1. Log in now to remove adverts - no adverts at all to registered members!

Marco the tactician

Discussion in 'Hull City' started by greene, Feb 3, 2017.

  1. greene

    greene Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 29, 2011
    Messages:
    382
    Likes Received:
    293
  2. BillyBobBallbag

    BillyBobBallbag Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2011
    Messages:
    2,245
    Likes Received:
    562
  3. greene

    greene Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 29, 2011
    Messages:
    382
    Likes Received:
    293
    Working on it. Someone more technically astute than me might be able to do it faster!
     
    #3
  4. Tigerite

    Tigerite Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 31, 2011
    Messages:
    1,025
    Likes Received:
    751
    #4
    GLP, ElTigre and greene like this.
  5. Walter Sobchak

    Walter Sobchak Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 20, 2013
    Messages:
    4,859
    Likes Received:
    4,095
    Meticulous, methodical and, above all, measured, Marco Silva is not an obvious high‑stakes gambler, but behind the controlled facade lurks a risk taker with a penchant for retrieving supposedly lost causes.

    In other words dysfunctional Hull City could not be a better fit for the bright young coach dubbed the new José Mourinho. Allied to a devotion to sports science, data analysis and intensely micro-managed training sessions, the 39-year-old’s willingness to specialise in saving the careers of players perceived as damaged goods by peers brought him surprising success in Lisbon and Athens.

    Now he is attempting to pull off a similar, if infinitely tougher, feat in East Yorkshire where relegation-threatened Hull have just accrued £20m from the sale of Robert Snodgrass – their star winger – and Jake Livermore while importing seven, mainly loan, signings from abroad.

    Undeterred by Snodgrass’s defection, Mike Phelan’s successor has responded by returning to the template of recruiting gifted but significantly underachieving players that served him so well at Estoril, Sporting Lisbon and Olympiakos. On Wednesday his side drew 0-0 at Manchester United and they entertain Liverpool on Saturday in optimistic mode.

    The new arrivals include Evandro, an attacking midfielder whose career seemingly hung by a thread when Silva brought him to Estoril following a disastrous stint at Red Star Belgrade and was transformed into a star of Portugese football. Then there is Lazar Markovic, a winger signed on loan from Liverpool, and Oumar Niasse, the Senegal striker borrowed from Everton. That pair cost the Merseyside clubs a combined £33.5m before quickly being marginalised but they already appear to be responding to Silva’s excellent man-management and communication skills.

    It helps that having made a concerted effort to learn English during his title‑winning season at Olympiakos he is now fluent and Tom Huddlestone is relishing his message. Sidelined and apparently disillusioned under Phelan, the former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder appears a principal beneficiary of the regime change. “The new manager’s been on the training pitch every day, putting a lot of tactical information into us,” he says.

    “Wherever the ball is on the pitch and whatever system we play we know exactly what is and what isn’t required of us, with and without the ball. With the amount of information he’s put into us there’s no excuses. If you don’t do well now it’s down to a loss of concentration because we know exactly where he wants us to be and when. The lads have bought into that and it’s showing on the pitch. He’s also quite offensive in the way he likes us to play and his gameplans are very good.”

    Like many of the game’s deeper‑thinking coaches, Silva had a modest playing career. Born and bred in Lisbon, he played right‑back for Portugese second- and third‑division clubs including Trofense, Rio Ave, Salgueiros and Estoril. Part of greater Lisbon, Estoril had mostly been most notable for its attractive coastal setting alongside the Atlantic resort of Cascais.

    After retiring at the age of 34, Silva initially became its director of football. With the team struggling, he soon switched roles to head coach, proceeding to startle almost everyone by claiming the second tier title with two unheralded signings, Vagner and Lica, excelling.

    They were part of a group of discards, free transfers and apparent oddballs who, to wholesale astonishment, proceeded to help Estoril to fifth place in the Portugal’s top division and into Europe. The following season, with Evandro outstanding, they finished fourth.

    In Portgual and Greece, Silva’s approach involved his sides cultivating chameleon personalities, enabling them to seamlessly switch systems mid-game and alternate being playing on the counter and forcing the tempo.

