Two Wits Woo

Roy Hodgson shares many traits with Arsene Wenger, and in recent weeks they’ve articulated remarkably similar footballing world-views.

They both suggest a scholarly erudition, a measured and methodological manner informed, one imagines, by daunting text books and technical seminars. Worldly-wise and reasoned, they could both be distinguished emeritus professors crafting one last thesis.

Wenger is more prone to acidity when wronged, more likely to give rise to the withering rejoinder or wounded retort; Hodgson appears more forgiving.

Nevertheless, it’s fairly easy to imagine either as an owl.

Hodgson’s pledge to the considered, long-term, approach (see previous post), was echoed by Wenger recently:

“We have to rise above the pressure and the expectation levels and be guided more by what we want to achieve and how we want to play football than by people who want perfection immediately. I stick to what I believe is right. You have moments that go well and those that go less well. You are not God when everyone says you are, and you are not miserable when everyone says you are. The truth is somewhere in between."

This Saturday, Hodgson’s worthy purism will compete with the bullish pragmatism and elusive alchemy of Harry Redknapp - peddler of his own indisputable, but more ragged, wisdom. Will the curtain be pulled back to reveal a cardboard conjuror reciting empty spells, or will the Spurs Manager’s messianic aura amplify?

And, if undone, will the Fulham Manager remain tied to his philosophy?

Modesty Ablaze

When Fulham won three consecutive away games at the end of last season – the first, against Reading, breaking an 18-month run without a victory away from Craven Cottage – it looked as though that particular demon had been exquisitely skewered. However, with 4 away losses out of 4 this season, and an all-too-familiar infirmity being displayed, it was beginning to look as though this ghost of season’s past was dusting itself down for a resumption of haunting duties.

It is in the looming shadow of such a spectre therefore that the point gained at Portsmouth last Sunday should be eagerly grasped, and the ongoing shortcomings nonchalantly shuffled and placed in the “pending” tray to be revisited later. They are, in any case, well known to all, and do not bear reiterating here. For the moment, anyway.

For we must now accept that Mr. Hodgson will not become radicalised overnight. This is the way it is, and the way it will be during his time at Fulham. “You’ve got to remain modest”, he said recently, and shaking our collective fists at his philosophy will not cause it to splinter, and provoke him into a flurry of reckless, reflex tinkering. We must walk the long road with him, or else prepare for a future of fulminating, and festering resentment.

Maturity and experience beget patience, and faith in the long view. Roy’s approach is a season-long one, perhaps even extending beyond that. He is aiming to cultivate a standard of play, and then to achieve a consistency in that standard. Hopefully improvements will arise naturally as inter-player familiarity develops, and tactics and routines become habituated. The intention is that over the course of the season that this will achieve the club’s aims. What they may be beyond mere survival has yet to be made explicit.

He is thus committed to not “turning cartwheels” when the team wins, and not “getting the shroud out” when we lose. This refusal to entertain the extreme reaction may be at variance with the typical supporter’s approach, but then he bears the responsibility of orchestrating an entire campaign, and not just (over) reacting to individual results.

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds” suggested Ralph Waldo Emerson. But he wasn’t a football manager, and for Roy Hodgson it looks set to be the angel on his shoulder.

New Manager Appointed

Step forward, Roy Hodgson.

For the uninitiated, Wikipedia summary here.

And an encouraging piece from Saturday's Guardian here, that includes reference to his ability to instil "discipline, defensive resolve and a team ethic."

Double portions please, Mr. Hodgson.

Sanchez: A Cautious Inquest

There’s little to be gained from turning the earth on a grave once someone has been buried, but here are a few sources that provide some illumination upon life under Fulham's former manager.

The first is drawn from comments in today’s Observer newspaper – I’ll allow you to be the judge of their credibility - and the second is a transcript of Clint Dempsey’s post-match interview with the BBC.

The Observer

“Fulham have stepped up their search for a new manager following the sacking of Lawrie Sanchez. The former Northern Ireland manager was ready to offer his resignation in the aftermath of last weekend's 1-0 home defeat to Newcastle United, but was persuaded not to by advisers. He then spent most of last week awaiting dismissal until being asked to step down on Thursday night.

