Sometimes I reveal the line-up a couple of hours before kick-off. At other times I do it the day before, after we have watched footage of the opposition, but no more than four or five minutes, as the players’ attention disappears if it lasts any longer. I have a clear idea of how we will start. We then train with the chosen XI. It depends on the vibe I get from the group and what plans we want to introduce. On match-day, we focus more on the motivational side, or we show some videos of the situations we’ve worked on in training. Then, an hour and a half before the game, Jesús does a two- or three-minute run-through of the defensive and attacking strategy, so that it’s all fresh in their minds. When I get the opposition line-up, I write it up on the board so that the team knows the score. I may give a few individual instructions, but not too many.
Before the warm-up, we do some exercises in the dressing room to preactivate the players, to switch them on, but I don’t have to be there at the time. Later, during the warm-up, I go to talk to Sky Sports and then head back to my office, where it’s usually just Miki and me on our own, talking, watching a match, listening to music, chatting idly about what happened the previous day or some film we’ve seen, or exchanging views about the opposition’s line-up. I take the opportunity to then have a shower, get changed and fix myself something to eat and drink. We’re often joined by Ossie Ardiles, a club ambassador. It’s always a pleasure to see him.
That is the time to relax, the calm before the storm. And it goes slowly. Some managers feel at a loss at that moment, when we’ve got nothing to do. Everything is in place, prepared. It’s a 45-minute vacuum. But honestly, it’s one of the parts I enjoy the most.
Naturally, you always have to be on your guard. A player can start throwing up or have a stomach ache, or maybe their knee is bothering them and they can’t play, so you’ve got to figure out who’s going to replace them. It feels like a sudden invasion, disturbing the harmony of that magical moment.
I’ve always heard people talk about nerves in the minutes before a match. It’s true that when I was a player I had butterflies in my stomach and used to go to the toilet two or three times, but as a coach it’s the complete opposite. The closer we get to show time, the calmer I feel. And that sense of calm helps you analyse things more lucidly.
*
After the match against Crystal Palace, I told the press that I was happy with the lads’ efforts. We created a lot of chances in the first half; it was just a shame we didn’t score. I added that there wasn’t much to adjust at half-time.
That wasn’t entirely true.
Matches against Palace are always tricky. If you don’t get an early goal, they can make you suffer. We had a lot of clear-cut chances, but so did they. At the interval, we asked the central midfielders to take up better positions. We used video to illustrate what we wanted: for them to circulate the ball more efficiently and to occupy space better, so that we’d be able to stop Palace’s counter-attacks.
After the interval, we threatened more than them and the team had the edge physically, but still we couldn’t score. Searching for solutions, I spoke to Jesús and Miki, but sometimes decisions that seem right at the time can turn sour by the end of the match. Taking a player off when things get complicated can crush them and risks alienating them for the rest of the season. My own experience as a footballer helps. I try not to piss my players off. You’ve got to learn to be patient.
Finally, in the 83rd minute, we won a corner. We had five players who are strong in the air in the box. Lamela whipped over a great cross and there was Wanyama to head the ball into the net. A relief. Our first three points.
Janssen made his home debut and played the full 90 minutes, being named the man of the match.
Today we appeared to have stepped it up a notch. During the week we’d said that if we could change a couple of things, everything else would come together. If we managed to play with a slightly higher defensive line, that would enable the players ahead of them to push up and press. The more compact we are, the less scope the opposition have to create. We were able to put this into practice in the game, and it worked. We were also more aggressive, particularly at set-pieces and in 50-50 tackles. This win gives us a platform to build on.
The media asked me about Dele Alli. He was in the starting line-up against Everton, but didn’t start today because he was feeling ill, due to an upset stomach. He wasn’t fit to play more than half an hour and he ended up coming on in the 68th minute. But it’s always the same story: when you do something unexpected, it’s assumed that there’s a serious problem. And the fact is that you can’t always divulge what’s going on. On top of that, we have a 25-man squad and we’ve got to rotate. We have four competitions ahead of us, including one that is new for everyone: the Champions League.
Something fascinating is being played out within the group. The likes of Kane and Alli aren’t the same players they were a year ago. Just 12 months ago, Kane played in the UEFA Under-21 Championship, whereas now he’s coming off the back of going to the senior equivalent as the Premier League’s top scorer. Dele Alli, when he first arrived from MK Dons, had a burning need to prove his worth and showed that hunger in every training session, constantly putting his body on the line. But now, a year on, Dele has signed three new contracts, each including a wage hike. It’s normal for them to believe, and for their entourage to tell them, that their position in the hierarchy has changed. And it has, because of what they offer us. That’s where the coach, who has witnessed their development, has to tread carefully and be intelligent enough to realise that they’re no longer the up-and-coming kids of a year back.
This is also a very instructive process for us. A year ago, you could yell at Dele during a session, but now you necessarily have to strike a different tone. You have to deal with them more sensitively, and grant them the odd privilege that would’ve been impossible before. It is a very delicate balance. But we must be doing something right: so far, my authority has not been challenged in training at Tottenham on even a single occasion.
