Premier Manager Revealed: Matchweek 4

Every week, I score each manager’s post-match language to see whose words help get the best out of their players. I believe the best managers aren’t always the ones with the most money, and expensive squads can hide weaknesses in leadership. This table is designed to reveal the managers who inspire players to perform beyond expectations.

Álvaro Arbeloa is among this week’s biggest risers, climbing four places. Xabi Alonso goes the other way, falling seven. Marco Rose gives us the best example of what I wanted this table to show. Frank Lampard also climbs four places after his response to a 5–0 defeat.

Quote of the Week: Marco Rose

Bournemouth 2–2 Brentford

“It can happen. That’s the point for me. The players are sad, and for me it’s just about how we react on this kind of thing. And we reacted well. We are a team. We are doing mistakes together, we win together, we lose together. So never mind.

Even after the equaliser, after the 2–2, my feeling was that we had another big chance. For Thursday, Real Sociedad, a big thing for the club, next chance for us to win a big game. The way we play as well, we just, as I said, have to reward ourselves.”

A player has made a visible mistake and Rose’s first words are, “It can happen.” He acknowledges how the players feel, then focuses on their response. He has seen them react well, so the reassurance comes with evidence.

I love the next part. “We are doing mistakes together, we win together, we lose together” tells the player he still belongs. He does not have to carry the mistake alone, and it does not wipe out what the team has done well. Rose then points to the chance Bournemouth created after the equaliser and their next opportunity to win against Real Sociedad.

The players hear that they can recover from mistakes, trust each other and go again. Across the full interview, Rose also names the defending, attacking and attitude that give substance to that belief.

Score: 12/12. Towards 2 · SQAs 2 · Adversity 2 · Identity 2 · Path 2 · Draw Leadership 2.

Source: BBC Match of the Day interview, carried by Yahoo News. Reviewed alongside the supplied full transcript.

Low IDQ Quote of the Week: Xabi Alonso

Chelsea 2–2 Hull City

On Chelsea losing control after taking the lead:

“Yeah, maybe entertaining, but I hope that one day you say it was a boring game and we win and we don’t give these entertaining moments. But for sure it kind of repeats some patterns that we are making.

It will take moments to fix them. When we get the lead, you still need to be competing and not to give the chance so easily for them to come back, especially in the first goal. We can do much better.

It was too soft to give them this hope because until then we were controlling, we were creating chances, but that momentum that we had changed a little bit the mood and the score of the game. It’s something that we need to, we’re talking, we address and we will get better, but it’s having an impact on our performances at the moment.”

On what Chelsea need to do when defending a lead:

“We can do better, we can do better for sure. We need to know that even when we have the lead, a very important part of the game is to hold together, to keep the distances, to go intense in the situations to defend, and I’m sure that we can do better.”

Alonso gives Chelsea useful instructions. Staying together, keeping the right distances and defending with greater intensity are all things the players can practise. He also recognises that they had controlled the game and created chances before Hull equalised.

The concern is how he explains the repeated failure to hold a lead. “Too soft” sits within a wider criticism of Chelsea’s defending, with little reassurance about the defensive qualities the players already have. That can leave them hearing that softness is a recurring weakness in the team.

His belief that they will improve is welcome. It would be more convincing if he joined the instructions to evidence of their ability to defend well. The players receive a clear account of what needs changing, with much less about the strengths that should help them change it.

Score: 5/12. Towards 1 · SQAs 1 · Adversity 0 · Identity 0 · Path 2 · Draw Leadership 1.

Source: post-match press conference

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Special Attention: Frank Lampard

Coventry City 0–5 Brighton & Hove Albion

On finding the goals:

“Just keep working, because it’s true, at City last week we created a few big chances, Donnarumma makes a couple of really big saves. It’s the Premier League. I accept it. There are good goalkeepers out there, so we just have to, again, have some humility to that, keep working, understand that for a lot of our players the pressure of this Premier League is new, the level, the moments that you do get, you have to try and be clinical. Work, work, work. It’s not a magic thing that you can just come up with. It can be something that comes off our shoulders, but we have to keep working to that.”

On Taiwo’s red card:

“It affects the whole… From Taiwo coming in, the type of lad that he is, if there’s anything negative, if it’s a red card, it’s an instinct that isn’t in the lad. So I’m not here to critique him. It’s disappointing because it made it hard for the rest of the players to try, against a really good footballing team, to try and carry on with the game. It was very difficult from there.”

On the supporters and the team’s progress:

“I know. Listen, it won’t always be that way, but what I will say is that these supporters have watched these lads, and I know we brought in some new players in the summer, they’ve watched these lads go from 17th in the Championship up to the play-offs, nearly into… I think that was a sign of the respect for what the players have done, and we absolutely appreciate that. But we’ve got to try and work so that those days don’t come too much.”

Coventry have lost 5–0 and are still waiting for their first goal. Lampard reminds the players that they have created chances, including against Manchester City. Good saves help explain why those chances have not yet become goals. He keeps them focused on the work of finishing and adapting to the Premier League.

His handling of Taiwo matters too. He separates the red-card action from the kind of person the player is, while acknowledging how much harder it made the match for everyone else. The mistake does not become a label the player has to carry.

The supporters’ response gives Lampard another reason to remind the group of what they have achieved. Their climb from 17th in the Championship is real evidence of progress. Across the full interview, he also recognises their first-half football and the remaining players’ effort after the red card.

This is why his response deserves special focus. He keeps the defeat in perspective, supports the players’ confidence and gives them work to get on with. His praise for Brighton is fair sportsmanship; the leadership score comes from how he helps his own players respond.

Score: 12/12. Towards 2 · SQAs 2 · Adversity 2 · Identity 2 · Path 2 · Good Loser* 2.

Source: supplied full post-match interview transcript. BBC Sport Coventry City coverage

How the scores work

I score six things: a clear aim (Towards Outcome); player strengths (SQAs); how setbacks are explained (Adversity); confidence (Identity); practical next steps (Path); and leadership after a win, loss or draw. Each category is worth two points, giving a maximum of 12. Two points means the language clearly supports the players, one means it offers some help, and zero means it offers little help or risks undermining them.

* Good Winner: using the confidence that comes with a win to help players improve. The manager recognises what worked and gives constructive guidance about what to do better next time.

* Good Loser: helping players keep their belief after a defeat. The manager keeps the setback in perspective, reminds players of strengths they can rely on and gives them a useful next step. Explaining a loss through a specific external event can help, provided the players also hear reasons to believe they can succeed.

After a draw, I look for a balance of ambition, confidence and practical guidance. Crediting the opposition is good sportsmanship, but earns no points by itself. Scores describe the interview reviewed, rather than everything a manager says or does.