Could the bad habit of an ex-Town manage point to one if the problems Carlos Corberán could bev causing?
Lee Clark had a bad habit when he was the manager of Huddersfield Town and I believe it directly affected his team’s ability to play with confidence. I fear that Carlos Corberán is making the same mistake and he may be inadvertently contributing to Town’s terrible run of form since the start of 2021.
The bad habit I’m referring to is getting angry on the touchline during matches and screaming at your players while the game is going on. Lee Clark was terrible for flapping his arms about and bellowing at the nearest player that would listen during his tenure. Carlos Corberán has similar qualities, often looking like he could murder a player after they fluff a chance of make a defensive error.
How could Carlos’ temper be affecting the players?
It’s harder for fans, including me, to judge the effect of Corberán’s outbursts on the players directly because we’re not in the stadium to be able to observe many of these little interactions but I did have
a very good view of how Lee Clark’s tantrums directly affected the play.
I remember quite clearly seeing how players in the Lee Clark era would visibly lose confidence and become distracted from the game while on the receiving end of a frothy mouthed tirade from the angry Geordie. Lee Peltier, during the half he was playing near the dugout, would look thoroughly fed up with the constant criticisms and instructions coming from the manager. I can imagine he found it a relief to get over the other side of the pitch after half time.
Huddersfield Town have looked seriously low in confidence this last few weeks, which is mostly caused by the vicious cycle of bad results reducing confidence then the reduced confidence impacts performance so the results get even harder to improve. But this lack of confidence can’t be helped by repeatedly being balled out from the coach after every perceived mistake.
Empty stadiums amplify the coaches voice
When Danny Cowley started at Town I found it interesting how annoyed he was in his first few games that the players couldn’t hear his near constant instructions out to the players. He hadn’t regularly managed in a stadium with fans as loud as Town’s and the noise made it hard for his messages to reach players during games (or at least provided players with an excuse to ignore him). When lockdown football started this all changed and the coaches voice was almost the only thing players could hear.
In the context of player confidence and negative comments from the bench, playing behind closed doors means everyone on the pitch can hear when a player is getting a dressing down and will hear exactly what the coach thinks he’s doing wrong. That has potential to embarrass a player and impact their performance. It could also give a boost to opposition players to target a potential weakness. If I was a winger and the fullback I was up against was getting a grilling then I’d feel desperate to get on the ball again and show him up again.
Shouldn’t professional players be able to cope with criticism?
It’s true that professional footballers should be able to take their fair share of criticism and in some circumstances a rocket from a coach can have a motivating effect on players. But footballers are human beings as well and suffer the same flaws we all do. I know I’ve had times in my professional career when I’ve received public criticism for a mistake I’d made and I subsequently turned into a nervous wreck. I deserved the criticism and knew what I should have done but getting humiliated in front of your peers, in my experience at least, doesn’t lead to an improvement in performance.
I think experienced coaches know when to use the carrot and when they can use the stick to motivate players. I genuinely don’t think I’ve seen Carlos Corberán smile yet as Town manager (not that there’s been much to smile about lately), so his style seems to be either stick or bigger stick. He might benefit from trying to include a bit more praise alongside shouting abuse at players.
Lee Clark had the demeanor of a raving lunatic at times when he was in charge at Huddersfield Town but he also had Steve Black on the books to counterbalance his rage. Black had a job title along the lines of being a sports psychologist but as far as I could tell his primary responsibility was to dispense prematch cuddles and bum pats to the players. Maybe we need to bring in a big cuddly old bloke to spread some positivity, I bet there are hundreds of out of work shopping centre Santas we could use.
How have recent Town managers behaved on the touchline?
This article has focused on the touchline demeanor of Lee Clark and Carlos Corberán but all Town’s managers have had their own particular approach to how they handle themselves in the technical area.
Carlos Corberán – Shouting and arms flapping whenever he can get a player’s attention. It’s not unusual for him and two other coaches to simultaneously give out angry instructions, which must be pretty baffling to the players.
Danny Cowley – Very animated, lots of tactics given out and very involved. He would often have a go when he saw something he didn’t like but balanced it out with lots of positivity for the good things he saw. Spared his most angry outbursts for fourth officials and opposition coaches, which bordered on embarrassing and undignified at times.
Jan Siewert – He spent a lot of time clapping and barking instructions that his players completely ignored. He had a rotten squad to work with hut his inability to even get them to listen to him showed how out of his depth he was.
David Wagner – Lost his temper with players occasionally but also gave out huge hugs when things were going well. At his best he was an inspirational figure to the players and could get an extra ten percent out of his team by just being there.
Chris Powell – A bit too casual, giving off the impression that he wasn’t overly bothered either way about the result. Lots of smiles and pats on the back for his players.