    It was no surprise when, three years ago, Silva was poached by Sporting Lisbon and the Taca de Portugal – a sort of Iberian FA Cup – soon arrived. It was followed by his first setback when Sporting brazenly seized an opportunity to hire Jorge Jesus, the high-profile former Benfica coach, by producing a 400‑page document detailing a series of apparent disciplinary breaches on Silva’s part including not wearing the club’s official suit on the touchline.

    Greece beckoned and he duly led Olympiakos to a 43rd title, winning 28 of their 30 games, losing once, and finishing 30 points ahead of Panathinaikos, their principal rivals. Typically, certain players improved radically under his charge with the winger Kostas Fortounis perhaps the prime example.

    There was considerable disappointment when Silva resigned last summer and Carlos Goncalves, his representative, began working the contacts available to him at Portugal’s ProEleven agency as he attempted to relocate his client to England. It did not hurt that Hull’s manager is also a friend of Jorge Mendes, the super agent, but all the indications are that he can offer much more than merely having friends in all the right places.

    “I feel I’m going to keep improving under Marco Silva,” says Andrew Robertson, Hull’s left‑back and the subject of rejected £10m transfer deadline‑day bids.

    “He told us we’d have no days off and he’s not been wrong, but the boys are happy going in every day because we’re all learning a lot under him. All the new boys are hungry and have points to prove and we’re fighting for our lives now. I’m really glad I’m still here and working with this manager.”
     
    #5
  6. GlassHalfHull

    GlassHalfHull Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 23, 2014
    Messages:
    509
    Likes Received:
    371
    Please let it be true. We are just as deserving of success as those teams who have enjoyed it already. Does anyone else feel reminded of the guff written about Andre Villas Boas though?
     
    #6
  7. originallambrettaman

    originallambrettaman Mod Moderator
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jan 24, 2011
    Messages:
    107,537
    Likes Received:
    64,729
    People are tweeting this article and tagging Paul Merson in their tweets. <laugh>
     
    #7
  8. ElTigre

    ElTigre Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 29, 2011
    Messages:
    4,418
    Likes Received:
    1,141
    Silva could so easily have been snapped up by someone else while Ehab was dithering about appointing Phelan. Ehab has finally done something right though. Not everything he touches turns to ****.
     
    #8
  9. 1MoreAgain

    1MoreAgain Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2014
    Messages:
    3,416
    Likes Received:
    2,861
    Jesus you're gonna get it now :emoticon-0102-bigsm.
     
    #9
  10. WSTiger

    WSTiger Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2011
    Messages:
    1,545
    Likes Received:
    790
    Credit to Ehab where credit is due. Lets hope out of all the silly ideas this one is going to pay off.

    Like the fact that Marco has them working everyday. And that he is personally working with them on the pitch everyday.

    Like to know more about his training sessions.
     
    #10

  11. Howden Tigress

    Howden Tigress Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 10, 2015
    Messages:
    867
    Likes Received:
    5,829
    What a great article Walter, thanks. There definitely seems to be a feel good factor amongst the players, talking Marco up, they deffo seem to have bought into him, his ethos, etc, and I know you don't expect players to say anything other, but it feels true, proof on the pitch, Thudd in particular looks like a different player, a world beater, compared to the previous dinosaur era.

    Marco will have another player available next week in Elmo, I wonder if Marco has already run the rule over him, and if/where he will fit in? At the mo, if Omar gets up to speed and Lazar kicks on, can't see Elmo easily getting in the side, not an automatic shoe horn in as previously.
     
    #11
    renegadetiger and Tiger Hobo like this.
  12. Brucebones

    Brucebones Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 28, 2012
    Messages:
    8,243
    Likes Received:
    3,371
    It's a nice piece & he's done well in the past as a manager, but let's not go OTT just yet until he's got us survival.
    It was only a few months ago, most on here were saying how refreshing Phelan was when we beat Lichester on the opening day.
    I do like how we look under Silva, but as the old saying goes, one swallow doesn't make a summer!
     
