Tag Archive for 'Allegri'

The Italian job: football winning coach

20 years ago Marcello Lippi, Fabio Capello e Giovanni Trapattoni won the football championship in Italy (Juventus), Spain (Real Madrid) and Germany (Bayern di Monaco). This year the winning triplete is for di Massimiliano Allegri (Juventus), Antonio Conte (Chelsea) and Carlo Ancelotti (Bayern di Monaco).

Risultati immagini per the italian job conte allegri

Juventus low motivation

In soccer, the sport competition is a situation where the performance of a team is compared to the standard required for that event. In addition, each team should show on the field the desire to overcome difficulties through collaboration among the players, while to the opponents should be dominant the competitiveness. Certainly a team needs talent players but nobody definitely win if there is no integration amomg the players’ behavior, if it lacks the group cohesion. These concepts are not to be thought of as good intentions, general and non-specific, because they are the basis of the winning teams. If you apply these principles to the present condition of Juventus it’s evident, at a glance, that the behaviors of the players in the field do not match, if not in small part, to these simple rules. It lacks the so-called team spirit and a united group, which are important objectives to address effectively to cope with with a  challenging season and highest level. We do not forget that the motivation should be a psychological dimension always present and independent of the quality of the game. Indeed, precisely when there may be uncertainties or difficulty performing the work required by the coach, as it’s true for Juventus at the start of this season, it becomes imperative for the players to be on the pitch with the fighting spirit and tenacity required to whom is part of a team. It’s maintaining high the motivation to play that the players, the team and the coach could think only about the technical aspects of the game and not on the misbehavior of the team, not so motivated in the field. In moments of crisis it serves the leader, Allegri, send a few ideas that are clear, specific and perceived by players as achievable since the next game. The team needs to know that it takes time to improve the collective quality of the game but that combativeness and toughness are mental qualities that should be present until the next match. Otherwise Juventus will continue to play with the excuse that if the team does not have a good play or it’s few time that the players are together, this approach will determine the lack of confidence in following the instructions of the coach. In addition, the core of the team represented by the defense players as a whole has done little to show on the field this attitude and to motivate their mates, they will have to commit much more. Juventus now has a team humiliated by the superficiality with which it approached this new season. The biggest mistake by the managers was to say it would be a transition year, thus giving players the perception that it would not be so important to maintain the standards of the past. Now they have discovered that losing the games, because of the inability to be a team and to react immediately to mistakes pleases no one and leading the team into an abyss; we’ll see if they will be able to motivate everyone to play with the right intensity to show the capabilities of the team. The task of Allegri is not only technical but he has to help the team to change emotional minset, he will have to explain that there is no excuse for anyone in the field and that it serves combativeness and toughness.

Juventus new winning mind

Before the fury, then the technique. It seems to me that this is the evolution, in last years, has had the mentality of Juventus. Undisputed champions like Buffon and Pirlo, among others, had already won a lot and shown to have this approach to football, but a winning team is a lot more of their individual personalities and it had to prove that all possess and bring to the pitch this mentality. The work of Conte had the merit of bringing the fury in the game, that  physical and mental intensity coming before the technique, the team had to show for ninety minutes each game. Allegri has completed this team, which had won three consecutive Italian championships, changing the play ssystem and bringing more attention to the technical work, and on how necessary it’s to continually improve it. Today we talk about what it has been unexpectedly reached the final of the Champions League, but in sports there are no miracles. The team has, however, been shown to have exceeded the psychological limitations that prevented it from playing in order to achieve this goal. This results comes from a great training but also from a winning condition, at least in Italy, and on this confidence it has been possible to build, obstacle after obstacle, this willingness to go beyond the limits. Now everything is possible, because history teaches us that David beat Goliath. Juventus goes to Berlin with a joyful attitude, because they are months that it’s pursuing the dream that, day after day, with the hard work and dedication, it has become a reality and this is a significant psychological advantage to better address this last game. Barcelona, ​​super-favorite may run into a false start as Bolt did in the 100m final at the 2011 World Championships, resulting in disqualification. An example of superficial mind approach dictated by feel fated to win. Juventus will serve the enthusiasm accumulated in the last weeks combined with calm, that will enable it to enhance its play, the one taught by Allegri. Certainly Juventus, on its way in the Champions League, was also lucky and this has highlighted another characteristic, typical of the winning teams: to take advantage of favorable conditions. In fact, it won when it had to win and it’s not easy to get this result, because not confident teams often lose these games not thinking, losing their cool when the goal does not come immediately or if the opposing team is showing more difficult to overcome. In these cases, who should win become insecure, while the opponent gains confidence and can overturn the result in its favor, including the disbelief of the favorites. Commitment, total dedication and technique are the key to this success.

