re: 8/29 Matchday Thread

quote:

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The club always comes before yourself.

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And to go along with that, I think AVB put his system ahead of the club.

I'm not opposed to players complaining when something isn't going right. I don't expect players to accept mediocrity, grit their teeth and do what the manager says just because he said it. There is a big difference between refusing to play for the club and being upset because of the manager. Say what you want about John Terry, but on the pitch he gives 100% for his club. He's a shitbag, but he is loyal to Chelsea.

I always think back to one of my favorite stories from Rafa. It goes:

Liverpool was in training the day before a big match. In that training session, Rafa told the players to perform an exercise where they were supposed to sprint 1 km. Of course all of the players obliged. After a certain distance Rafa called them back and said: "Why would ya'll do this just because I said so"? "Why didn't any of you object and say 'this doesn't make any sense, why are we doing this'?" (it's a lot better to hear in his Spanish accent)

His point was that while it is good to respect your manager, it is more important to think. Don't do something that is obviously a bad idea just because the manager said to. He went on to say that blind respect for managers in England was one of the problems with the game.