Leon's comments show Laudrup's approach suits the Swansea squad down to the ground
Last Saturday Swansea recorded their first home win since March - a run which, while lengthy, shouldn't have given too much cause for concern when you consider the calibre of the teams who've visited the Liberty during that time.
Without aiming to take away from the Swans' performance, I thought 4-0 was a harsh result for Sunderland even though they, in truth, offered very little throughout. They defended well in the first half, but whatever Laudrup said at half-time clearly had the desired effect as we romped home in the second half with two goals from corners, a penalty, and an absolute worldy from thirty yards.
Leon Britton revealed that (as everyone knows) Laudrup isn't a ranter and a raver, instead choosing to calmly put his points across:
"The gaffer's not a ranter and raver but he gets his message across. He just said that if we could raise our game, we could get the win." Leon Britton
http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11661/8983639?
For his part, the Swansea boss was as amiable and affable as usual post-match, honestly appraising the game and pointing out our first-half performance wasn't good enough:
"We did well, but it's true that this was the first win at home in the league this season. We can always go in and talk about fixtures and who you've played against, but we've played against three of the top teams, but when people start to talk about things like that, it's better to turn it down immediately, and the only way you can do that in this case is by winning.
"For me, it was a great win because it was a very difficult game. The first half was very, very difficult. To be fair, we didn't make it easy for ourselves in the way we played. There was not enough movement, we weren't quick enough and we didn't move the ball around as fast as we could.
"As a team we did not perform that well in the first half, but I knew that the players really wanted to win this game and we tried to change some things at half-time, and I think it changed completely. It always helps to score a goal."
http://www.fourfourtwo.com/news/laudrup-dismisses-home-form-concerns#6PsAplG8mGLOrjxm.99
This got me thinking about the type of manager we've grown used to at the Swans. Dating back to, well...a while at least, we've shied away from the quintessential British "motivator" when looking for a new manager, instead choosing to pluck lesser-known (until Laudrup!) names with more of a footballing education to call on.
I'd imagine the last manager to "get in peoples faces a bit" would be Kenny Jackett. I can't imagine he was a tactical genius (I did like Kenny though), but I can imagine him giving people a dressing down if things weren't going our/his way. Whether I'm putting 2 + 2 together and making 5 I don't know, but I'm sure if I am someone will let me know.
Since then, we've gone for Martinez, Sousa, Rodgers & Laudrup. Four different nationalities, and four different variations on a theme. Martinez, as we know, put a lot of things in place which exist to this day, and was clearly someone who tried to relate with the Swansea squad - largely because he'd shared the changing room with lots of them during his previous spell at the club.
He was followed by Sousa. By all accounts he's the one of a four who didn't mind causing a bit of a stir and reputedly caused some discontent at the club, but one thing he did do very well was teach a previously leaky defence how to keep clean sheets. We did this largely by foregoing goals scored, mind you, but you can't have it all your own way.
Next up was Rodgers - he of the Ricky Gervais-esque parables. Rodgers, again, was someone who I'd imagine rarely (if ever) ranted at his squad in pursuit of an improved performance - in fact at one point it became a running joke that no matter how the Swans played, Rodgers press conferences would start with "Well, I thought the performance was fantastic..." (delivered in his lovely Northern Irish brogue), and hey - if it works who are we to question it!
Now, however, we've got a manager who is as cool as the aforementioned trio combined. Every time you see him talk to the press, or giving out tactical advice on the training ground, he exudes composure and calmness, and long may it continue. All you have to do is look elsewhere in the league system to see what having an old-fashioned "man manager" will get you. Generally these managers are favoured by clubs who are willing to spunk ridiculous amounts of money on ridiculous players - further distancing this approach from our beloved Swans.
My point is that if you look past the footballing similarities (and differences) in our last few managers, there is still something which connects them all. A positive approach. Huw & Co clearly view the manager's personality as an absolutely crucial quality when looking for prospective candidates, and it seems providing a stable platform to work off is just as important as being able to impart top-notch tactical advice.
Well, maybe almost as important. Laudrup does seem to be passing on a thing or two..