“a football match is like an exam – you prepare, but you don’t know what the questions are going to be”

TACTICS

Not a week goes by without analysis of ‘Ange Ball’ as a concept. Is it something that exists to you, or just something that people say?

I think it’s there, definitely. I’d like to think there’s something there that we work on every week, and it’s not just random events. But at the same time, what I love about football is it has its own life. I often say to the players that what we do during the week and the information we give them is kind of preparing them for an exam. But like all exams, you don’t know what the questions are going to be, you know? A game of football throws up things, but yeah, there’s a structure. We try to allow players to then find solutions within that, but there are some disciplines we need to have as a group, for the individuals to function within it.

What are the personality traits you look for in players?

I mean first, I don’t see them as players – they’re people. Particularly when you get to this level, there are so many wonderfully talented players around the world. People talk about recruiting, but it’s pretty hard to get it wrong as they’re all so good. It’s more about the fit. Do they fit into the football we want to play? Are they the right kind of personality? That’s a big one for me – with the way we play, you need to have a certain mindset as an individual, to be brave and to want to challenge yourself on a daily basis. That’s why, before we sign anyone, I always have a little bit of a chat to the player, just to get a feel for the kind of person they are. Not to pass any sort of judgement on them, but to see if they really understand, and what’s their motivation for coming to us.

You were a left-back during your playing career. How would you have found playing in a team managed by Ange Postecoglou?

I would have enjoyed the training, because I hated running, mate! That’s not great for a footballer. I was a decent runner, I was in decent shape, but I could never understand why we used to run at training without the ball. We’d run for kilometres and kilometres, and I absolutely hated it. So I’ve taken that into my coaching philosophy – everything we do in training has got to be around the way we want to play our football. So I would have enjoyed training, but it’s fair to say that as an inverted f