Although Sanchez moved out many of predecessor Chris Coleman's playing staff, replacing several of them with members of the Northern Ireland squad, he was unpopular in the Craven Cottage dressing room. He frequently criticised the players' attitude and is understood to have launched into an expletive-laden assault on the team at half time of the Newcastle game, accusing them of wanting to get him the sack.”


BBC Post-Match Interview with Clint Dempsey

Is Ray Lewington someone you like working with?

Yeah, definitely. I like it with him and Billy. They’re good guys, positive, they like to get the ball and keep it on the ground and move it. Like a possession style of game – that suits me well. That’s what I love about football, that’s why I love playing it. I’m happy that they’re in charge and I’m just doing everything I can to help the team win.

If Ray was to get the job would that be a popular choice among the players?

I don’t know. I mean, it would suit me. I like those guys, like I said. I think it showed tonight that we played a better style of football under them because they give us a little bit more freedom and allow us as players to express ourselves – express ourselves a little bit more and when your able to do that you enjoy your football a lot more.

Can Sanchez Surpass His Benchmarks?

When Lawrie Sanchez first joined Fulham, he suggested that Reading and Blackburn were potential role models for his team. Mindful of the resources he had at hand, this seemed a sensible and logical approach. Both of these teams had achieved decent finishes (Reading 8th, in their first post-promotion season; Blackburn 10th), despite having limited funding and an absence of “name” players. As such, they presented realistic examples of what Fulham could perhaps achieve.

The subtext of this admission appeared to be that he aimed to extract more from the squad than the sum of their abilities, by virtue of creating a well-practiced, well-organised team with a sturdy work ethic – much as he did with his Northern Irish charges. This would be allied with an astute and well-researched tactical approach. The latter certainly brought swift rewards via David Healy’s 1st minute goal in the opening game against Arsenal, the striker having been instructed to close down Jens Lehman at every opportunity.

However, this thumbnail sketch also makes them sound like they should be a facsimile of Chris Coleman’s outfit. Whilst they certainly display some of his team’s fallibilities, and a tendency to revert to type in times of panic (i.e. long-ball bingo), there has been an improvement, at times, in the standard of passing and movement. The considerable financial investment has, of course, been noted.

It has transpired that these two teams visit Craven Cottage in successive matches. Reading were beaten 3-1 in a game that openly subverted the Sky-spawned fanfare that promotes the Premiership as being “the best league in the world.” It’s fair to say that the oppressing blanket of tension (and it’s ultimate release in the 90th minute), generated by the notion of a manager on the precipice, was the game’s most engaging aspect. So, although Sanchez triumphed over one of the teams that he’s been aspiring to emulate, the quality of the victory begets reservations.

If Reading’s performance that day was typical, and their results so far suggest that it was, the transformation is a mystery. Their showing against Fulham at the Madejski Stadium last April exemplified their whole season: quick, accurate passing; feeding the wings to initiate attacks; repeatedly placing dangerous balls across the face of the Fulham goal – one of which lead to them scoring. This season they appear to have morphed into a lumpen, long-ball chasing beast of a team, devoid of their prior finesse and craft, despite being a largely unchanged side. Perplexing.

This Sunday it’s Blackburn. Last season, following the respective home games, I remember bracketing Rovers and Bolton together in my mind. I formed an impression of them both as being crude, bruising, cynically physical teams, doing as much to win by virtue of non-football methods as they were with football ones: borderline challenges, time-wasting, endless official-baiting etc.

In hindsight, this assessment of Blackburn, based admittedly on the one game, appears as unreliable as logic might suggest it would be: they cannot have attained their 10th position, and this season’s clear progression, by virtue of these ingredients alone. It is now apparent that they have acquired an image that is unrepresentative and unfair, and one they are struggling to cast off. If my lazy pigeonholing of last season is typical, this is hardly surprising.

With Sunday in mind, I keep finding myself looking over my shoulder back to the Portsmouth game, and the uncomfortable memory of how we struggled to deal them in the second half. I’m anticipating a similarly testing encounter. Even if it does turn out to be another unduly physical game, I wonder how many of our supporters would welcome the prospect of Fulham emulating Blackburn at the moment, whatever their approach?

Come Sunday evening we’ll know if Lawrie’s managed to equal the second of his role models.