- Published
Managing a newly-promoted team in the Premier League is very demanding, as Frank Lampard is finding out at Coventry.
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Lampard → manage → Coventry
It's the highest level, not just for the technical ability of the players that your team faces but also the sheer physicality that these players possess, and it feels like the gap to the Championship is getting greater every season.
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gap → face → Championship
From my experience in the same situation, you have to be really smart in the way you approach each game and recognise the importance of preparation for each specific opponent, because your team has to be organised in possession, and definitely out of possession.
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team → have → possession
Teams in the Premier League counter-attack with greater efficiency so being solid behind your own attacking play is absolutely vital.
But the real advice I would give to managers in Frank's shoes is to manage yourself, and your own time, as well as your players.
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I → counter → yourself
By that I mean you have to try to stay fresh and positive, because invariably you are going to go on bad runs of defeats like Coventry are on, which can drag your mood down.
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which → mean → mood
Find a way of getting everyone back on track
I can tell you now that, whoever you are playing, if you get beaten - and especially beaten heavily like Coventry were by Brighton on Sunday - then it resonates with you.
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it → find → you
For Frank, whether it is losing at home to Hull or Brighton, or against Arsenal and Manchester City, then it will hurt.
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it → lose → Arsenal
But it is how he deals with those defeats that will decide what happens next.
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what → deal → defeats
Being the leader of a group of young men, you cannot look washed out and empty on a Monday morning after a heavy loss.
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you → look → loss
Yes, inside you will be hurting and your pride will be taking a bashing but everyone at the club will be waiting for your reaction, and will act accordingly.
Walking into the training ground in a dark mood and with your head around your backside just does not work, irrespective of what you are feeling inside.
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you → hurt → what
I've been in that situation many times myself as a manager and what you have to do is puff your chest out and find a way of getting everyone back on track and working even harder with a set focus on the next game.
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everyone → do → game
That's what all good leaders do.
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leaders → do → what
It is draining at times, but that is why managing your time and prioritising the issues that you can resolve is so important.
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you → manage → that
When I took Stoke up to the Premier League in 2008, I was learning on my feet.
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I → take → feet
We did not make a great start and I had to roll my sleeves up and get on with what I'd got in my squad, and really focus on getting results.
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I → make → results
But away from that I was always forward thinking and I was quick at recognising what was needed to improve our chances of staying up.
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what → recognise → chances
When the window opened again in January, we were already in discussions with Tottenham for Matty Etherington, to supply us with crosses and chances from the wing.
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we → open → wing
We needed more goals too, so I took James Beattie from Sheffield United.
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I → need → United
They were a Championship side but that didn't matter because he had a record of scoring goals in the top flight.
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he → matter → flight
We have heard so much about recruiting the right players in the right positions, and it is true today as it was in my day.
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it → hear → day
Both lads played a significant role in keeping us up.
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lads → play → us
Coventry haven't scored a goal yet, and people might look in from the outside and feel the forward areas are an issue for them because the usual thinking is that the centre-forward has to lead the scoring charts, or a wide player or the number 10.
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forward → score → charts
But the emphasis is on everyone to chip in and I would also reinforce one of the points I made in this column last season, about the importance of defending properly too.
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I → chip → importance
On average, clean sheets earn you more points than scoring a goal, which is something I always stressed to my players.
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I → earn → players
Nailing down the importance of both ends of the pitch is the narrative, whatever kind of run of results you are on, because games are won and lost there.
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games → nail → results
Why I was confident Stoke would stay up
Coventry have made a poor start but what has happened in their first four games does not have to become the story of their whole season.
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happened → stay → season
With Stoke, we got a win in our first home game - against Aston Villa - but that was our only victory in our first seven league matches after getting promoted.
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that → get → matches
The thing I remember most from that time is that Hull had come up with us and, after seven games, they had won at Newcastle, Arsenal and Tottenham and were in the top five in the table, while we were third or fourth from bottom.
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we → remember → bottom
I went out for dinner with my chairman, Peter Coates, and he said how Hull had made a wonderful start.
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Hull → go → start
I replied by telling him I bet you now that we finish above Hull... and we did.
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we → reply → Hull
The reason I thought that was because of the mindset of the team, and the fans.
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I → think → team
I was confident my players were not going to go weak at the knees, and the togetherness we needed was already there in the squad, while the support was just off the scales, which helped us enormously at home.
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which → go → home
Every defeat was taken on the chin, and accepted, but the lads were always ready to go, again and again.
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lads → take → chin
Survival is success for every promoted team
It was Steve Coppell who said to me how you have to deal with the fact you are going to lose a lot of games - or at least not win a lot of them - when you take a team up into the Premier League.
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you → promote → League
It is a very unusual situation, to go from being in the Championship and winning regularly week after week, to dealing with defeat after defeat.
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It → go → defeat
Steve told me to get ready for going on runs where we would not win for five or six games on the bounce, but then if we could win two or three games in the same period after that, we would fly up the table.
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we → tell → table
But getting your head around that is hard, and it is the same for the players who were part of that promotion - especially if you were dominant like Coventry were last season.
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Coventry → get → promotion
They were expected to challenge at the top of the Championship, but in my opinion over-achieved by finishing clear at the top.
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They → expect → top
It was different for Hull, who achieved a promotion under Sergej Jakirovic that no-one outside that club believed was possible.
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one → achieve → club
They have started the season on fire, just like the Tigers did in 2008 when Phil Brown was in charge, and now they have to try to sustain it.
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they → start → it
…and 25 more, not listed.
The Aporia
