‘Mentality plays a massive part’ – Charlton boss Holden on vital components needed to produce winning football
Dean Holden has talked about the importance of his Charlton Athletic players having “total clarity” over their jobs on the pitch.
The Addicks are in a good place heading into Saturday’s match against Peterborough United, three victories on the spin lifting them into the top half of League One.
Asked by the South London Press how much he felt football was down to tactics compared to work ethic and attitude, Holden replied: “Mentality plays a massive part in it.
“I’d say maybe at the very, very top level – you have got to have it all in the Premier League. Maybe the games at that level are more tactical. But certainly at our level and the Championship – I’ve spent seven or eight years there – the physical side is hugely important. The mindset, arguably, is more important.
“It’s my job to set us up as a team. I like to give players total clarity. I don’t like them going in with any grey areas.
“You have to get a bit of a feel, when I took over, about where a player is at. If I’d taken over in pre-season it would be a bit different because you’d have six weeks of long summer days. We haven’t even had a full pitch to train on in the three weeks I’ve been here.
“It’s making sure we maximise the time we’ve got. Making players go into a game without over-thinking it. I don’t like them to overthink.
“They’ve got a lot of freedom, when you see how they play, like midfielders rolling out to full-back position. It’s not as positional as it would be at the top level. But there are non-negotiables when we lose the ball or when the opposition have got the ball.
“You can’t understate the tactical side, of course you can’t. But it’s about decision making. Making the right decision. Is that a mentality or the physicality side, you can’t have one without the other. You’ve got to make the decision and then be able to execute it – whether it is Tyreece [Campbell] or Corey [Blackett-Taylor] at the weekend running past [their opponent]. You’ve got the physical aspect. You can’t concentrate on one without the other, they are so intertwined.
“All of my sessions I put on as a coach, they have everything. They have loads of chaos – players have to think a lot and perform under pressure. It’s never just technical. Even if we do a basic passing drill you can include scanning and taking some information in. We try to make the players think a lot because they are the ones on the pitch who need to find the solution.”
PICTURE: PAUL EDWARDS
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