Mark Robins – My enduring memory is of him leaning on the dugout looking thoroughly fed up with his players. Thinking back to the football we played back then I can understand why he looked so miserable.
Simon Grayson – Not as manic as Clark or Corberán but liked to shout instructions onto the pitch whenever possible.
Lee Clark – Looked like he was on day release from an institution, his anger made his Geordie accent almost incomprehensible so players would only really pick up the feeling but not the specifics of what he was shouting.
I’m glad that you’ve finally decided to address some of the stuff that affects the players confidence and therefore their performance. For example, how would you feel reading that someone had given you 3 out of ten for your performance, it must have a negative effect on the younger element of the squad at the very least.
It’s a fair point Steve but I don’t think any of the players read my blog. If I was tagging them on Twitter or Instagram and berating them then it would be wrong but if players go actively seeking out criticism they’ll inevitably find it.
I think the old ground had better acoustics back then and then what we have now but thats not the problem the problem his the players dont want to play for the club because they dont haveclue who going to stay and those dont know who s going to go that s the main issue someone who i think to blame for this his Grant He refused to play has did two others it happened before T Cherry F Worthington R Ellam did the same but two men tried to stem the conflict was two Irish men M Meagan J Nicholson but i stillthink the board should all resign
Unfortunately I agree with everything you’ve said about Corberan. Apart from his histrionics at the pitch side his English also leaves a lot to be desired. I’m sure he knows what he is saying but for me I can only understand a small part of his interviews and I’m sure that the players are in the same boat when he is shouting his instructions. His man management skills are zero. Win or lose he seems like a miserable begger who never smiles, never congratulates anyone and just marches off the pitch after the match with the odd fist bump. Most people respond badly to criticism especially that given publicly and after a while the reaction you get isn’t “I must do better” it’s ” if you can do better, do it yourself” though put more strongly. If you take everything together you can only arrive at: He isn’t the right man for the job. His tactics only work sometimes. The way the team play defensively is disastrous. He is stuck in one style and has no plan B. He doesn’t seem to be able to think on his feet and know what to do during a match. His touchline attitude is embarrassing. His training methods are breaking the players. He has no man management skills. He is difficult to understand. Why is he still here. Well he would cost a lot to sack especially when the club is probably still paying off previous manager(s). There would be lot of humble pie to eat by the owner. A good Championship manager would cost more and would want more control of transfers (and backing with investment) and who would want to come to a club in this situation? Finally, the owner is always going on about the lack of finances. If Town drop into League 1 the finances will drop through the floor and this should be the biggest thing in the argument of whether to spend money now and sack this incompetent coach.
Some of the players deserve shouting at they ought to grow up and accept the criticism. Failing to find a man in a threatening attacking move is not acceptable, passing blindly into the box and wasting a promising move deserves a dressing down. If the players stopped wasting precious ball and found a man in a dangerous positions criticism would be replaced by praise.
I pay for iview but I have had enough of watching rubbish, players who can’t pass players who waste half the game passing across the back 4 players, players who needlessly give goals away players who make stupid tackles either in the box or just outside the box. This team ranks along the worst teams I have ever seen at Town and I have had enough.
S Bates
Australia
When and how have the players gone out actively seeking criticism ?
You made the point that reading player ratings (presumably mine) might affect the player’s confidence. I was pointing out that it would only be an issue if the player clicked on the link to an article called “player ratings”. Which wouldn’t be a smart thing for them to do if they’ve just had a stinker.
The negative element of our supporters are unwittingly compounding the problems the Football Club is facing.
Interestingly this was a gripe I always had about Lee Clark, and the comparison with Corberan seems valid.
Coaching, training and tactics are for for the training field. When the players take the pitch on match day, you have to trust that the work you have been doing all week has been listened to and absorbed. Constantly haranguing them whilst the game is in progress can confuse or deflate, and encouragement is more beneficial.
Neil Warnock would let his players have a few minutes together in the dressing room at half time before going in himself to discuss how things were shaping up, and make changes as necessary.
Better to watch carefully from the touchline and understand yourself what is going on, and toss in the odd comment if necessary – and constructive.
And the odd smile can work wonders!
I agree I can’t understand him with the interviews never smiles certainly not a Mr B .Clough whom could be both constructive and funny , great managers / coaches have charisma and a certain style. I thought a bad choice from the start. Just keeping fingers crossed we are not playing Div 1 next season
A very insightful article. I entirely agree that constant shouting of instructions from the touchline ultimately has a negative effect on any team’s confidence. Perhaps that’s why we see so many pointless square and backward passes – player’s avoiding the wrath of the coaching staff by handing over responsibility to someone else.