The soccer words: umility, confidence and motivation

“We have not fallen into the shoes of the match. Draw useful at least to bring us back down to earth” (Allegri, coach Juventus).

“Before we did fear, we were more confident” (Florenzi, Roma footballer)

“The confidence of Mancini is critical to my teammates and me. Every day he gives me motivation and enthusiasm” (Guarin, Inter footballer).

Humility, confidence and motivation are the key concepts expressed in these sentences. Beyond the players’ technique and talent if in a team are lacking these mental qualities everything else is worth less than nothing.

Juventus & Roma too scary in Europe

Yesterday I wrote that many coaches in Italian soccer premier league canot stress sufficiently the competitiveness of their team and that this fact obviously causes problems. What Massimo Mauro writes on Repubblica.it goes exactly in the same direction, speaking of the difficulties of Juventus and Roma.

“Allegri’s team is charged after the great victory of Empoli, but too many times we have become accustomed to the strong and arrogant team in the league and then appear humble and fearful in Europe … Even more worrying is Roma. From the night with Bayern seems have vanished the beautiful team of the last season and of this first part of the season. It looks faded group: those who play shows no more leg strength, who enters is lazy and does not seem to have the desire to change things, it transpires behind the discontent of the players. The new had to strengthen the group (Iturbe and Cole above all) but they have not done it, and Destro and Ljiaic  have no longer  the patience to wait.”

Two teams that outside of Italy have not been able to be competitivetill to now. In other words, they do not fight, do not try to retrieve lost balls with determination and do not start the matches with decision. This attitude of the team comes before the way to play and it’s based on a basic idea: before you do, then you do better, but if you do not do you will never  improve. It’s better to do one mistake rather than doing nothing. This means being competitive. At the contrary our teams seemed to be paralyzed by having to do the right things without making mistakes. With this attitudes they become slow and insecure and a confident opponent will bring home the result. I am convinced that if the coaches will be more aware of their inability, they may start to reflect on these issues to find appropriate solutions for their teams.

The Success Syndrome

Since few days the issue Allegri, Milan coach, has appeared in newspapers and yesterday we added a new episode. Allegri and Inzaghi have quarreled so much on the field in front of the audience and the youth team of AC Milan coached by Inzaghi.

First, this kind of an insult to any player would have led to a chorus of negative comments and condemned by the media and this has not happened. But this interests me little.

Second, I ask myself why two people and with so great public success easily have lost self-control. Here, too, I do not make a moral issue but I’m interested in understanding what leads to these reactions. It is the usual wounded narcissism of the famous people, the so-called Success Syndrome  based on the “How dare you speak to me that way, you do not know who I am!” I fear that this is the explanation that brought them to this argument.

Third, I would suggest to these coaches and millionaires to learn from great football coaches like Nils Liedholm, Enzo Bearzot or Dino Zoff  what it is self-control. Let us always remember a basic aspect of interpersonal communication: praising in public and in private quarrels. The scenes in public are the representation of the high level of stress that we are living and the consequent difficulty in maintaining control of our actions.

Milan-Allegri probably divorce

Milan coach, Allegri, is put seriously in question in these days because the team does not score and lost two of their first three league games. It’s the same team that has sent away 5/6 players important players without replacing them with other top players. The Club is associated so other football clubs in thinking that the coach that in the two previous seasons won the championship and finished second, after just three games can be fired. If this is the system in order to overcome the difficulties it can be said that Italian football is now lost.

MIlan: the relevance of the coach declarations

Quando si ha bisogno dire che un goal non dato decide il campionato (quello di Muntari all Juve) e si afferma pubblicamente che si vincerà il campionato dal punto di vista mentale significa che un singolo episodio di pochi secondi è più importante di tutti gli episodi accaduti durante il campionato e si afferma qualcosa che è assolutamente impossibile da predire. Sono affermazioni superficiali che servono a alimentare le polemiche e a mantenere l’attenzione su tutt’altro che il gioco. Mi sembra più preoccupato dal ripetere che il Milan sta facendo meglio della Juve. Forse pensa in questo modo d’incoraggiare i suoi giocatori dopo i risultati non positivi di questo periodo. Il volere ribadire continuamemte queste idee è più un segno d’insicurezza che l’opposto; è scontato che il MIlan voglia vincere il campionato non c’è bisogno di ricordarlo.