The Stubborn Bunch

By Saad Mustafa on Sep 3, 09 09:37 AM in Fans

Ever since Rafa has come into the premiership fans and pundits alike have labeled his stubbornness in not admitting when he is wrong as his main weakness. On too many occasions Liverpool fans have questioned how he can't spot obvious mistakes when they are staring him in the face (Lucas anyone?). But take a look at the behaviour of many of the top managers in the world and you realise something: he is definitely not alone.

Take Pep Guardiola. Last season they won every trophy they played for and were considered by many to be the best team in the world. But then what does Guardiola do in the summer: sell Samuel Eto'o for around ÃÂ£60 million. A player who was not only their top scorer in the league, champions league and domestic cup! But a player who many thought was integral to their way of playing i.e. The seamless interchange of position between the three front men.
I read somewhere that the only reason Guardiola gave for selling Eto'o was that he was not the right fit for the club. I think we can all imagine the dismay that Barca fans felt when Eto'o was being paraded around the San Siro, it would be the same as us loosing Torres!

For examples closer to home you need not look any further than Arsene Wenger. For the last three or four years everyone who watches premiership football has admired the way Arsenal play their football (I think!). Yet they have not won a major trophy in so long due to their over-reliance on young players. For the last three years Arsenal fans have been crying out for Wenger to buy an established midfield enforcer in the mold of Patrick Viera. Yet Wenger has stuck to his guns and it looks like he has unearthed another gem in Alex Song.

What pundits, and we as fans, sometimes don't remember is that we don't see the players every day for six to seven hours like managers do. We don't know their vices and virtues or what type of influence they have on team harmony. If fans had the final say as to a player's true worth then Samuel Eto'o should never have been good enough for Barcelona because Madaristas (Madrid fans) fans certainly did not think he was good enough for them!

When you are confronted with such examples you can be forgiven for wondering whether being stubborn is a prerequisite for being a good manager! I think to a certain extent it is. As a manager you have to be confident in your decision making, trust your instincts and hold onto your beliefs. The minute a manager looses that it shows in the way the team plays because players feed off the confidence or lack thereof that managers ooze. All we as fans can do is make sure that Rafa never feels he has lost our support no matter how much we may disagree with some of his decisions.

Keep The Faith

Saad