Speaking exclusively to BOYLE Sports , former Sheffield United striker Dean Saunders has offered his perspective on whether Chris Wilder can guide Sheffield United into the playoffs and has some high praise for recent signing Bamford.
The former EFL Manager offered his perspective on the job John Eustace is doing at Derby, but has a warning for high flying Coventry arguing that the Frank Lampard and the club must guard against complacency.
Saunders has also discussed whether Oxford can avoid relegation back to League One, if Bradford can challenge Cardiff for the League One title and offered his perspective on the work Robbie Savage is doing at Forest Green Rovers.
Sheffield United
Can Wilder Get Sheffield United Into The Playoffs?
Chris Wilder just gets teams to do the basics. I've managed against him; I've played with him. If you go through Sheffield United's goals that they conceded before he got there, most of them were self-destruct, people making mistakes, passing the ball in the wrong areas.
All he does is he gets into the club, and he makes the defenders do the basic things properly. Stop making stupid mistakes, play to our strengths. Eventually, the team spirit comes back, and you've got eleven players getting behind the ball, stopping the opposition coming at you. Whereas before he got there, it was a shambles. He's proven in it. I'm pleased they're doing really well. I think they've had such a good run, and they will keep climbing.
Will Sheffield United Make The Playoffs?
Bamford Has Welbeck's Instinct
He's an example for anybody trying to understand football, how some strikers start scoring all of a sudden and then stop. If you watch Leeds under Marcelo Bielsa, every time they attacked, they had six bodies in the box.
They used to get bodies in the box whenever the ball went anywhere; six of them would get in or around the box. He benefited from all the distractions, getting chances because there were other bodies in the box, distracting defenders who were marking him.
Then they changed the manager, and they don't get as many bodies in the box, so he doesn't score as many. He's had a lot of injuries over his career, but he's got the Danny Welbeck instinct. He has that instinct of where to be, and he can read a flick-on; he can read a mistake. So, I'm sure he'll be a great signing for them.
Manager Talk
Eustace Has Done A Great Job!
John Eustace has done a great job, hasn't he? He went in there at the end of last season. They looked like they were going to get relegated, and I was thinking, Don't go down. They've just come up from League One, where they shouldn't be. It's a great club, a big club. Still getting 30,000.
He went in there last season, and he played a bit of a masterstroke. He got Steve Round in with him, who was Mikel Arteta’s assistant, and David Moyes, and Steve McClaren with England, so a really experienced man at his side. They managed to get enough points to stay up. And this year it's been a bit like win one, lose one, win one, lose one. But they're in 10th.
What Derby need is someone to come in and chuck some money at it right now. If you've got somebody coming in and chucking a load of money at it, the club would go up. It's a great club.
Coventry Must Not Be Complacent
I've been in this position that Frank Lampard is in, when you're winning every week, and you go clear at the top of the league. And I never felt comfortable at all. I would prefer, believe it or not, I would prefer the feeling of when you're trying to sort the team out and get results, you can actually put the puzzle together, why we're not winning. Maybe it's because I need to leave him out or change the formation or whatever.
When you win, and everything's going great, sometimes the results you get paper over the cracks. You just have a run where you don't deserve to win a game, and you win 3-0, and you can't say anything after the game. You can't come in and say, ‘Lads, that was lucky.’ So my sole concern was complacency. So in training, I used to think of ways where I could actually stop the training and give advice, even though we were 10 points clear.
So that's the one thing Frank needs to worry about, complacency. Players are thinking, We've done it,’ and then they take their foot off the pedal. That extra yard of closing down, that extra yard to keep a ball in play, that extra yard to get your head on a ball in the box. Sometimes that stops happening.
He's done a great job, as did Mark Robins. I mean, he's doing a great job at Stoke now, but Mark Robins saved Coventry City. He saved them from oblivion, single-handedly. Saved the club. And now Frank's getting the benefit from it, and he's done a magnificent job as well. He's taken it to another level.
Oxford United
Can Oxford Survive?
Gary Rowett is a bit similar to Chris Wilder. He gets the teams doing the basics, no nonsense. You know, 'Let's not beat ourselves, lads. If a team's going to beat us, they're going to have to play well. We aren’t going to give them anything.' Oxford have been a bit 'lose one, win one, lose one, win one.' They're competing now with teams that have massive budgets as well, around them. I would imagine that some of the teams in that league have got double Oxford's budget. They don't get massive crowds.
When I was there, we were in the Premier League, or the First Division, when Robert Maxwell owned the club. I loved the time I was there. And it's in a really good place as well. It's just an hour from London. It's an hour from Birmingham the other way, maybe an hour and a bit. And they've got good fans as well. They've got a new stadium.
I'm sorry to take the romance out of football, but if you throw money at it, you've got a very good chance of getting into the Premier League. But they're all trying to do it. And some of them are trying not to go bankrupt doing it and failing. Burnley last year walked the league, didn't they? Look at them this year, struggling. They could never let a goal in, but this year they're shipping goals because it's a different level.
League One Battle
Can Bradford compete With Cardiff?
Bradford can compete with Cardiff because they get big crowds. And while you've got big crowds, you've got income coming in. And if they need a player, they're able to go and do it. They're able to go, ‘Right, we have got big revenue coming in.’ So, another good club that can definitely compete in the Championship soon. It's probably a Championship club, Bradford. The manager's done a good job as well. He's another one who has no messing about. Graham Alexander, a really experienced manager, who, again, avoids self-destruct.
He doesn't ask players to do things they can't do. You can't play like Barcelona if your players can't do it. If their strengths are picking second balls up and they're 6 foot 4, don't roll the ball into them and try and play like Barcelona. Hit the front, you've got to find a way of winning. I think he does that, and he'll find a way of keeping them up there.
National League
Savage At Forest
When you're a football manager, it doesn't really matter what league you're in. It obviously affects your salary and the club you're at. But you've got to consider if you're taking a bad job. There are bad jobs, and there are good jobs. Robbie Savage's job at Forest Green is a good job; he's got the biggest budget in the league, or one of them, so he's got a chance.
You've got a chance. If the owner says to you, ‘What do you expect this season?’ and Robbie Savage says to the owner, ‘What do you expect from me?’ He probably said promotion. So with that budget, you back yourself as a coach. There's no excuse. He’s got better players than everybody else. Got more money than everyone else. So it was a good job for Robbie to take, and he's doing really well.
No matter what you're earning, he's now put himself in the frame for bigger jobs. When they come around, especially clubs he used to play for, he'll be in the frame for all of them. So I've always said to young managers coming through, it doesn't matter what league you're in, don't take a bad job where you've got the smallest budget in the league, and the owner says, ‘I expect you to get in the playoffs. That's got the sack written all over it.
Because the minute you lose four games, he's thinking, ‘We're supposed to get to the playoffs.’ So he just sacks you. So you've got to be realistic when you take the job, unless you desperately need the job and you'll take any job and try and prove yourself. But he's got a good job there, Sav, and he's doing well.
Will Robbie Savage Manage In The Premier League Someday?
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