Which is the best style manager in our position?

[JonShar]

Preface: I love Rafa.

 

Reason for thoughts: Tonight was the first time it's crossed my mind that maybe he's lost his way a bit, mainly with the Gerrard substitution right after conceding.

 

Tactician: Rafa is obviously that guy - very astute, extremely knowledgeable and analytical.

 

Motivator: Sammy Lee would be a good example I reckon.

 

I genuinely believe that to a point, a tactician is the most effective of the two - but once you get a certain level of quality within a team, tactics take a back seat to motivation. Sure tactics play a part, but maybe 50/50, and the players gain the belief that their on-pitch intelligence is trusted.

 

I think so far the tactician side has gotten us to this point, where we're challenging for the league in January and still in the Champions League & F.A. Cup.

 

But I think this is the time that we need the motivator. I'm still convinced that we haven't been playing particularly well for a couple of months now, and the Bolton/Newcastle performances were down to the motivation and positivity of Sammy Lee, letting the players get on with it.

 

Thoughts?

[Nebraska Red]

something is definitely not right in the dressing room.

 

we have too many quality players not doing enough, or not being allowed to do enough, to help this team.

 

the current malaise is eerily similar to the Houllier era where the players seemed to lose focus and faith in the tactics required by the manager.

 

some of them come across as being somewhat lazy and expecting Gerrard to pull the proverbial rabbit out of his hat to save the day in every game.

 

someone needs to get the players back on track and it may have to be Sammy Lee.

[Stevie H]

ideally it's a mixture of the two, obviously.

[Saintslfc13]

I said it in the match thread and I'll say it again. Too many times this season have we gone 1-0 up only for our players to decide thats all we need and stop playing. We've seen many a game where we completely dominate the opposition for the first 20-45 minutes then completely change and look disinterested. I don't think you can necessarily blame Rafa for the sudden change in attitude of the team in those games. That lineup he put out today was good enough to beat Wigan and an on form Torres would have put us ahead early on. We created and controlled the game for the opening period, only to go soft in the second half and invite pressure on ourselves.

 

 

Now I don't know if Rafa tells our players to stop attacking, but it would be pretty daft giving our current record of giving away dodgy set pieces (and for today a peno) in the last ten minutes, therefore I'm willing to bet he doesn't. We sent an unchanged side out there for the second half, but the attitude and attacking intent was MASSIVELY different.

 

It comes a point when the bottle, and desire of the players has to be called into question. I will admit though that Rafa's sub of Gerrard for Keane was daft. The only thing I can think is maybe he was trying to show confidence in Keane by having him come on for our best player. Gerrard is the one player who KNOWS he's good regardless of if he's rested after scoring a hat trick or not, therefore it's a low risk move to take him off because the guy doesn't lose confidence in himself. If we had more players with Gerrard's attitude we'd have converted a good portion of those draws into wins. Torres is another one like him, but hasn't been able to really go this season, because of the injury woes.

 

The reason we have Sammy Lee is to motivate the players to give it their all for the club, the reason we have Rafa is to place our players in the best position to win football matches.

[CaptainXabi]

In England, I think the best is to have a motivator with a strong number 2 who's a tactician. There's about 5 matches a year in the PL that require a heavy tactical influence. The rest are about motivation and stamping ones authority on the opposition.

[_00_deathscar]

something is definitely not right in the dressing room.

 

we have too many quality players not doing enough, or not being allowed to do enough, to help this team.

 

the current malaise is eerily similar to the Houllier era where the players seemed to lose focus and faith in the tactics required by the manager.

 

some of them come across as being somewhat lazy and expecting Gerrard to pull the proverbial rabbit out of his hat to save the day in every game.

 

someone needs to get the players back on track and it may have to be Sammy Lee.

 

I know it isn't the point you were trying to make - more about the supposed 'motivation levels' of the squad, but back then we were languishing in 5th place, miles behind the leaders.

 

Today, we're 2 points behind, although the c**** have a game in hand.