*
I got a message from Nicola Cortese, the former Southampton chairman. We arranged to have dinner together. It was Nicola who sought me out – when I didn’t speak a word of English – to replace the manager who had led them to promotion to the Premier League, and at a time when he was getting good results. He is a man of conviction, let’s say. Either that, or he’s half-crazy!
It hurts me that the crowd there now treat us like enemies.
*
The win over Crystal Palace has given us some breathing space. Still, we started the week by going over what we did wrong in the match. I had a few individual meetings, including with the full-backs, Walker and Rose.
We play Liverpool tomorrow. We think they are going to try to stop our build-up play and attempt to put the squeeze on us up the flanks, forcing us into mistakes, so we have to work on different ways of bringing the ball out from the back, with decoys so that we can evade their attentions. The positioning of our midfielders is important in this respect; they need to be fully aware of the strategy and ready to receive possession. Since we don’t want to go long, we will also devise other ways of bypassing their high press.
Because it’s the day before the game, I’ve already spoken to the media. After preparing for the match, I thought it would be a quiet afternoon, but there was all sorts going on. We posed for a photo with legendary Tottenham coach Keith Burkinshaw. We spent a while chatting with him. Ossie had come down too and he stayed for lunch.
In fact it’s been an eventful week. After the Liverpool game, there will still be five days before the transfer window closes. I’ve been sitting down with players, agents, the chairman, discussing scenarios, possibilities, contracts. And limitations. There are many players out there hoping to move on. I think someone will come in and we have to be on the alert in case there are any interesting developments. I’ve been told that a Real Madrid player is considering leaving. They say you shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth,
but I get the impression that the people around him are more motivated by money than by anything else. Leaving a club like Madrid or Barça is a very big decision for a player’s career; you have to think carefully about when you leave. And why. There are brave souls who leave because they want to play; others think twice. You have to be open to any possibility.
I sat down with Ryan Mason today and our conversation struck a chord with me. Ryan is the sort of player I like having around. When I first arrived at the club, I saw him sitting in the gym, looking sad and oozing pessimism. I don’t know why, but I decided to take him on our US tour. He played in a couple of the matches and on one of the journeys between Chicago, Toronto and Seattle, while we were waiting at the airport, we started chatting. I had a hunch about the kid. I enjoyed talking to him and found that he was eager to fight for a place. We spoke again after the tour and I asked him to stay. On one condition: that he would work a lot on his fitness, which had suffered as he had bounced aimlessly from club to club. I wanted to turn him into a Premier League player. I told him he’d train with the squad, as well as with the Under-21s sometimes, and we’d see what happened.
Anyway, Mason stayed, knuckled down and ended up playing against Arsenal at the Emirates in September that first season, when there was still uncertainty in the air. I put him in the starting line-up. In hindsight that may seem normal, but to throw Mason into the fray for his first derby, away from home, and leave big-name players like Paulinho on the bench . . . It was a key decision that no one probably understood before the game, but we knew it was the right one. He ended up playing an important role in that campaign. Last term he got injured while scoring the winner against Sunderland, giving us our first victory of the season in our fifth game. But he really struggled to get back into his stride after that and Mousa Dembélé started to play really well. I spoke to him before he went to Hull and was hoping to convince him to stay, but Ryan wants to play more regularly. He feels like a Premier League footballer and is searching for new challenges. I feel we helped make that happen.
It was hard to say goodbye.
*
The goalkeeping position is certainly the one that has changed the most over the last decade, creating insecurity for those who learned the trade in one way and have had to make considerable changes along the path. It isn’t easy. A goalkeeper’s level of responsibility nowadays is even more crucial because his decisions can define the type of move that the team put together. We see Hugo Lloris as the best goalkeeper in the world. He picked up an injury against Everton but it’s important that his absence doesn’t feel like too much of a problem. We need every player and nobody is more important than anyone else. Hugo came out of the team, Michel Vorm came in and that’s that. Michel deserves all our recognition as a great goalie, excellent person and extraordinary professional. At the same time, this injury may allow Hugo, who joined up with the group later than the others, to do some extensive fitness work that he didn’t have time to do earlier. You have to try to seek out positives from seemingly negative situations.
Then you have the person himself. Hugo is special.When you’re injured, you feel alone, even if there are people around you. We’ve all been through it. That’s why it’s so important to be in regular contact, both for the player and for us, so that we can share our feelings. We’ve spoken so much about football and life ever since I took over. Since his injury we’ve studied his game and looked at other goalkeepers who have a similar footballing philosophy. Players spend more hours at the training ground when they’re injured compared with when they’re not, so we made the most of his role as captain and team leader to discuss certain areas that we want to improve in future and others that we’re going to suggest to the squad. He’s a mature person, a moral leader who has real authority, because of his professionalism and because of the way he is. I almost consider him to be part of the coaching staff because he embodies the philosophy that we want to champion in our game when he’s on the pitch: possession, attacking mentality, not in fear of a high line, an active and brave goalkeeper who’s good on the ball.
