Interview with Mackail-Smith: Coping with injury and bits on Oscar, Poyet, Barnes and Ullo

And a few other bits and pieces.

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Interest article about Oscar in the Times today.

I think that interview shows how hard-working and genuine cms is, can't wait for him to be back.

Beach Hut said:

Interest article about Oscar in the Times today.

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Any chance of a link or posting it

LamieRobertson said:

Any chance of a link or posting it

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Sorry do not do Times on-line, one thing is for sure whoever we play away from home we will always be the same formation and style.

LamieRobertson said:

Any chance of a link or posting it

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

Nice article

Hope he isn't pissing in to the wind wanting to play in a two up front..... IMO it's the only way we will have a chance of rhe play-offs but OG doesn't seem to agree.

LamieRobertson said:

Any chance of a link or posting it

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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.”

Thnx chaps

I really hope CMS proves me and a few other doubters wrong, he comes across as a genuinely nice guy and his effort cannot be faulted.

Oscar? I think I love him.

Has Oscar ever said the name Gus Poyet?

It would be difficult, even for Team Anti-Gus, to not recognise Gus' role in the team Oscar is building.

These "big clubs" referred to, they are the same "big clubs" who get much smaller crowds than us despite being higher in the league wouldnt they. Not my definition of a big club. More a club with owners spending more than the clubs gates suggest they can afford. As for CMS, nobody denies he tries hard and runs around but for me, Id rather have someone who doesnt run around but who takes their chances and scores goals.

Cheers for posting it Kevo

Thanks for posting them.

Most interesting bit for me – and hopefully a bit of comfort for some on here – is: "not least a recent injury crisis that has left him seeking to sign four new players before the transfer window shuts next week."

Stat Brother said:

Has Oscar ever said the name Gus Poyet?

It would be difficult, even for Team Anti-Gus, to not recognise Gus' role in the team Oscar is building.

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And the appointment of OG recognises the desire to keep that style going.

kevo said:

Oscar García pursues the radical route at Brighton & Hove Albion

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I'm still a bit confused how a man who learnt his trade at Barcelona, played under Cruyff and Robson learnt from Mourinho (albeit when no body really knew of him) can call Pep Guardiola his mate and who I honestly think will go on to take the top job at the world's biggest club, has chosen our little Championship club to continue his footballing education. Makes me very happy

Working class pride said:

These "big clubs" referred to, they are the same "big clubs" who get much smaller crowds than us despite being higher in the league wouldnt they. Not my definition of a big club. More a club with owners spending more than the clubs gates suggest they can afford. As for CMS, nobody denies he tries hard and runs around but for me, Id rather have someone who doesnt run around but who takes their chances and scores goals.

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You may have a point...but i'd weight that up against a side 2 seasons ago that didn't actually shoot that much let alone create many chances, or play to his strengths,,and probably punched above there weight in flirting with a play off place until probably the Reading defeat....then we have last season when he had a good run of form before if i remember correctly being injured (not the achilles one)...then probably went flat a bit before the injury that has robbed him of a year in football..but still scored what 10 out of 24 if memory serves me correct

Interesting comment from CMS on Barnes:
CMS: “It was a big shame that the club sold Ash, I know fans have their own opinion on him but he was a massively important player for us on and off the pitch and all the boys were sad to see him go."

Nice one fans

I like the Oscar interview. Just slightly concerned some of his comments may hint at a tactical stubbornness which we saw at times under Poyet.

Triggaaar said:

Interesting comment from CMS on Barnes:
CMS: “It was a big shame that the club sold Ash, I know fans have their own opinion on him but he was a massively important player for us on and off the pitch and all the boys were sad to see him go."

Nice one fans

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Fans perfectly right as was Oscar to sell him. Poyet's big failure at Brighton was his failure with his strikers. He let Murray, a languid skillful goal scorer go and spent the money on CMS who has so far done little but miss chance after chance whilst running around allot. Barnes also ran around allot but it was always 50/50 that he would stick a gilt edged chance away. So the face palm is very misguided. If Poyet had kept Murray then with last seasons mid field, we would be in the top flight, but with Barnes and CMS up front then chance after chance after chance after chance went begging.