Oscar interview in tomorrow's Times

A former colleague at The Times and Albion fan tells me there's a 'decent' interview with Oscar in tomorrow's paper.

No other details forthcoming, but if he say it's decent then I'm assuming OG goes beyond the old stuff about Cruyff and the rockets over Tel Aviv and says we'll definitely finish in the top six.

Or at least reveals that he's improving his English by reading NSC and that his favourite NSCers are Ernest, Edna and Not Andy Naylor. In fact HE sometimes writes his REPORTS on referees in ERNEST style just to see if he can MANAGE it. But he wonders why saddoes like EaglesDestroySeagulls bother, frankly. And says that if we ever play Portsmouth again, he'll refer to the Bell End whenever possible in pre-match interviews.

Not Andy Naylor said:

Or at least reveals that he's improving his English by reading NSC and that his favourite NSCers are Ernest, Edna and Not Andy Naylor but wonders why saddoes like EaglesDestroySeagulls bother, frankly. And that if we ever play Portsmouth again, he'll refer to the Bell End whenever possible in pre-match interviews.

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I think that's EXACTLY what he's going to say, and I'll be splashing out on a copy as soon as it hits the news stands

Here's the link but to see it you need a subscription or £1 for a 30-day trial subscription. Can anyone cut and paste the article for us non-subscribers. Thanks.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/football/article3985778.ece

Copy and pasted from the Mackail-Smith thread:

Oscar García pursues the radical route at Brighton & Hove Albion

Matt Hughes

On a couple of training pitches at the University of Sussex, a bold experiment is taking place. If Brighton & Hove Albion can gain promotion from the Sky Bet Championship playing their version of tiki-taka, perhaps English football’s great skills revolution has a chance after all.

Given the university’s history as a hotbed of student radicalism, Brighton are suitable tenants, because under Oscar García they are attempting to buck the system. The Championship’s marathon 46-game season has long been seen as survival of the fittest, often translating as the biggest squad with biggest budget, yet Brighton’s small staff — in every sense — have climbed to seventh, two points from the play-offs.

Like all zealots, García has no doubts. The Spaniard sees himself as a teacher and a preacher, eulogising the benefits of passing football, to the extent of pointing to possession statistics and praise from the opposition, rather than the league table, as the best gauge of Brighton’s progress. “At the end of matches, many opposition players come up to me and say they enjoy the way we play,” García says. “For me, it’s a compliment and it gives power to us to keep doing the same things.

“The Championship is a tough competition, but we have our philosophy and will stick to it. We play away from home in exactly the same style against all the teams. It is our identity, and we want to keep it. We have full crowds every game, which means the fans enjoy how we’re playing.”

His footballing education began at the age of 9 at La Masia, the Barcelona academy, before culminating in a role as an attacking midfielder in Johan Cruyff’s “Dream Team”, so García’s approach comes as no surprise, but he is no slave to convention. After returning to Barcelona to take charge of their under-19 team, his first senior management job last season was with Maccabi Tel-Aviv, a far cry from the Sussex countryside. Frequent match postponements and being forced to train in the north of the country as a result of Hamas rocket attacks did not prevent Maccabi winning their first championship in ten years, all while playing in a style that was distinctly Catalan.

“Why can’t the Barcelona way be copied?” García says. “In England there are a lot of players with talent, but people need to learn how to teach them. You have to start teaching them at an early age, and to believe 100 per cent in your methods.

“You have to have one philosophy. If the people in England prefer to play long ball, you have to start playing long ball from the youth team. In Spain we prefer to play a passing style. All the players are growing up with this style.”

García has firm views on youth development, arguing that childrenunder the age of 7 should concentrate on honing skills by playing with their own ball, and that even practice matches should not be introduced until youngsters are at least 10.

“During a training session in Spain all the kids have their own ball,” he says. “When you’re a young player — 5, 6 or 7 — you have to touch the ball as many times as possible because your technique will improve a lot. The kid has to have his own ball.

“Until 9 or 10 you play on your own with the ball, practising technique.After 10 you can play small-sided games on small pitches, and after 12 or 13 you can move to 11-a-side. If they play on big pitches, some will only touch the ball two or three times in 80 minutes. When kids are 5 they think they are the centre of the world. There’s no point teaching them to pass at that age.”

García had the privilege of being taught by the best. He cites Cruyff as his main influence but also learnt from Pep Guardiola and José Mourinho at the Nou Camp and remains close to both. “Cruyff was not only a coach, he was a teacher,” García says. “He made us all understand why we were doing certain things and what he expected from everyone. It’s normal that Pep and José are rivals. It’s very difficult to be friends when you’re the Barcelona manager and the Real Madrid manager. You’re always fighting for titles and playing games against each other, on the pitch and in press conferences.

