Sbragia favours a softly, softly style

Mar 3 2009 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

Sbragia uses his reaction to an Andy Reid mistake at Arsenal to prove his point. In the early minutes of the goalless draw at the Emirates, the midfielder (pictured left with Andrei Arshavin), misplaced a pass that was snaffled by a red shirt and nearly converted into an Arsenal goal that would have changed the entire complexion of the game. “Most managers – not just Roy – would have been out of the dug-out absolutely slaughtering him,” Sbragia said.

“Previously, a manager would have been out chewing his head off, which would get a negative response from the player again. But I couldn’t go on to the touchline and give him a rollicking for it, I didn’t think that was right. I have got to be bigger than that.

“I want them to go and play without this fear of me being down their necks. I can’t afford to go out shouting saying this and that – we know we’ve got to move up that table. We’ve still got a mountain to climb. I like being quiet and I’m getting a response form the players. I can tell them off when I want to tell them off but I do that in private, I pull them to one side.

“I don’t like to show them up in front of others and lose respect and that’s the way I work, I won’t change.

“If players don’t enjoy training, you don’t get the best out of them. The players seem to be enjoying it and we seem to be getting 10% more from them.

“Managers work in different ways and whether this way works, only time will tell.”

An evening in Liverpool will provide another examination of his coaching credentials.

Having been lauded for devising a slick game plan to contain Arsenal, Sbragia is aware of the different challenge posed by a wounded Liverpool, who surrendered their hopes of claiming the title with their limp defeat at Middlesbrough. Reverting to 4-4-2 is a possibility if Kenwyne Jones is fit, and Sbragia knows his team can not afford to be too conservative after the way results went over the weekend.

“None of the results went well for us at the weekend. We could have done with Liverpool winning, but we’ve just got to get on with it,” he said.

“We know what we’ve got to do and getting something from Liverpool would help us massively.

“I was there on Saturday – I had a look at Liverpool to see the system they played and help us guess who they might play against us.

“We had a lot of luck at Arsenal and they weren’t ruthless in front of goal, we’ll probably need the same again if we’re going to get something against Liverpool.”

While Sbragia permitted himself to talk about his post-season plans yesterday, he remains aware that the club can be sucked back into trouble. “There’s a lot of teams involved and Man City could be involved as well, it’s amazing what three points can do. We’ve got to focus on us, I’m aware of where we are in the table and with another nine points we might be safe. That would give us 40 points.

“We have to do it, we can’t rely on others. If we can continue picking up points, it always puts pressure on the ones below us.”

Meanwhile, the Sunderland manager continues to reshuffle his pack with two fringe men heading for the exit door yesterday.

Goalkeeper Darren Ward departed for Wolves until the end of the season while Ireland international Anthony Stokes has agreed to join Crystal Palace on loan.

Sbragia remains hopeful that Rade Prica will also depart in the coming weeks.