Why team-mates’ bust-ups can help clear the air
For weeks I was telling Arbeloa to stop thinking he was Cafu, bombing forward and jogging back
How many of us genuinely like everyone we work with? I imagine the experience in any industry or office where you are forced to spend large amounts of time with colleagues is you get on professionally with the majority, become friends with others, barely speak to some more and cannot stand the sight of an irritating few.
The world of a professional footballer is no different. It is shocking when you see an altercation such as that between Aston Villa’s Anwar El Ghazi and Tyrone Mings against West Ham. But given the environment in which the top players operate and the pressure they are under, it is also reassuring how rare such serious incidents are.
Michael Owen’s social media spat with Alan Shearer following revelations in his autobiography underlined the simmering tensions which exist at every football club. Fans love it because it offers a glimpse into the office politics they recognise. Conflict means drama, and it is unusual seeing two people you imagine to be mates having a go at each other. In an emotional sport such as football, where so many opinions are divided and the stakes are so high, you are bound to have these high-profile feuds.
It is illogical to believe it possible to have a squad agreeing on every team selection, the quality of signings or managerial decision over the course of a season, or in many cases a multi-year career. It is a tribute to the discipline at most Premier League clubs that we only tend to hear some of the juiciest bits of gossip regarding internal bust-ups and players who hated each other long after the event, usually when the memoirs are published.
Coaches are equipped to manage personalities as much as work on team tactics. That is why fans and media lap it up when the mask slips and the dirty linen is aired publicly, or players start to go at each other like Lee Bowyer exchanging punches with Kieron Dyer during their Newcastle days, or Andy Cole saying he had no time for Teddy Sheringham when they were strike partners at Manchester United.
There are all kinds of rivalries within a football team of any level. Everyone gossips about each other behind their back – just as in any workplace – not to be disrespectful but because we are all fans wanting the best for the club as much as our careers. When Michael Owen and I first broke into the Liverpool side, we were room-mates and would spend hours on away trips discussing who we did and did not rate, or who we thought the manager should sell and keep. It was exactly the same type of chat supporters will have on their way to a match. The same conversations will be going on in team hotels across the country this weekend. Michael was convinced that Steve Mcmanaman was always looking to pass to Robbie Fowler more than him, the pair being such good friends. I would hear all about it in the hotel room.
I have my own high-profile experience of a public fall-out with a team-mate. I was demanding on the pitch and enjoyed my share of running battles with rival managers and players, yet it is an altercation with a colleague, Alvaro
Arbeloa, which is often remembered as much as my yelling at Jose Mourinho. Like all such incidents, that did not come about because of a single moment – in that case against West Bromwich Albion in 2009. It was the build-up of tension which led to my explosion of rage when our right-back failed to offer the necessary cover at the far post as we protected a 2-0 lead.
For weeks I was telling Arbeloa to stop thinking he was Cafu because he was bombing forward to support our attack and jogging back to help his centre-backs. Enough was enough and I could contain my irritation no more, so I shouted in his face and gave him a hefty shove. Cue the headlines, far more of a furore because it was team-mates squaring up to each other rather than opponents. We shook hands after the match and there was no lingering animosity. In fact, although it did not look great on television and it would have been preferable to keep feelings behind the closed doors of the dressing room, it was an example of how it can do more good than harm to get differences off your chest. A line was immediately drawn under it.
Early in my career I was involved in a furious row with Brad Friedel, unhappy with his contribution after a 1-1 draw against Southampton, and there were times in training when I would go into tackles with greater force if a team-mate wound me up. I once put Rigobert Song on the Melwood turf because I heard him laughing upon hearing I had been called into the England squad.
Gerard Houllier did not mind so long as the players moved on. Rafa Benitez even encouraged these occasional feisty moments as he felt it built the character of some players who were not mentally tough enough. The more issues fester, the more you are parking the problem for a later date.
The disagreement earlier this season between Liverpool strikers Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah comes into the same category. There is no way Mane lost his head solely because he did not receive a few passes against Burnley. His frustration will have been gathering for months, ensuring it only needed a trigger to bring it into the open. Jurgen Klopp is not a manager who allows his players to dwell on any negative issue, so I suspect he will have discussed it with both players. Ironically, I felt Mane was too unselfish in the Champions League game against Napoli in midweek, trying to pass to Salah when he should have gone alone.
So long as these disagreements are isolated and issues swiftly resolved, they do not cause a problem. Where managers do become wary is if cliques form, sides are taken and personalities clash to such an extreme it becomes detrimental to the unity and spirit within the camp. The Liverpool managers I worked under would never let that occur.
After the Mings/el Ghazi spat, I heard some pundits suggest these incidents “happen on the training ground every week”. They do not and it would be a disciplinary problem if that was the case. Equally, it would be strange if footballers who see each other every day did not have the occasional release of tension. Managers are trying to build a team from the best talent, not best friends.