    #12
    askewshair likes this.
  13. The greengrocer

    The greengrocer Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 18, 2013
    Messages:
    5,858
    Likes Received:
    2,223
    The thing with the Allams is everything they do does tend to work out well for THEM! Maybe not so much us the fans? But if you look at their tenure they must think running a club is piece of piss? 2 proms! 3 trips to Wembley! 1 Euro spot! Let's hope silva is the SILVA lining we're all looking for to get rid of this cancer on our club?
     
    #13
  14. originallambrettaman

    originallambrettaman Mod Moderator
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jan 24, 2011
    Messages:
    107,537
    Likes Received:
    64,729
    It's nothing to do with a couple of results, it's a his entire manner, it's the way he does things, the way he sets up and the way he inspires the team and the fans.
     
    #14
  15. Stockholm Tiger

    Stockholm Tiger Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 8, 2014
    Messages:
    2,986
    Likes Received:
    4,329
    NO NO NO NO!!!! STOP WRITING ABOUT US. Nothing to see here. Move along.

    We want to be flying under the radar, belly to the waves, quietly improving, carefully picking up points, building confidence as the world rights us off. Don't alert those other teams to whats going on....

    BUT bloody hell, even a pessimistic sod like me can't help but get excited by that :emoticon-0165-muscl
     
    #15
  16. Stockholm Tiger

    Stockholm Tiger Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 8, 2014
    Messages:
    2,986
    Likes Received:
    4,329
    The quotes from Thud and especially the one from Robertson are particularly interesting!

    “I feel I’m going to keep improving under Marco Silva,” says Andrew Robertson, “He told us we’d have no days off and he’s not been wrong, but the boys are happy going in every day because we’re all learning a lot under him. All the new boys are hungry and have points to prove and we’re fighting for our lives now. I’m really glad I’m still here and working with this manager.”

    I wonder who the last player to say that was?
     
    #16
    Leon T Trout AFC likes this.
  17. Brucebones

    Brucebones Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 28, 2012
    Messages:
    8,243
    Likes Received:
    3,371
    I read the article & as I said, I like how we look under Silva, I also believe he can save us. However this is Hull City, and for as long as I can remember, we have never done anything the easy way.
    I also don't want to get too excited by recent results & performances & then we **** it up against the likes of Middlesboro, Burnley & Palace.
    If we do **** it up, we'll have the usual twats who are now claiming it's the greatest ever team, going to "**** off Silva."
    It's literally a case of one game at a time, not get too excited & not get too depressed.
    Despite everything I've just written, I do understand how easy it is to get excited.
     
    #17
    Last edited: Feb 3, 2017
  18. 1MoreAgain

    1MoreAgain Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2014
    Messages:
    3,416
    Likes Received:
    2,861
    Robertson <laugh>.
     
    #18
  19. Craigo

    Craigo Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2011
    Messages:
    7,289
    Likes Received:
    1,538
    Christ is this the Not606 Hull City board?!!?!
    I thought I'd accidentally gone onto Chelsea's forum.

    It doesn't feel right. Where's all the whining, arguing and manic depression???
     
    #19
  20. steverico

    steverico Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 9, 2013
    Messages:
    1,963
    Likes Received:
    2,632
    I'm on Silva watch tomorrow, there has been a new type of thinking in Europe about coaching and the newly qualified coaches from Portugal and Spain have been adopting a cleverer style, gone is ranting and raving at refs like Mourhino and Wenger love to do.

    Gone is the yelling at players during play, we have already seen Silva bringing players to him during lulls in play to impart tactics, I said the other week that managers have no influence on the team when they cross the white line, Silva has proved me utterly wrong.

    Silva never gets involved with the 4th official, he stands and watches, seems quick to get opinion from his assistants, he doesn't seem to let anything that happens on the pitch affect him emotionally like most managers, look at Mourhino when Zlatan dived the other night, screaming for a pen like a dopey fan would.

    I'm already impressed with Marco, he gives me confidence that the players are now a team playing for each other, the improvement in Tommy has been startling, and big Harry, where's that come from?

    Of course it could all go tits up tomorrow and I will look a right twat for posting this.
     
    #20

Share This Page