![]() Vidal's attitude on arrival was "Ancient Regime," now it's "Winning Regime." The Chilean, having moaned on social media, spoke to national media in his home country to say: "Of course I'm not happy not to be playing." He was dropped, re-educated and has come out the other side a one-man raiding party who's going through prodigious amounts of ball-robbing and opponent ruffling. Now, thanks to another mix of stick and carrot, patience and firmness, Valverde has made this self-anointed football royalty humble and effective. He arrived thinking of himself as "King" Arturo and was ready to unsheathe his sword and go on the attack when Valverde, initially, used him sparingly. He's played the Frenchman in the right games, shown trust in him and not felt personally challenged or undermined by the kid who can't set his alarm clock properly. Valverde has coaxed him, taught him, given him space, but also pushed him. Team tactics and team strategy bear very little part in the huge advance Dembele has shown, to the extent that his recent absence through injury makes Barcelona look slightly lame without him. Patient with the on-pitch learning that asks him to think-pass-move instead of improvise-juggle-lose the ball - Valverde has been rewarded. Tolerant when some bosses would have dropped and humiliated the winger. These problems are the blight of modern football.Īlbeit that Dembele unquestionably deserves praise for smelling the coffee, listening to Messi and Luis Suarez, apologising for his tardiness and, basically, giving himself a right good shake - Valverde's management of the young buck has been superb. When a kid has cost upwards of €120 million, looks like he's that atrocious mixture of immaturity and arrogance, and is wealthy beyond belief, most managers would run a mile. Nor was the lengthy injury Dembele sustained no sooner had he joined last season.Ī short showreel of his subsequent problems include a lack of football awareness on the pitch, a distinct need for gym work to make his upper body capable of withstanding the slightest contact from bruising defenders, an immature tendency to stay up too late in his lovely apartment and then either miss deadlines or miss training the next day. How Barca lost Neymar, how much Dembele cost, what state of maturity and mental readiness the Frenchman possessed on arrival - none of these were within Valverde's control. For any Camp Nou coach, winning Messi's respect is paramount. Not only has Barcelona's resident genius played well under Valverde, he's even accepted the idea that he can rest in the Copa without his world ending. The fact that he's won Lionel Messi's trust and compliance should be blindingly obvious. But I contend that only the stupid, biased, obtuse or liars would argue that Valverde doesn't profoundly understand his troops, understand precisely what he has to do with them. I emphasise, these are a rubric of his critics' criticisms not mine. By "coach" I mean his tactical nous, his strategic ideas, the brand of football he espouses, when he is and isn't willing to take risks - particularly in promoting youth and opting to try to turn a 2-0 lead into 6-0. It's a matter of fact that a hardcore segment of Barca fans still don't much rate him as a coach. The Copa del Rey semifinal - the first leg at Camp Nou this week, the return in the dog days of February - highlights that Los Blancos and the Blaugrana are steered by two men who've had to develop and apply the wisdom of Solomon. As the two men prepare to face each other in a Clasico for a first time, try to analyse and outguess what their rival will be planning, I'll bet it sinks into their consciousness that they are brothers in arms. In many ways Ernesto Valverde and Santi Solari - vastly different as men, footballers, in ages, nationalities and experience levels - are as alike as peas in a pod right now.Īt Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively, the amount of actual coaching they need to do is in directly inverse proportion to the amount of man management, problem solving and team-spirit building. Valverde and Solari, producing diamonds under pressure of Barca and Madrid, are brothers in arms You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser
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