I watched in horror as the most experienced defender on the pitch gifted the ball to the West Brom striker (formerly from Everton, of course) on the edge of the Liverpool FC box.
Sure enough he buried the ball in the corner past Simon Mignolet to level the match – damn!
Typical ….after thumping Everton a few days previous in a really “tough” match 4-nil, we (when it’s your team you have to say “we”) threw away a lead in a game we were in total control of.
In truth the game was too easy – it’s as if the players slipped into second gear waiting on the in-form Liverpool strikers Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge to score a few more goals against this very ordinary West Brom team.
The poor defender Kolo Toure hung his head in shame as he knew he made a huge mistake, which contributed to throwing away two valuable points.
The manager Brendan Rodgers was asked after the game about this huge mistake.
Instead of blaming the player he applauded the courage and bravery of the Liverpool defenders to play football instead of booting the ball aimlessly down the pitch. His philosophy is to encourage them to use the ball, pass it and play it forward intelligently.
He made the point that when you take this brave approach you do run the risk of making mistakes and that this one was the first all season, which actually cost the team.
While the mistake hurts deeply when it comes along he reckons it is a price worth paying for playing great football – in truth there is no comparison between the football Liverpool are playing now and some of the awful stuff from a few years ago.
I just left a meeting where everyone is petrified of doing anything because they will know they will get hammered if they make a mistake – the result …no one is doing anything!
To get the best results from your team do you have to allow some mistakes?
Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion
Fuzion are a Marketing, PR and Graphic Design agency in Ireland with offices in Cork and Dublin
Tags: Cork, Dublin, Fuzion PR, Greg Canty, Kolo Toure, LIverpool
Greg Canty Fuzion Blog 
February 6, 2014 at 12:28 pm |
Hi Greg,
An interesting post indeed. While I agree we all make mistakes from time to time, there are mistakes that we can learn from and there are mistakes that are downright costly.
I’m sure Liverpool will take this on the chin and make up for it later in the season, possibly on the last day when they need to points to deliver the top 4 position some think they deserve!!
I personally prefer the mistakes we learn from….
February 6, 2014 at 11:17 pm |
Thanks for the feedback Conor – the main thing is that fear of making a mistake doesn’t choke the potential in an organisation. Top 4 …. I want us to won the league !!