In American football, a good coach does well in a season, but a GREAT coach has impacts that spread over a decade. In the football game that is thrown and caught with hands(!), a season means nothing when ascertaining if a coach is brilliant. Yes, a fresh coach has some advantages – his play calls are new and opponents are yet to study tapes to decode his strategies. Give him a season or two, you will see if he has depths.
If he does, he will continue to dominate like Coach Belichick of New England Patriots. But if not, he will show effervescence of genius, and then disappear like Coach Eric Mangini who showed sparks in Cleveland Browns before he left the scene. Simply, his play calls were quickly decoded, and he has no reserves to continue to confuse opposing defense or deliver punches to opposing offences.
That brings me to Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who suffered another frustrating day at Old Trafford as his club was held to a 2-2 draw by lowly Aston Villa. When Mr. Solskjaer arrived in ManU last year, the world celebrated him as he won many games over a long stretch. I praised him because he engineered a remarkable turnaround after the exit of the special one, Jose Mourinho. When ManU defeated PSG in a Champions League game, I asked our readers to “Find A Better Manager, Find Your Ole Gunnar Solskjaer”.
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But it seems coaches have figured out Solskjaer’s game plans and with no reserves in his playbooks, the future seems challenging for his career. He was good for a half-season but it seems getting to half-decade may be a “believe”.
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