“They’re different people, but also different in private to their publicimage. Pep, for example, is very emotional in training sessions and likes to speak to the players a lot, but in press conferences he’s very calm.”

García has stayed sanguine, despite some testing times this season, not least a recent injury crisis that has left him seeking to sign four new players before the transfer window shuts next week. The 40-year-old views today’s FA Cup tie away to Port Vale, of League One, as a welcome distraction from the Championship’s weekly grind, but promotion remains the overriding aim.

“We know that we’re competing with big clubs with big budgets, but the players will give 100 per cent,” García says. “Leicester, QPR, Nottingham Forest, Reading and Wigan will have options to be champions, but hopefully Brighton can achieve the play-offs.”

Thanks for the copy and paste.

Good read

Makes perfect sense, Poyet's philosophy is to spend big to achieve his personal aims. Although there is nothing wrong with that, ours and Oscars aims are to develop our club from the grass roots up.

We couldn't do what Poyet needed and he couldn't do what we needed so as it stands everyone is a winner, Gus has got what he wants and getting Oscar over here is perfect for us.

toronto seagull said:

garcía has stayed sanguine, despite some testing times this season, not least a recent injury crisis that has left him seeking to sign four new players before the transfer window shuts next week.

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good

Good interview. Interesting to read how Spanish kids are taught to play; something we should be looking to do here. I'd imagine that style will be prevalent when the academy opens up.

It's a LITTLE known fact that I give OCSAR Engilsh LESSONS as well as TACTIC advice

Kids with smaller balls and smaller pitches and shorter games. I've been calling for that for 50 years.

I've been saying for years that our approach to kids in this country is neanderthal. Watching 6 year olds chasing a ball like headless chickens whilst parents ( who wouldn't know a good footballer if they rolled over in front of them ) bark and bay from the touchline, frightening and pressurising the kids. All this organised youth football from 6-11 is garbage. It does more harm than good. By the age of 12-13, they've had enough.
Sadly, we are so blinkered in this country, we'll never learn. We think we know best. We don't.

I'm just very happy he's with us. Eminently sensible, practical and consistent.

Another good article thanks

Ernest said:

It's a LITTLE known fact that I give OCSAR Engilsh LESSONS as well as TACTIC advice

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Ernest gives Oscar oral lessons. There's a nice image to conjur up in your mind.

Great stuff. Really like what Oscar says here.

Mo Gosfield said:

I've been saying for years that our approach to kids in this country is neanderthal. Watching 6 year olds chasing a ball like headless chickens whilst parents ( who wouldn't know a good footballer if they rolled over in front of them ) bark and bay from the touchline, frightening and pressurising the kids. All this organised youth football from 6-11 is garbage. It does more harm than good. By the age of 12-13, they've had enough.
Sadly, we are so blinkered in this country, we'll never learn. We think we know best. We don't.

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Spot on, I used to make sure that the spine of the team were always taller and well built, not the best on the ball but we won the majority of matches.

dougdeep said:

Kids with smaller balls and smaller pitches and shorter games. I've been calling for that for 50 years.

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I didn't realize the size of testicles impacted on football ability.

Mo Gosfield said:

I've been saying for years that our approach to kids in this country is neanderthal. Watching 6 year olds chasing a ball like headless chickens whilst parents ( who wouldn't know a good footballer if they rolled over in front of them ) bark and bay from the touchline, frightening and pressurising the kids. All this organised youth football from 6-11 is garbage. It does more harm than good. By the age of 12-13, they've had enough.
Sadly, we are so blinkered in this country, we'll never learn. We think we know best. We don't.

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It really does seem that way doesn't it. Depressing. And still people blame the foreigners in the game. English coaches should take most of the blame. Not good enough.

symyjym said:

Makes perfect sense, Poyet's philosophy is to spend big to achieve his personal aims. Although there is nothing wrong with that, ours and Oscars aims are to develop our club from the grass roots up.

We couldn't do what Poyet needed and he couldn't do what we needed so as it stands everyone is a winner, Gus has got what he wants and getting Oscar over here is perfect for us.

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To be fair he's saying pretty much what Poyet said about 'playing one way' etc and the way we teach kids in this country. Poyet only seemed to start getting frustrated and want things to move quicker with a bigger budget after a couple of seasons, so let's see what happens with Oscar. I agree that I'd rather we developed the club from grass roots up, but managers never get that sort of time anymore.