Source: TheGuardian
Gaël Clichy: ‘Pep Guardiola is all about the details. It was amazing to witness’
Clichy, who is Thierry Henry’s assistant with the France U21s, reflects on the managers who shaped his careerBy The Coaches’ Voice for the Guardian Sport NetworkI joined Arsenal as an 18-year-old in 2003. By the time I signed for Manchester City in 2011, football had changed. There was more focus on detail. We were starting to see that a player could make a difference with the ball, but make things difficult for his team without the ball. Out of possession, they may not cover enough ground or be placed in the right position.I was always the type of player who wanted to find out how the team could be better. At City, I learned to enjoy defending. We knew that if we were leading 1-0 with 20 minutes to go, we weren’t going to concede. We had Joleon Lescott, Vincent Kompany, Micah Richards, Pablo Zabaleta and Aleksandar Kolarov. The manager, Roberto Mancini, prepared his defenders by making us work against six or seven players. Continue reading......read full article