*
It was the Champions League draw and given that we were being filmed, our reaction was not as unguarded as it could have been. Maybe it would’ve been better to watch it in my office without anyone around because it was such an important moment. We started out with Spurs in the Europa League and this year it’s the Champions League, so a big step forward. We’ve always watched the draw to see which team drew which, and this time we were involved in it, in the biggest competition of the lot.
We’re going to be up against AS Monaco, CSKA Moscow and Bayer Leverkusen.
*
27 August. Today we were at home to Liverpool who always make tough opponents. They have players who I know well from my Southampton days: Nathaniel Clyne, Adam Lallana and Dejan Lovren, who was my man of the match. As well as a couple more we know very well.
Before the game, we went over what we’d been working on during the week, but just before the clock struck the half-hour mark, Walker felt sick and had to come off. We initially thought about a straight swap and bringing on a full-back, but I decided against it. We brought on a centre-forward and Dier moved to full-back, going on to be one of the best players on the pitch. I didn’t understand why, but other guys besides Walker were also not feeling very well and they told us so en route to the dressing room. We went in at the break 1–0 down.
We used half-time to make some adjustments in terms of how we were keeping possession and that gave us control of the game in the second half, particularly in the first 30 minutes. Rose equalised and a draw was a fair result which we were happy with.
Maybe the fixture came too early in the season for us. We’ve barely got out of first gear so far. We’ve gone three games unbeaten, but many aspects haven’t gone as planned. Many key players aren’t performing at the desired level (Kane, Eriksen). We started out with Dier and Wanyama forming a new partnership in midfield. We’re still working on the general concepts with the players without delving into too much detail, although that’s exactly what you need for this type of game.
Harry hasn’t scored yet, but we aren’t worried. Last year was tough for him. He went ten games without scoring and went off track. He thought he was a different player and had to do different things to the ones we were suggesting. I sat down with him in the second week of the season, showed him some videos and said to him, ‘You’re Harry Kane. If Harry Kane doesn’t do what Harry Kane does . . .’ That was a real eye-opener for him. In the end, he scored against Manchester City which came from a set-piece when he was borderline offside. He then spent another six games not scoring before a hat-trick against Bournemouth started an unstoppable run.
He scored a wonderful goal in the friendly against Inter. He’s had his chances in the league, but he hasn’t put them away. We do know that he needs a few games to get into the swing of things. He likes playing as a number 10 behind the striker, giving him more space and without having centre-backs on top of him. People disagree and think he should play up top on his own, but I believe that having another forward alongside him is a better option.
To sum up, we’re doing well. The team have been doing what we’ve needed, apart from during the first half against Everton. At the same stage last season we had two points. This year we’re on five and the league is even tougher. We’re unbeaten, we’ve conceded one goal from a direct free-kick and another from the penalty spot. We’re sixth.
*
A lovely photo of a hug between me and Liverpool midfielder Adam Lallana came out in the press. We chatted a bit. There was always a good connection between the two of us. We speak the same language, the language of football, which we’re so passionate about and which transcends any barriers. When I took over at Southampton, my English was atrocious, but we still connected.
I remember that just over three months after arriving, I sat down with Adam after training. Jesús was also there. ‘What’s up? What’s wrong?’ He didn�
��t seem at ease, he wasn’t fulfilling his potential and he wasn’t enjoying his football.
He looked at me and said, ‘What do you mean, boss?’
‘Do you have any problems at home?’ I asked him. The previous manager Nigel Adkins had made him captain at the start of the campaign. One day he saw his name on the board with a ‘C’ for captain next to it. There was nothing formal about it. He was 24 and his game dipped when he found himself needing to lead the team without being ready for it.
He had been suffering injuries the season we arrived and went in and out of the team with us in charge too. The conversation with Lallana was slow because of the language barrier but I felt I was getting somewhere after a couple of hours. ‘I was given the armband and I felt I had to do more than the rest, work more, think of everybody, and at the end I started to do everything but focus on my football.’ As the team were fighting to stave off relegation, there was even more pressure on him.
I started to understand the stress, even some of the reasons for so many injuries.
Also, he told me, the chairman called him after every game to tell him: ‘We shouldn’t have lost, we should’ve scored, we can’t go down . . .’
‘What? Stop right there,’ I said.
Within the Latin culture, we’re used to the chairman speaking to players without going through the coach, but in Lallana’s case it seemed illogical to me, especially because the role of manager involves so much more in England. The responsibility has to fall on the manager, rather than on the players. Although I knew Nicola, the chairman, was only trying to help, he’d made the wrong call.
‘It’s okay,’ – I said. ‘I understand now. You’re under too much pressure. That’s why you aren’t enjoying it. Let’s finish the season but next campaign this will be truly and fully sorted.’ After three hours we decided to leave the training centre.
I asked Nicola to stop calling Adam and little by little his performances started to take off. But something else was needed – he had to know where he stood with the team and the captaincy.
Brave New World Page 7