一篇我100%同意的分析 (係真係100%, 完全地同意)
好想知道呢個問題會唔會有解決嘅一日....
To me it's simple.
Kenny is the same kind of manager that Stevie is a captain. The problem is that both have reached such a high level as players with natural talent (as well as hard work) that they expect those around them to push themselves and develop the same kind of ability they had. I see the same thing in Mancini. And a manager like that is exactly what you need when your team is full of world class talent - in fact its arguable that its ONLY a manager like that who can manage a collection of egos that big. But put them in charge of lesser lights and they will fail. Their natural response to seeing inferior players is not to cajole them or encourage them along its bewilderment, disgust, anger. (真係睇過好多次, 留意下d miss chance之後daglish個表情....)
Kenny's natural inclination is to trust the players, as he would trust himself, to play with heart, nerve and game intelligence. We saw the results at the end of last season. The reason it worked because all of those players were tactically flexible, able to adjust to difffering conditions, different positions, different instructions.
Why? Because they were signed by Rafa.
For me it's as plain as day that the huge difference between Commolli's signings and Rafas is not their talent but their degree of tactical flexibility. Take Lucas for example, as well as DM can play CM, CAM or anywhere across the back line. Using a 'moneyball' approach to the game we have identified players who excel at one particular aspect of their game. Want to create more chances? Sign the top chance creators from last season. Want more pace from your wing backs? Sign the fastest wing back according to the sprint tests etc.
The natural corollary of this however is that when something is slightly awry, these specialist players are not able to adapt their game and end up being worse than an average player who is nevertheless generally decent at everything else. Enrique - can only play in one position in one way. Same for Carroll. Same for Adam. What this produces is an amazing team that will crush the opposition when everything is perfect and everything clicks into place - a team of flat track bullies. But it also produces a team that is incredibly brittle and will go off the rails if you throw in injury (Lucas/Stevie), suspension (Suarez) or poor form (Downing). That's why buying 'a natrural finisher' is not the answer for me - we will certainly win a hell of a lot more games but the underlying brittleness will still be there.
This is why we havent come close to putting together a run of form this season when we managed to under Kenny last season. It's why we havent managed to coach Carroll to better performances when Kenny has coached Shearer to a world class level. It's why one of the most nerveless strikers I have ever seen is masterminding a team that looked as though it had had a mental breakdown against a bottom of the table side.
The underlying problem is that we are buying super-specialists and asking them to play like generalists.
But what is the point of utilising a manager who trusts the players to go out and play their own game to prove that they're the best players in the league when those players don't believe it themselves? How will Kenny's management style help Downing who doesn't play like he believes he is the best in the league? Or Carroll? Or Adam who is already aware of what a massive step up he is making? These type of players don't have teh arrogance and intelligence of a Bellamy or Suarez (who have flouirished under Kenny's approach). They need to have their games analysed and thgen told what to do in minute detail then be forced to do it in training day after day until they either become super confident or develop the skills themselves at a high enough level. If the players don't believe in themselves they need to be dictated to - trusting them is the wrong approach. That's where Wenger has gone wrong in recent years with his youth policy. On the other side of the coin its why Hodgson utterly failed at Liverpool - drilling Rafa's squad (which contained world class talent) with basic though detailed instructions was completely the wrong approach for them. Ironically what we have bought now is essentially a Hodgson team but just with better attributes than he could normally afford.
I think that Kenny IS the right man for the job in the right circumstances but that currently he is being set up to fail because of our incongruous recruitment policy. Similarly I think Commolli is the right man for the job in the right circumstances but is being set up to fail by a manager who has a completely different view of the game.
We need to make a decision about which direction we want the club to go in because marrying these two different types of philosophies is not working and spending more money in Summer is not going to make it work - just as trying to crowbar multimillion pound signings like Shevchenko or Torres into the Chelsea side didn't work. It's a clash of football ideologies. If we are going to back Kenny we need to back him all the way.
