Quotes: Sean O’Driscoll explains his coaching philosophy

The RedmenTV spoke to Bristol City blogger @TheExiledRobin to get their views on Sean O’Driscoll, and provide the following quotes from the soon-to-be new Liverpool assistant manager.

One thing that becomes apparent reading more about O’Driscoll is that his coaching philosophy certainly aligns with Brendan Rodgers’ ideas on the game.

On possession and playing out from the back:

“The whole possession/passing thing is a bit of a misnomer. I’ve never coached passing; we aim to give players options on the ball, then coach decision-making. You can’t be predictable.

“Sometimes passing it out from the back might be the right thing to do but why would you persist with doing that if your centre-halves or sitting midfield player then kept getting caught in possession in dangerous areas?

“If players are comfortable in possession and don’t lose the ball, like Xavi and Busquets, it’s an easy option to give it to them. But sometimes your keeper or centre-half spotting a striker has peeled off his man into a dangerous position in the channel, and playing the ball up to him, is completely the right thing.

“If you keep getting joy that way and you play 15-20 ‘long’ balls into that space, does that make you a long ball team or an intelligent one?”

On decision making and developing players:

“It sounds so simple but from the youngest ages players in this country have never been challenged to think and make decisions like that themselves, they’ve always waited for a coach to tell them what to do.

“What we try to say is ‘Here are your options, what do you think is the right thing to do and why?’ If they pick the right option and it doesn’t come off we will still applaud the decision making, but if they continually pick the wrong option then you’ve got a problem.

“I want to develop players and a team who understand what is being asked of them, and therefore can make their own decisions on the field of play; players who are prepared to take responsibility for the decisions they make.

“As I said before, we will never have a go at a player for trying something and it not coming off if it was the right thing to do at that time. If it was stupid, irresponsible and careless they won’t be afforded the same grace!”

On player responsibility:

“The more times you can create environments in training where people can take responsibility, the better the team will be. People who get that concept fly very quickly, and although they may not always be the most talented boy, they are your glue, the unsung heroes in a team.

“In any walk of life you want characters around you that you can trust, even down to the most basic things like punctuality. Why should footballers be any different? It’s just basic professionalism.”

Quotes courtesy of RedmenTV, provided by @TheExiledRobin.

MORE: The lowdown on O’Driscoll here