Dean Smith - realistically, it's the NSWE group more regularly flexing their financial muscle, having entirely bought out Xia and become the sole ownership group, that is responsible for the uptick we're seeing.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/60234898 He went a bit Cantona in this interview I think.

 

So we’re luring Hodgson onto the rocks so we can ruin him? Yup, he’s sussed us out straight away.

 

That’s a fair account certainly but there was a lot of press buzz (probably overhyped) highlighting Gerrard’s role.

 

His incredible playing career. Not many read and anticipated the game like Cannavaro. For a 5ft 9 centre back to win the Ballon Dor is incredible.

Not saying managerially, of course. But it's as good a base as anything.

 

Except it’s not because some of the worst players made the best managers and some of the best players made absolutely awful managers. There really is no real correlation at all.

 

It's the type of player. Leaders. Tactical discipline. Intelligence. Hugely successful winners.

Conte
Guardiola
Simeone
Ancelotti
Del Bosque

No it doesn't always work (Roy Keane), but it's not a coincidence that they're great managers.

 

Bryan Robson was the first example (and often mentioned when he was Middlesbrough manager) I came across of the fact that good players don't necessarily make good managers. Although, there may be some cases where their superior playing skills have some positive influence on the players during training sessions or when he's giving advice on technique and decision making. The problem is, if they're lacking in tactics and/or man-management this effect may at best only be fleeting, like at just one team or only for the odd season before their limitations become apparent. Glenn Hoddle is a good example of this - good at Swindon early in his career and in charge of England before the Euro 2000 qualifiers (though he messed up for the crunch game against Romania and cost us top spot which would have caused us to avoid Argentina altogether), but mediocre at Chelsea and Spurs. Zola may have had an effect in this respect when he was at us, but apart from a decent season at West Ham he's flopped everywhere else and even here aside from a mid-season purple patch his record was poor. Bryan Robson did some memorable things at Boro (getting them promoted to the Premiership, two cup finals, 9th in the Prem with only three home defeats) but he also took them down and was in danger of taking them down again before Venables came to the rescue. He's managed little since and what he has done shows how limited he is when he's managing players who can't replicate his ball-playing skills.

 

The thing is, though, that speaking about a player tactically is completely different from speaking about a head coach/manager tactically. Cannavaro might have been intelligent in the way he operated in his position tactically when he was a player, but he was in no way responsible for the tactics of his team as a whole, or the systems they played. As such, there is no reason to credit him with being tactically brilliant, or even particularly tactically competent, when discussing his prospects as a coach/manager.

I'm fairly certain we could also compile a far greater list of players who fit your list of tactically disciplined leaders with intelligence who won things and are tactically weak managers - or, indeed, extremely poor managers full stop. Right now, off the top of my head, Frank de Boer is just one very prominent example who flies fully in the face of your logic.

 

Good to see he’s tightened us up at the back. Long may this unbeaten run continue.

 

Ferguson
Wenger
Mourinho
Klopp
GT

All managers with distinctly average non-descript playing careers. There is no correlation.

The best/only thing to judge Cannavaro on as a manager is his managerial record, and it isn’t that great.

 

Robson also managed the great escape at WBA to be fair. Think he was average overall as a manager.

 

A little harsh to suggest that Hoddle was mediocre at Chelsea. He was certainly one of the catalysts in elevating that club from perennial top division strugglers who regularly were relegated to the mega-club we know today. He was able to attract top level players like Gullit who would not otherwise have gone there and he achieved good success in cup football including an FA Cup final and a European semi-final. (Also remember much of the time he was operating as player-manager - no mean feat in itself.) All this was part of what would have attracted Abramovich to later buy the club. He only finally left to manage England.
It seemed inevitable that he would eventually manage Spurs and his time there wasn't as good. I suspect the damage done to his image while with England meant he didn't have the same level of support he would have had previously but then again, how many managers have passed through Spurs without them achieving anything significant, despite being a supposed 'big club'? Only Pochettino came close.

 

Hoddle's success came more from his reputation as a footballer, than any coaching/managerial ability imo

 

Being interviewed on Talk Sport at some point this morning.

 

Harry still haunts his nightmares. I am so looking forward to when Harry welcomes him to The Vic at his first home game.

 

The first factor likely played a part, but I maintain that his coaching benefited from his playing skills (especially when he was a player-manager) as he could demonstrate and describe what he wanted of his players based on his own footballing ability. While the record of the managers I mentioned above wasn’t great, it would’ve been worse had they had the same level of tactical acumen and man-management skills but worse playing ability.

 

Without his reputation as a player Chelsea wouldn't have attracted Gullit imo

 

Cor. That's a tough argument to win. Good luck with that...

 

He was lucky though that the three teams below them were so poor - they stayed up with 34 points, a record that wouldn’t have been enough even in recent seasons. The next season he was sacked when it seemed obvious he wasn’t going to keep them up again. He was a disaster at Bradford, Sheffield United and Boro in his final season before El Tel came to the rescue and there were question marks about him the previous season - he was actually booed by the fans during his final home game there (seemed harsh, but Boro fans were in a better position to judge him as a manager than others).

 

Interview on Talk Sport now

 

You, Roy or Harry?

 

They weren't always struggling though, before Hoddle was appointed they finished 5th after being promoted back to the top division (where they have been ever since) and then 11th the season before he came in. During his first season he had a shocking start, only picking up one more point than we have from the same number of games. Credit to him though for getting them to the FA Cup final that same season - I didn't know about him getting to the semis in Europe (it was a real shame they scrapped the rule about FA Cup runners-up qualifying for Europe if the winner had already qualified via the league - it would've have meant only our second venture into European football in 2019/20).

David Mellor, a Chelsea fan, doesn't have a very high opinion of Hoddle either as Chelsea or England manager (he feels he wasn't up to the level to succeed Venables), but of course that's just one person's opinion.

 

I'm tempted to completely change my opinion based on this alone

 

Got a feeling Cleverly, Kucka and Sema will all play a significant part under Roy...

 

Politician's answer? I assumed he had claimed that HH had been 'knocking around' with Jimmy Savile (ahem)!