Thursday, 21 September 2017
TEDESCO AND THE YOUNGER BREED OF MANAGER
Domenico Tedesco...the latest in a line of very young managers looking to emulate their older and more experienced counterparts.
But there are two sides to how younger managers approach the game.
After watching and being impressed (somewhat) with how Schalke played against Bayern, I decided to do some research on Domenico Tedesco, the new man in the dugout for the Schalke.
As you would have guessed from the name, he is in fact Italian but when he was younger, his parents emigrated to Germany and so he now pledges his allegiance to Madame Merkel.
Looking at his profile further, I was taken aback to see he's around my own age, which leads me to think I need to get those coaching badges and finally show the world how to coach a team.
The other thing I noticed is how little experience he has. He was coach of Erzgebirge Aue, a German team in the lower division whom he saved from relegation.
And that's the only team he has coached before Schalke.
So he's literally being thrown into the deep end at a major club in Germany, which shows the kind of risk Schalke are taking.
When watching how Tedesco is getting his Schalke team to play, I can see the youthful exuberance and energy in his philosophy.
He likes his players to burst forward, hit the ball to their man as quickly as possible with pace and relentlessly supply balls into the box at a frenetic energy.
This forced Bayern into defensive mistakes, and made it hard for them to cope with just how quickly the ball was getting recycled by Schalke with the onslaught of blue beaming down on them.
It's great to watch, but can it be sustained? Will it lead to a consistency of results?
Bayern eventually calmed themselves and picked them apart, exploiting the space that Schalke naively left open based off their approach to the game.
Tedesco should have realised that whatever kind of form Bayern are in, you simply cannot defend like that when you have the kind of players they have.
That is where Tedesco will have to learn and mature as a tactician. It's all well and good urging all your men forward, but if they haven't scored, you need to make sure they have the same type of work ethic on the defensive end.
Especially with a young team. You need to make sure they don't get overexcited and you make them mature quickly and teach them the importance of being a complete team, that places the same importance on attacking and defending.
Schalke have had a really good start to the season, and Tedesco has hit the ground with the speed of a million gazelles. So it's all very exciting as Schalke are hoping they could have found the next great manager.
This excitement has to come with a bit of maturity and reality though, What Schalke don't want is to enjoy the brand of football Tedesco will give them this season, and forget about the importance of the three points and trying to finish in the top four and win a trophy.
Schalke aren't Ingolstadt. They have produced players who are now considered world class and must always aspire to win trophies and be among the best in Germany.
With Tedesco, it's up to the board and the fans to support him when things go wrong for him, encourage him...but also remind him of the stature of club he has joined and what he must be expected to do which is win as many games as possible.
But for someone who is right in my generation, I am rooting for him to suceed. HH
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