Whatever is best for the football club (Sot’n 4, Eve 1)

Everton continued to plumb new depths of despair away to Southampton at the weekend.

How they can be the only Premier League club to have taken points from Man City is one of the great mysteries of the 17/18 season.

David Unsworth’s continued presence as manager is less of a mystery, explainable through a panicked sacking and shambolic recruitment process.

His post-match interview is as confused as his team’s performance.

In being led by the first question, he starts with a defence of the team, highlighting the positives and excuses.

“We came back into the game – it was a fantastic srike by Gylfie.”

“We missed Niasse – in my opinion he should be on the field. Injuries are absolutely killing us at the moment.”

Then it is as if he suddenly remembers the score and its implication.

” I can’t stand here and defend the players. It was completely unacceptable. Everton fans are rightly furious and so am I.”

“I’ll take my responsibility, but players have to come with the football club also – if they don’t, I’ll get players who do.”

One can only imagine the new players will need to be found within the club as it is difficult to see Unsworth  being given responsibility for a transfer budget.

Leadership communication lesson

Consistently reading and reflecting the mood of an audience is fundamental to the success of any leader. In Unsworth’s situation the mood is one of anger and with such a powerful emotion he had to start his interview in this place. If your mood misses its mark at the start, it is very hard to play catch up, so invest as much time as you can in understanding your audience before any significant communications.

 

 

 

We have 22 points

Arsenal had much to celebrate over the weekend as they stayed above Burnley on goal difference.

The first question is on the importance of Sanchez, Ozil and Lacazette  with Wenger arguing that “they could work properly, as we had the luck that in the International break Sanchez did not play and Lacazette played only one game.”

Questioned on Ozil’s work rate, Wenger describes him as an “Intelligent player an intelligent man” who can “add a defensive side to his game, he is not a specialist, but he can do that job.”

Were Arsenal lucky with the refereeing decisions in the match?

“I did not see that. I did see that the foul was a foul. In a lot of games we have not had the luck.”

Can Arsenal continue at this level?

“People always want definite opinions, nothing is permanent in our job. All we can do is focus on our performance in the next game. Let’s continue to move forward.”

“We have 22 points, Tottenham have 23 points – no-one has made a present to us.”

Wenger resists making any comparison with Burnley.

Leadership communication lesson

Arsene Wenger’s refusal to see advantageous refereeing decisions may raise a wry smile, but they also demonstrate his strategic approach to communications. Wenger uses his post-match interview to positively frame any performance and to praise or defend his players. An incorrect decision in his team’s favour helps him achieve neither objective, so he pays it no attention.