KEANE TO HAIL MY UNSUNG HEROES
And English coaches are making a comeback, too!
IT WAS the season of the superstar managers, with Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, Jurgen Klopp and Antonio Conte all embarking on their first full campaigns. And then came the superstar players in Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. But in a season in which the big-money signings such as Pogba, Granit Xhaka and John Stones didn’t exactly shine, some less-heralded players have been thriving. And whilst Conte was superb and foreign managers remain the musthave accessory for the leading clubs, a small revival of English coaching may be under way
MICHAEL KEANE
HE is not as good on the ball as John Stones but he’s making better decisions, so, overall, he’s a better defender. I love that he’s looking over his shoulder every few seconds. That’s something I used to get my defenders to do. Defending is all about positioning and once you lose sight of your man or the ball, you’ll be caught out. It’s no coincidence he’s so often in the right position. He has strength as well and showed for England that he can bring the ball out. It’s interesting to see the big clubs lining up to sign him, including his old club, Manchester United. A player still isn’t developed enough at 22, which is when Keane left United for Burnley. And sometimes clubs can neglect the development of a young player once he’s filling a first-team spot and let him learn on the job. But that doesn’t seem to have happened at Burnley. He’s had the best combination of first-team experience and a coaching staff who have continued to develop his game.
GYLFI SIGURDSSON
IT is no surprise to see Sigurdsson linked with a return to Tottenham. Outside of the top six, he is the player with the best technique and creativity. In a struggling Swansea team, he’s made 13 assists and scored nine, he’s a wonderful freekick specialist and can play with both feet. When he left Tottenham he had been playing on the lefthand side of a 4- 4- 2 and you’re never going to get the best out of him. Now he’s a much better player than he was three years ago. In fact, he would be perfect for Tottenham in the system they play, with Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen. He could play left, right and central. Paul Clement will have to do everything he can to keep him at Swansea because so many clubs will be interested in him.
VIRGIL VAN DIJK
THIS is one defender who is surely going to be at a topsix club next season. He suffered a cruel injury for the second half of the season but was excellent prior to that. Sometimes English clubs have been unsure about signing players from Scotland. But that rule applies more to strikers, who will get a lot more chances in Scotland, so it’s hard to judge their goals tally. Victor Wanyama and now Van Dijk have shown that a good defen- sive player in Scotland will be a good defensive player anywhere. They may be up against better opponents in England but positioning and ability to read the game doesn’t change, whatever the level. You’re there to destroy rather than create and then it’s easier to see. Van Dijk has made the transition superbly well at Southampton and will doubtless earn his move.
MY PLAYER OF THE YEAR
PEOPLE forget Harry Kane was out for six weeks in the autumn and four weeks in the spring. He’s played 28 full games, one as a sub and scored 26 goals. He’s had t o overcome those ankle injuries but has the mental strength to come through and return to great form. And he’s on course to win the Golden Boot again. His attitude, movement and finishing have been world class. Eden Hazard is a beautiful creator and would be on my list, while N’Golo Kante has had a wonderful season but he’s a destroyer. Creating chances or scoring them is the hardest thing. Kane’s done that for three straight seasons. Tottenham’s challenge now is to keep him.
THE ENGLISH ARE COMING
THERE may not be many of them but it’s been an interesting year for English managers in the Premier League. We started the season with four and ended it with six! Sam Allardyce, Sean Dyche, Craig Shakespeare, Paul Clement, Eddie Howe and Steve Agnew.
Allardyce did an excellent job keeping Crystal Palace up and Dyche has done superbly well at Burnley to take them back into the Premier League and to keep them there. And credit to the Burnley board, who have looked to the long term by sticking by him when they went down in 2015.
Shakespeare has surely done enough to keep the job at Leicester City, despite Thursday’s 6-1 defeat by Tottenham. I’ve been impressed with the way he’s got the team playing since taking over from Claudio Ranieri. There was a lot more cohesion about the way they set up away from home at Atletico Madrid than there was with Ranieri’s team when they played in Seville. And the changes he made, which put Atletico, one of the best sides in the world, on the back foot in the second half of the quarter-final at the King Power Stadium were the mark of a smart and bold coach.
But the two English managers I’ve enjoyed watching most have been Clement and Howe. There are different ways of staying up in the Premier League and traditionally as coaches we’ve tended to favour playing a 4-4-2, squeezing up and hitting a big man up front. Clement and Howe have embraced a style of play that wouldn’t be out of place in a top-six team and used it as template to keep a team up. It’s important that message is communicated because otherwise people think there is only one way to survive outside of the elite.
Bournemouth went through a horrible spell in January and February where they didn’t win in the top flight for eight games. But Howe stayed firm to his principles and believed in the ability of his team and they came through that run. The same happened at Swansea: Clement came in and they had a great run to pull themselves away from the bottom. But then, in March and the beginning of April, they hit a wall and they couldn’t find a win. You wondered whether he might stick another man up front with Fernando Llorente, smash it long and play survival football. In the first half at Manchester United last month, they started with a diamond and outplayed Jose Mourinho’s team, who had to change their system to match them. That’s a huge credit to Paul.
I should also say a word about a manager from the Republic of Ireland, too — though he’ll always be a Cockney to me. Chris Hughton was a team-mate for 13 years and was part of my coaching staff at Tottenham and is now, again, back in the Premier League. He thinks he has a great group of players at Brighton. This is a manager who has been treated unfairly in the past after taking Newcastle and Norwich up. This time he has a chairman who believes in him in Tony Bloom and who stuck by him last year when they lost in the playoffs. This time I hope he is able to show his coaching ability in the Premier League.