Players.bio is a large online platform sharing the best live coverage of your favourite sports: Football, Golf, Rugby, Cricket, F1, Boxing, NFL, NBA, plus the latest sports news, transfers & scores. Exclusive interviews, fresh photos and videos, breaking news. Stay tuned to know everything you wish about your favorite stars 24/7. Check our daily updates and make sure you don't miss anything about celebrities' lives.

Contacts

  • Owner: SNOWLAND s.r.o.
  • Registration certificate 06691200
  • 16200, Na okraji 381/41, Veleslavín, 162 00 Praha 6
  • Czech Republic

A pragmatic manager doubted by fans? They often win the World Cup

Six games, no wins and just two goals from open play: England’s form in the Nations League does not make pretty reading, especially in a World Cup year. With each disappointing performance, more focus has turned on manager Gareth Southgate. It’s possible to create a bingo sheet from the criticisms of the England manager, accusing him of being unable to manage the talents at his disposal, being too ponderous during matches and relying too heavily on certain players. Oh, not to forget the pièce de résistance: Southgate’s conservatism.

While it’s fair to criticise the team for a lack of creativity this year, pragmatism is not such a bad approach in international football. In fact, a look back at major tournaments in recent decades suggests it might even be a strength. It might be at odds with the free-flowing, attacking teams that regularly hoover up silverware in the club game, but winning a World Cup is a different thing entirely.

The obvious reason is that international managers simply do not have the same time to spend with players. The carefully choreographed presses and slick attacking interchanges used to such devastating effect by the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool just are not possible for national teams to replicate. It’s a problem plenty of managers grapple with.

“At club level, you have 60 sessions pre-season to prepare for your first game,” said Belgium boss Roberto Martínez in a new book, How to Win the World Cup. “It’s accepting that I couldn’t work in the same manner because at international level we have five camps every year, so it’s not the same as meeting the players every day.”

Such restrictions naturally lead to sides prioritising the basics and being hard to beat is the first building block

Read more on theguardian.com