Koeman

We should send him the highlights.

 

He would do what Redknapp did with Bale at Spurs and come out with "We always knew we had something special there."

 

I still like Koeman. I think it was right that we parted company when we did. Hesketh illustrates one reason. The other is Everton going out of the cup because as the tweet in post #21 above says, he tinkered with the back four.

By comparison, Claude's tactics were spot on last night. We did not play any youngsters in the back four. We used four people we knew were capable of keeping a clean sheet in front of a goalkeeper that clearly has the confidence of the defence (evidenced by the number times we passed back to him). The only real risk was in midfield where we had the lightest / shortest midfield I can ever remember seeing in red and white stripes. But with two good forwards and a solid defence, they grew in confidence as the night went on. JWP deserves special credit for marshalling the midfield last night.

 

Was that before or after he had sent him up the M1 to go on loan to Forest?

 

The sequence of events was:

plan to send him to Forest on loan.
Injuries put pay to that so had to play him at left wing.
Series of great performances on left wing
Harry states "We always knew what we had there."

In the space of a month Bale went from a left back Harry didn't want to a left winger that Harry had always known had the talent.

 

Article from the Times today on Koeman. Well worth a read. The piece in bold italics is relevant to the discussion on his treatment of the Academy lads.

It is odd to relate given the two clubs’ respective league positions that many of Southampton’s players were pleased to see the back of Ronald Koeman after his departure to Everton this summer, although that may say more about them than him. The Dutchman’s distant and detached manner had begun to grate with a group accustomed to almost perpetual change in the dugout at St Mary’s, and his farewell did not cause much anguish.

Koeman achieved outstanding results in guiding Southampton to seventh and sixth respectively in the Premier League in two seasons at the club, and has started even better at Everton, where he appears to be a classic example of the right man at the right time. The same characteristics that had begun to alienate some on the south coast, and have contributed to his 11 different jobs in a 19-year coaching career, have been hailed at Goodison Park as a much-needed antidote to Roberto Martínez’s failed reign.

Koeman’s great advantage in his new job is that he is the polar opposite of his predecessor and he has made the most of the contrast, whether by accident or design. In terms of personality, methodology, training sessions and attitudes to discipline, the 53-year-old could not be more different from Martínez, whose relationship with and credibility in the dressing room was fractured months before he was finally sacked at the end of last season.

“Seniority and authority are his watchwords,” explained one source at the club yesterday, who did not need to point out the obvious contrast with Martínez’s touchy-feely regime. With four wins and a draw from five Premier League matches ahead of what should be another winnable fixture away to Bournemouth today, Everton’s players have clearly responded to change.

Koeman has wasted little time in establishing his authority at the club, helped by his formidable reputation as a great player for Holland and Barcelona. “He has an aura, a swagger about him,” as one member of staff at Everton put it. “The players are too young to remember his own career, but have probably seen some of his free kicks on YouTube.”

The Finch Farm training ground has been transformed, with Martínez’s holiday camp replaced by a boot camp. Koeman’s first act upon taking charge was to bring forward the start of pre-season training by a week, a move that set the tone for much of what has followed. Training takes place an hour earlier than under Martínez and discipline is more rigorously enforced, with late-comers immediately fined.

A raft of new rules and regulations have been introduced, including banning mobile phones, caps and head phones from the team coach, while strict times have been put in place for compulsory team meals. On home match days the players must arrive at Goodison Park at 11.30am for a 3pm kick-off and be sitting down for lunch in the players’ lounge at 12pm.

Koeman is a believer in hierarchy, so the players are not permitted to begin eating until he has done so, more often than not prefaced by him uttering the words “buon appetito”. He has also made it clear that the first team is his overwhelming priority, to the extent that academy players are not permitted to use the gym at the same time as first-teamers.

Koeman has a similar approach to training and match preparations, with only the players who can help him at that precise moment of any interest to him. Only the 18-strong match-day squad are invited to the tactical meetings that follow lunch, with any injured or suspended players encouraged to spend time with their families. There has also been a conscious attempt to de-clutter the dressing room on match days, with the medical team, physios and kit men sent away.
Only those personnel Koeman regards as integral to Everton’s match-day preparations, his brother Erwin, coaches Duncan Ferguson, John Ebbrell and David Unsworth, and Jan Kluitenberg, the fitness coach, are permitted to change in the dressing room.

