Training Guru | Former Arsenal manager Georgson joins Manchester United

Written by Training Ground Guru – July 27, 2024

Former Arsenal and Southampton manager Andreas Georgson has joined the staff behind Manchester United’s Erik ten Hag.

“On the defensive structure, the level of detail was probably perfect. He wasn’t too flexible, he was quite firm and we did the same things week after week to improve step by step,” he explained.

“Hopefully I gave them some guidance and did some detail work which I think is not common in football – that you work details in marking, details in avoiding a jam or playing your specific role.

“With the defensive side (of the tune-ups) we’ve really been able to find a process that can go throughout the season so that the players are reminded with a good frequency about the little details that they should continue to do.

“I made sure the principle was as clear as possible. Then the key people in the process – a few players in our hybrid defense – I debriefed with them after each game. And on the field I took the attitude that I do something after every game session.

“Once we start the process of attacking and gradually building, that process also started to become strong.”

He added that a lot of the coaching at the set piece was about being a salesperson.

“It’s a lot about selling them (the players) – ‘If we spend time on it, it’s really going to help you in the game and it’s going to help the team,'” he said. “It matters a lot to be a salesman because the set pieces are boring to begin with. Try to make it fun, try to make it in context and try to motivate the players.

“It takes patience and motivation from the players because they’d rather hit 20 shots after a session (than practice blanks). It is much more passionate for them and more fun.

“Players didn’t become footballers to understand how to avoid a jam, but it’s still very effective to know. Detailed work (on game pieces) is really boring, it doesn’t come from passion, it just helps a lot if you can improve your team role in that specific area.

“There aren’t that many (playback) specialists out there that I think are going to be effective. You’ve got to find the right man or woman to do it, and if you’re going to do it, there’s got to be total buy-in – including from the manager – so that everyone accepts that we’re going to spend time and effort on it.”