Premiership Managers Revealed: Matchweek 7

These reviews look at how each manager’s post-match words help players keep their confidence, learn and prepare for the next match. The quotations are short extracts, followed by analysis.

Fabian Hürzeler goes top by three tenths of a point after the 5-0 against Palace. The big fall is Régis Le Bris, down nine places to seventeenth after the weakest interview of the weekend at Bournemouth. Sergej Jakirović goes from third to ninth, is he proving to be a Good Winner* but a bad loser?

The two best weeks belong to Álvaro Arbeloa, who won his first league game with Fulham, and Oliver Glasner, who lost a third in a row and still sent his players home with something to work on.

David Moyes is fascinating to study. He is hugely experienced and widely respected, but his post-match reviews can be dour and matter-of-fact, with little to lift his players’ belief. Is this what stops him becoming one of the greats?

Quote of the Week: Álvaro Arbeloa, Fulham

“My players believe in our ideas and they play the way that we were playing even when we were losing games.”

“Pressure is a privilege. I am here because I want the best for Fulham, for this club. I want the best for my players. I want the best for my supporters.”

Álvaro Arbeloa after Fulham 1-0 Hull City, speaking to Sky Sports.

Fulham had been playing well and losing. The first thing Arbeloa does is say the players kept to the plan anyway, right through the defeats, so what he praises is a habit they already own rather than the result. That’s an SQA, and it’s theirs to take into next week whatever happens there. Pressure is a privilege is the line that will get repeated, and the three sentences after it are the reason it works. He wants the best for the club, the players and the supporters. None of it is about him. Last week he called the next match a final, and there is no final anywhere in this answer, just Coventry and then Palace in seven days. Twelve out of twelve.

Low IDQ Quote: Sergej Jakirović, Hull City

“I told this guy that it was the worst performance since I’ve been here.”

“They were much, much better than us and congratulations to them. They played an excellent game. We were very, very poor. We collapsed together.”

“They must take it because if you are realistic, if you will watch the game again and again, and they will watch, you will see how poor you are.”

Sergej Jakirović after Fulham 1-0 Hull City, speaking to Sky Sports.

Jakirović is honest and he’s fair to Fulham. There is a lot less in it for his players. He names no strength they can hold on to, and the only instruction in the whole answer is to watch the game back until they see how poor they are. That’s a direction pointed at what to avoid, with nothing at the other end of it. Watching the game again is retrospective, so it doesn’t count as a Path either. He does include himself, and we collapsed together is a real collective rather than grammar, so that’s one mark he keeps. Two out of twelve.

Jakirović scores well when Hull do well. He was on 11 or 12 in four of the first five weeks of the season. Over a long season almost every team loses more often than it wants to, so being a good loser in the 7 Skills sense is the part that builds confidence, resilience and performance. The Elevate Formula asks for a problem the players can put behind them and a strength that stays theirs. He gives them neither, and that is the habit worth changing.

On a winner’s restraint: Frank Lampard, Coventry City

“We are going to be a relative underdog in pretty much every game, so we have to maximise everything beyond the limit. It’s a good feeling for the players.”

“They need to keep their feet on the ground because the next one is tough and the one after that is tough. We looked like a team that was hard for teams to come here (and beat) tonight. That’s the feeling we haven’t had in our first home games this season.”

“This gives good confidence, so it’s a balance of confidence against over-confidence for us.”

Frank Lampard after Coventry City 4-1 Newcastle United, speaking at his post-match press conference. Reported by the Press Association.

Coventry hadn’t won a top-flight game at home in 25 years and had just put four past Newcastle. Lampard spends the answer cooling it down. He calls his team a relative underdog in pretty much every game, and in the next breath asks them to maximise everything beyond the limit. That takes the weight off without letting the standard slip. Hard for teams to come here is the part the players can act on, and he tells them it’s a feeling they haven’t had at home this season, so it’s new and worth looking after. A balance of confidence against over-confidence is a plain way of saying what the next few weeks ask of them. He calls the next two games tough in the same breath as the praise. Twelve out of twelve.

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.