Relegation and rebuilding

[Holtemeister]

Have long beleived that the physcological side of football coaching is much under used ... some managers play at it ... its no co incidence that when Timmy appointed Ciaran Cosgrove we put in some decent performances.

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-tim-sherwood-introduces-9095684

He was formally appointed ahead of the Liverpool Semi and if stories are to beleived had a great effect on Grealish encouraging him to look around the whole pitch before the game when others were standing in one spot ... inference was that he was going to grace the whole pitch not just part of it.

Its no coincidence either that performances have dropped after Cosgrove was dumped as part of the cost cutting.  The exact timing of his arrival and departure may may interesting reading.

Our players may not be worldies but they can certainly play better that they have been playing.  Footballers like any sportmen and women thrive on confidence... look at Leicester.

Apart from a few self destruct moments we havent been smashed 5 or 6 like many teams in our position have been in previous years...this leads me to think that it wouldnt take a massive amount of work to convert our squad into a mid table boringly average side from where we are now.

The only blot on this theory is we would still be left with Hutton and Richardson who are just plain gash.

[fredm]

A good start to the rebuilding process would be the appointment of a Defence Coach who knows what they are doing. Stop leaking goals and you have a base from which to progress in the right direction.

Ideally couple that with an energised, interested owner who appoints competent board members and executive staff and you have a chance. Regrettably I cannot see that happening any time soon.

I keep seeing people making this suggestion of a dedicated defensive coach but does such a thing actually exist? Does anyone have any examples of a successful one at any club? This is genuine ignorance on my part as the only time I can remember anybody making such an appointment was Kevin Keegan inventing a job for Mark Lawrenson at Newcastle 20 odd years ago with disappointing results.

Personally I think that the best defensive coach in my life time has been the late departed Don Howe.  You only have to look at what he did with the defence at Arsenal and, more important, with England's defence to see the impact he made. 

[Pat McMahon]

A good start to the rebuilding process would be the appointment of a Defence Coach who knows what they are doing. Stop leaking goals and you have a base from which to progress in the right direction.

Ideally couple that with an energised, interested owner who appoints competent board members and executive staff and you have a chance. Regrettably I cannot see that happening any time soon.

I keep seeing people making this suggestion of a dedicated defensive coach but does such a thing actually exist? Does anyone have any examples of a successful one at any club? This is genuine ignorance on my part as the only time I can remember anybody making such an appointment was Kevin Keegan inventing a job for Mark Lawrenson at Newcastle 20 odd years ago with disappointing results.

Personally I think that the best defensive coach in my life time has been the late departed Don Howe.  You only have to look at what he did with the defence at Arsenal and, more important, with England's defence to see the impact he made. 

I completely agree on Don Howe. A much underrated coach, with a strong focus on defence. Gary Neville speaks very highly of him from his days with England.

[ozzjim]

I often think someone like Keown would make a good defensive coach. We need someone to at least get the back 4 organised. From reports it is essentially what Steve Round was wanted for by Garde, so there was clearly some thinking. Ray is apparently more forwards and Garde was a midfielder himself, Duverne is a fitness coach and as much as I like Tony Parks for his touchline madness whether he is actually an effective goalkeeping coach is open to debate. But I do think we need some sort of specialist to work with the back 4.