Championship will be another rollercoaster
THERE will be at least a couple of new managers in the Championship next season with Vincent Kompany Burnley-bound and Rob Edwards the latest through a revolving door at Watford. What can they expect in this division? A mad scramble.
You never know from one week to the next what is going to happen. Consistency isn’t there for any team. You watch a strong performance and expect a good result the next time out but, bang, it goes. You can never take anything for granted.
Fulham and Bournemouth finished in the top two with 90 and 88 points. Both had blips through the season but the key was how quickly they bounced back. You will have hiccups so you need strong characters to make sure you recover.
Other teams, including Stoke, couldn’t do that often enough. Stoke were able to match some of the better sides but they got sucked into a rut between January and March and couldn’t find a way to win games when they were playing well, never mind grind out results when they weren’t.
QPR were going great guns but fell away in a similar fashion, West Brom started well and faded, Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest had awful starts and surged up.
You need strength in depth because it’s a long season and you will get injuries and dips in form for individuals. You might see a player turn out six or 7/10 performances for a run but when it drops to a four or 5/10 you have to have a replacement ready.
The first challenge for the relegated clubs will be to keep their better players. I wouldn’t want to play in the Championship. If you’ve done your best consistently you should want to stay in the Premier League.
Let’s be honest, most Premier League players won’t give the Championship a second thought until the time comes when they’re staring it in the face. It’s the top flight that has the TV cameras and the headlines.
When you look at what you’ve got left in your squad after that, you’ve got to look at why you’ve got relegated – but also realise the gulf between the Premier League and Championship. Players who weren’t good enough to keep you up might still be good enough in the second tier, especially because your club will be less attractive in the transfer market. It is easy to spend money to make a squad worse. Do not waste time and resources bringing in players of lesser talent. The key is to look after your backbone first and foremost. You’ve got to get the right type who suit your DNA.
It’s easy to look back at Stoke’s successful spine and how much teams hated to go up against Begovic, Huth, Shawcross, Whelan, Walters and Crouch. You can fill around them nicely and know that those players will be your heartbeat, setting standards and the tempo, at each other’s throats if something isn’t right. You need players front and centre who do not go hiding in matches.
The biggest lesson learnt by Stoke and Burnley must be never to stand still. Did either side invest well enough in their squads when they were stable? Pep Guardiola has just won the Premier League with 99 goals and gone out and bought one of the best players in the world.
Stoke should have been finding the next Whelan while Whelan was still in his prime.
It is tempting for managers and recruitment people to overcomplicate things and forget that it’s all about how you score a goal and how you defend a goal. It’s about creating space, exploiting space and denying space.
I look at the teams set up by Conte and Mourinho and the work they inspire off the ball is incredible. They have teams who make things happen, not wait for things to happen. When Stoke came down we had too many players waiting for something to happen.
You need fire in the belly of a player who doesn’t accept second best and tells his team-mates where to be. That’s where good scouting comes in. Anyone can spot a technically good player, it’s finding the right characters, right fit to build on that’s difficult.
It’s all right coming short for the ball, it’s the ones who get in behind who take hard work. Mourinho would go berserk on the touchline if his side lost possession and didn’t get back quickly. It’s the same going the other way to attack with speed.
You don’t need world beaters in the Championship but the principles are the same. You need players who are ready to run and work. You need to be ruthless on and off the pitch. You need to have thick skin and a clear plan. It will be a rollercoaster ride again next season so make sure you’re ready.