In other circumstances some players would resent what could be seen as an authoritarian, occasionally divisive approach, but there is a sense at Everton that it has been much needed. Several players, including Ross Barkley and the now departed John Stones, have privately admitted that they felt they were going backwards under Martínez.

Kluitenberg is understood to have been horrified by the players’ fitness levels when he took charge of his first session in pre-season, telling Koeman that they would start the season a month behind their rivals if drastic action was not taken, and consequently training has been toughened up considerably. There has also been a greater focus on nutrition, with cakes and biscuits banned from the canteen, and the recovery and gym sessions, voluntary under Martínez, now compulsory.

The focus of the sessions has also changed, with far more time spent working on set pieces and team shape than under Martínez. Much of the training is conducted by Erwin Koeman, with the manager preferring the old-school approach of limiting his involvement, albeit mixed with the new-school one of speaking to his players on an individual basis.

Although he generally talks to them less than Martínez — and certainly praises them less — Koeman does make time for his players. While many would not feel comfortable approaching him, Koeman has sought them out when he has felt it necessary, with Barkley believed to have had several private chats with the manager, particularly after he was substituted at half-time against Sunderland this month. As a result of his more taciturn manner, when Koeman does speak, the players tend to listen.

Despite this top-down approach, Koeman is not a football obsessive, and makes sure that his management team and the players have plenty of days off. Unlike many of his Premier League peers, he rarely stays at the training ground after 5pm, and is content to delegate plenty of responsibilities. Above all, his pragmatism shines through, and his methods clearly bring results, at least in the short term.

The biggest question for Koeman is whether the initial bounce can be sustained, particularly when their fixtures become more difficult next month, when they face Manchester City and Chelsea in the space of four games. The lack of European football is likely to help in the Premier League and may enable him to continue relying on a core group of players, although that brings the risk of others becoming alienated.

Everton may already be wondering how long they can keep hold of Koeman, as Arsenal are long-term admirers and his record of never having stayed in one job for more than four years (he has stayed for longer than two years on only two occasions) is a cause for concern. The test for both parties is whether an excellent impact manager can build on the strong foundations he has already laid.

 

"He has also made it clear that the first team is his overwhelming priority, to the extent that academy players are not permitted to use the gym at the same time as first-teamers."

And that one line is why Koeman, in the long run, was never the right man for us. Sure he got results, but he wasn't a club manager interested in the long term prospects of the club.

 

"He has also made it clear that the first team is his overwhelming priority, to the extent that academy players are not permitted to use the dugout at the same time as first-teamers."

teehee

 

That was a lot of words to say, "Lying Dutchman"

 

The first team is the main priority, but at Saints the youngsters are important as the future of the club. Koeman concentrates on the first team because he sees them as a reflection of himself and the yardstick of his success....and he is a bit on the lazy side....he won't expend effort on youngsters when the reward for that may only be seen by his successor. Nothing wrong with delegating per se, but that also points to underlying laziness and disinterest. And we all know about his frequent trips abroad.

The article says he is not a football obsessive...may make him a rounded personality with a good work/life balance, but I preferred Adkins and Poch who were genuinely interested in the Academy and club as a whole. Do you remember how the first team would be there watching the kids during Adkins time....that must have made them feel good and try harder. We used to have a system of attaching a youngster to a first team player (who plays the same position)....I wonder if that is still in force. Disinterest in anyone who doesn't directly serve you suggests that Koeman isn't as nice a person as he may appear on the surface.

Can't finish without being fair to the man....he stabilised us when Poch left and we had some great times during his tenure, but he isn't a complete fit for us. I hope Puel is the bees knees, but I will be happy if we have a decent season and he gets us back on track in bringing the youngsters through.

 

Catching up on what happened whilst I was away....found this picture (which you must have all seen), but worth repeating as it sums up our modus operandi which Koeman never bought into.

 

So when's Jake off to arsenal then?

 

Keep up Archers, it's Liverpool now

 

They don't buy youngsters do they? Only senior players who score against them.

 

Sorry. I stand corrected. We'd better not play Hesketh against them, just in case. If we do, his fee is on the back of his shirt, just to make things simple for them.

 

To make it really simple, perhaps we should have barcodes rather than squad numbers.

 

So that's what's been going on all this time - the whole shirt has been one red and white barcode...!
Does that make Oxlade-Chamberlain exceptional (he was sold during the year of the sash right?)

 

good to see that stupid fat ginger hobbit dropping points at the weekend.

 

not a fan then ?