Ask A Footballer by James Milner

Author:James Milner [Milner, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Quercus
Published: 2019-10-30T18:30:00+00:00

How do you interact with a team-mate during the game when they aren’t playing well? Do you offer advice or just boost confidence? @addonnn

It depends really. You’ve got to look at the situation, consider the team-mate’s personality and try to get a sense of what he’ll react best to. You can either give him an arm around the shoulder, or you can give him a rocket. I prefer the arm around the shoulder or a bit of an encouragement. If a player has made a bad mistake or he’s having a really poor game or he’s feeling nervous, I’ll usually try to say, ‘Just forget about it. It’s gone. Let it go.’ Especially with a young player, you have to let them know that it’s not a matter of life and death. I would urge him to get on the ball, get a good feel of it, play his way back into the game with a few easy passes and start again.

There are other things you can do. If they’re having a difficult time defensively, you can try to help them with that. I’m in a position where, if one of the full-backs is struggling, I can give a bit of support and help during a difficult spell so that he’s not left one on one. If he’s having a difficult time on the ball, I can drop deep to receive a pass from him and give it back again just so he gets a few easy passes under his belt and starts to feel more comfortable in possession. One of the great things about being in a team is that, in that kind of situation, everyone can pull together to help a player through it.

It’s not just about what you do on the pitch. You can try to set the right mood around the dressing room, on the bus to the game, in the hotel and so on. There’s a fine line between too little pressure and too much. There’s such a thing as being too relaxed, but you don’t want the mood to be so intense and so nervous that a player goes onto the pitch terrified and feeling like the world is falling apart if he makes a mistake. If a player spends all day cooped up in a hotel thinking, ‘Huge game tonight. Imagine if I mess up,’ then that’s going to cause problems. Especially with young players, you need to try to help them feel relaxed – determined and focused, but relaxed. It’s about getting the balance right.

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