D-DAY BUYS JUST SHOW BAD MANAGEMENT
THE key to any successful title race is staying calm under pressure. And the key to staying calm? Stop bringing the pressure on unnecessarily!
It’s a little bit absurd that people are already talking about “can’t lose” games, about crucial moments in the fight between Liverpool, Manchester City and Spurs. Absurd and stupid.
There are still 14 games to go.
A few weeks ago in this column, I said there are so many twists and turns to come. And what happened? City lost, Liverpool drew.
And there are more to come.
So, to treat it like it’s all or nothing now, that can only ruin you. People have asked me how my former club Liverpool should deal with the pressure they’re finding themselves under – and the answer is simple. You can’t think the title is on the line in the next game.
Of course, they will be a bit anxious because they’ve not been here before. But, as someone who has been there in a race – though we lost out a couple of times
– I can say you get two more months before it gets truly decisive.
No one is winning the title in the next four or five games. When I look at the pivotal games the team I played in had, they were always with four or five matches to go.
We lost at Anfield in April ’97 to Manchester United with four matches to go.
Win that and we’d probably have won the title. That’s decisive. That’s pressure. Not now, not with a third of the season to go. At this stage, you don’t think about May, you don’t think about the trophy.
You have to put all that out of your mind as a player and just go and continue to do what you’ve been doing.
We could see the Anfield crowd was anxious on Wednesday night against Leicester – and it’s human nature for the players to pick up on that and be affected by it. You could feel it, nervous players trying abnormal things. Looking for the miracle ball, shooting from bad angles instead of keeping the same patterns and systems. It’s where the manager and coaches come in, where they earn their big money.
Yes, they pick their best
team, but need to sign players on January 31, then, as a club, you’re really not doing your job properly.
These days, with coaches having pretty complex systems that players have to learn, you need as long as possible to integrate a new signing into the team.
So that means January is not then they have to ensure that team plays with confidence and fluency. How?
I’ve had a few examples in my time. When we had the run to the Champions League final in 2007, Rafa Benitez would stick with his plans. He’d be thorough in every game, giving us the detail of what the opposition do, what we had to do.
There was no room for talking about the bigger picture. Just “this is your job, do it”. With Rafa, you know what you get – a blizzard of tactics and no chance of thinking about anything else!
And that’s right. If a team starts wandering mentally, the coach has to bring them back hard. He can’t let them go outside the plan.
Gerard Houllier was the same when we went to three finals. We had three decisive games in a week – in the last week. It was all about the focus. The dressing room has to come into it, too. In 2001, I was one of the more senior lads and I’d be taking the p***, telling jokes, playing pranks. You create a relaxed atmosphere.
It’s a huge thing, keeping the same mentality. Of course there will be pressure, but that comes later.
Liverpool have an issue with the fact it’s been so long since they won the title – that creates an anxiety among the fans. But that history is not this team’s fault. The supporters must remember that. really a time for signing players at all and is just for emergencies.
And, if you have an emergency and need someone that desperately, then you needed him four weeks ago, not on the very last day of the window! These days, it will take months to settle in, so, by the time a player is up and running, the end of the season is nearing. Basically, it’s bad management bringing in players so late, and anyone who has that publicity photo with the player and the scarf at midnight...
Well, to put it politely, you may as well have a big board behind, saying, “This club is s***!”