Unable to go to South Yorkshire today, I was out and about with the kids. I listened to a report of Pompey v Swansea where the reporter described the Swans as "The Arsenal of The Championship". Not an original line but nevertheless probably an apt description.
Swansea outplayed us at the start of the season, playing the ball through and around our midfield, time after time. Clearly they have a manager/coach who believes in playing football the right way.
Is there something in the South Wales water which produces extraordinarily talented ball playing professionals who can keep the ball and play it around for fun? Have Swansea got massive scouting resources and a smart way of sniffing out young talent from under the noses of the more illustrious clubs? Do they go out with a big cheque book and pay for truely talented players at a level that most Football League/Championship teams could only start to dream about?
Maybe, just maybe, the manager and his coaching staff are just so f*cking good at their jobs, that they can turn average players into technically gifted ones? Maybe they are tactically astute and able to get their players to follow their instructions to the letter? Maybe they are able to ensure that their players are motivated and focussed to produce quality passing football, week after week after week?
Where as at Sparrows Lane.................................??????
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There are some other examples in the reasonably near past. Fulham with Tigana in charge for example played a passing game.
You do need a cutting edge appropriate to the Division as West Brom have found out this season.
Under Curbs in the old days, with Uncle Les behind the scenes, I felt we had a strong coaching set up. Players like Robinson improved immensely under their watchful eye. It wasn't just a hardworking style, players were coached the right way.
The one of the keys to management/coaching is recognising the extent of the resources at your disposal then deploying them to maximum effect. If you believe in a passing game, you ensure that ethos operates at all levels throughout the club and then you pick the best tactics and the best players at your disposal to make that work to maximum effect within the limitations of the players ablities. What you also do is work on players continuously to refine their skills. When those two things come together, success will follow.
What we have, it seems to me at Charlton, is a Premier League survival mentality now not working correctly in the Championship: namely we have enough money (well until very recently) to go out and look for players that can fit some kind of system because thats seen as expediant, rather than using the players you have and tweaking the system to get the best out of them. What do our coaches currently do? Do they work just on fitness, and complex tactical plays, or do they seek continuously to improve the techniques of players by enthusing them to hone their skills at passing and control.
For me the future is clear. Without the money we need to get back to the idea of players being coached in continuous improvement around a game which sets passing and controls at it's core. We need to find the next Martinez. I've seen nothing in Parky that suggests he is that kind of a manager/coach. I hope, if he stays, that he proves me wrong.
My view at the time was that we should play a passing game and that coaching was the key.
I haven't demurred from that at all.
It is great to see a Charlton team passing the ball.
I highlighted Martinez then during his Swansea days and look what he achieved and continues to achieve now at the Toffees.
So I am going to give a nod to RD to KM for bringing in Big Bob. He is my kind of head coach.
Early days it may be but I am convinced we have to play this way, confident on the ball, passing and moving.
Sadly I fear that England will not progress as a footballing nation until the huff, puff and safety first fearful football is banished and replaced by a brand of play where being in possession and keeping the ball is paramount.