What is game management?
- Noel Blake
- 11 September 2019
Former FA national coach, Noel Blake, outlines the ingredients of game management and explains that the best coaches have a plan for every eventuality.
The history of the game is littered with tales of great teams losing important matches from winning situations with very little time remaining on the clock.In 2005, AC Milan led Liverpool 3-0 in the Champions League final in Istanbul, only for them to collapse and allow a Steven Gerrard inspired Liverpool to make a dramatic comeback to draw level before winning on penalties.
In 1999, Sir Alex Ferguson’s treble chasing Manchester United trailed 1-0 against Bayern Munich in the Champions League final before the introduction of substitutes Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solksjaer helped complete a historic treble for Manchester United.
Going back further, England led West Germany 2-0 in the 1970 World Cup quarter-final in Mexico with a team many felt was stronger than that which won the World Cup four years earlier at Wembley. The Germans hit back to win the game 2-3 and we were on our way home.
Interestingly, substitutions played a major role in the outcome of all those games. In 1970, with the West Germany game seemingly won, the great Sir Alf Ramsey replaced both Francis Lee and Bobby Charlton in the hope of saving their legs for the next game. Unintentionally, the decisions changed the complexion of the tie.
Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez made an inspired substitution at half-time in the Champions League final in Istanbul replacing full-back Steve Finnan with defensive midfielder Didi Hamann. The change allowed Gerrard to move forward into a more advanced role, a switch which worked wonders as the Liverpool captain scored an early goal. The rest is history.
As the 1970 example proves, the impact substitute is nothing new. I forget the countless times Liverpool’s original super- sub, David Fairclough, was brought on to make a major impact on games during Liverpool’s glory years in the 70s and 80s.
Some players resent entering the action for as little as ten minutes, however for the likes of David Fairclough and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, they valued and contributed for every minute they had on the pitch.
Perfecting the timing and impact of substitutions is something all managers and coaches the world over are trying to perfect. From my experience you sometimes get a gut feeling prior to the game about a certain player who can perform that role for that day’s game. As the game goes on your feeling becomes stronger, and when you’re thinking about a change, your first thought is towards that particular player.
You have to make that judgement call as you see fit, and that’s where your staff and even the players on the bench can sometimes influence your decision as to which player you’re going to substitute and which player you’re going send on as the replacement. Having someone on the bench that you trust and believe in can be like having an extra card up your sleeve.
When substitutions do bring rewards, you can praise the manager for their reading of the game and their decisiveness in changing the set-up, or you can choose to criticise them for getting the tactics wrong from the outset. The very best coaches are those who are willing to adapt, change and be decisive in order to shape the story of the game.
Pinpointing the reasoning as to why top teams can capitulate in major games isn’t clear. Is it nerves, fatigue, concentration or a lack of tactical understanding?
Whatever it is, if we had the answer, I’m sure all these top teams and managers wouldn’t lose games of this magnitude in such soul-destroying circumstances.
I do, however, believe there are some coaches and managers who wouldn’t have lost any of the games mentioned in this article. In my opinion, Jose Mourinho is one of those. His attention to detail is so obsessive that he would’ve protected the lead his team had. He has the ability to make the right call at the right time, which is often a substitution, tactical adjustment or a change to the team’s game style. Mourinho is the best I’ve seen at seeing games out from a winning position.
It leads on to an interesting debate as to whether or not coaches need to dedicate more time to studying the issues around tactical adjustment when their team is in the ascendency?
Here are some of the issues to consider:
Tactical game styleCould those teams who surrendered winning advantages have approached the latter stages of the game any differently? Was there a point in the game where they could’ve started to turn the opposition, encouraging their strikers to work down the sides of the opposing defenders, whilst at the same time ensuring the maintenance of team shape, organisation and individual discipline.
Chasing the gameIn my opinion, some teams in the ascendency try and score again too early with the players getting carried away with the fact that they’re in a winning position. Those teams that gain a lead but also remain disciplined and organised often frustrate the opposition further. The onus is then on the opposition to try and do something out of the ordinary to get back into the game. As the opposition commit more numbers and energy into their attacks, greater opportunities to pick-off the opposition arise.
Individual and collective disciplinePlayers must avoid giving away cheap and unnecessary free-kicks and corners or accumulating needless red and yellow cards, all of which can contribute to the dramatic outcome of games.
Similarly, coaches should help players understand the impact of picking up injuries, some of which can be avoided through responsible play.
MentalityPlayers must learn how to make better decisions and recognise the state of the game, coping with every eventuality that could occur. Sir Clive Woodward’s words resonate:
“The mental side of sport is massive. Before setting off to Australia for the 2003 World Cup I said that the competition would be won in the head. It isn’t necessarily the best team or group with the most talented players that wins games, but the team that can think correctly under pressure."
Crucially, all players must learn that when your opponents are having a good spell of possession, which all teams do in virtually every game, they have a responsibility to work hard to stay in the contest, because the tide will turn around in the game in due course.
Some implications for coaches to consider are:
- adaptability
- choice of team shape
- personnel
- the opposition
- state of the game
- coaches view
- tactical fouls
- technical and positional requirements
- injuries
- officials/decisions
- tactical/technical needs
- the initiative of the coach
- strategies/tactics for critical periods in the game.
This article was first published in The Boot Room magazine in April 2014. Article image courtesy of Dave Shopland/BPI/REX/Shutterstock.
