Back at PSV Campus De Herdgang for a second year, Chelsea's youth side dived straight into the intensity of the Otten Innovation Cup. We sat down with coach Harry on day two to talk surviving a chaotic opener — a red card and conceded free kick inside ten seconds — his philosophy of principles over fixed structures, and Chelsea's clear pathway from Cobham to the first team.
Harry - a big welcome back to Eindhoven! It's Chelsea's second time here and day number two of the Otten Innovation Cup. How are you settling in?
We've been very well looked after and Max has been great as our liaison, so we've settled in very well. We're thankfully this year in hotel rooms with aircon. Last year we were in a hotel room with a fan, so with the heat, that was very much a welcomed addition this year, so we're very happy to be here and enjoying the tournament.
You've spent a long time working in youth football as a coach, how does being here in Eindhoven compare to some of those other tournaments and experiences you've been a part of?
I've loved it here. I've gone on many, many international trips in Scandinavia, but for me, the facilities here are outstanding, and the caliber of opposition is obviously very high. There's only eight teams, so understandably PSV can go for opponents that are really super competitive, and it's just a really good opportunity to play teams from different parts of the world and know that each game is going to be super competitive. That's probably the two differences from previous experiences I've had on international tours.
How do you prepare players for a tournament like the Otten Innovation Cup when you're up against so many different types of opposition with really quite varying styles of play?
Great question - I think my philosophy for educating young players and the boys we have here is that there isn't always one way, so I try to coach towards principles rather than fixed structures or setups, and the Otten Cup is a perfect example of why that's so important in my opinion, because the time to have opposition analysis is minimal because of the fact that teams will probably change within a game or from game-to-game based on the context of the tournament and how physically demanding the next game is. For me, it's about trying to get the players a deeper understanding of the game, especially defensively and getting them to see where an opponent is and what shape they are picking up, because the way the football world is moving, there is less positional play and there is more fluidity, and for that to be the case, the game is not as fixed. If your opponents are not fixed, then we can't be fixed with our one solution to combat what they do. So, having a deeper understanding for players to understand their defending through a process rather than necessarily fixed shapes, in my opinion helps us to be able to adapt to tournament football and what opponents might bring.
I guess that also gives the players a new dynamic to think about as well, because they have to think quite quickly about how the game's changing, especially with rolling subs and how the shape of a team and game can change almost instantaneously…
Definitely, and the Otten Cup accentuates every part of that because every throw-in in a normal game of football is 10 to 15 seconds; as a coach that's potentially an intervention you can get across, however the Otten Cup is so fast that it's a great development tool for the players because there is no respite, and from a coaching perspective, it's harder to impact the game because it's so freely moving.
What do you think you and the players will take away from being here?
I think any tournament gives you the real demand to win and to find a way to win. I think for us, contextually, that couldn't have been any more obvious. In our first game, our goalie got sent off after 10 seconds and we conceded the direct free kick after that. So 10 seconds into the game, we're 1-0 down, down to 10 men in a very, very difficult, physical environment, plus the rule changes make it really intense; like when we had to find a way against Benfica and we won 3-2, but that then meant the second game against Monaco, who were excellent, we were absolutely tired, so, we had to find another way, and we went up and we went down in that game, but we found a way. And then today, we've adapted our plan to try and conserve as much energy as possible to make the knockout games, and again, thankfully, that's gone okay for us. So I think that'd be my biggest thing that the players hopefully will take away is the ability to adapt and find a way to be successful in games of football and like I said, that is for them to have that understanding and togetherness, and if they have that, then they can achieve a lot.
Let's talk about academy football - It is currently a really bright space at the moment for all clubs - what is the progression like for youth players within the Chelsea setup and for this group of players?
So, we're very, very fortunate, we had nine boys go on tour with the first team in pre-season. They only returned from Malaysia on Tuesday and some of them are here now, and only flew into Eindhoven on Thursday, so the pathway is so incredibly clear. It's super fortunate at Cobham to have some of the best talent in the world, and there's role models within the building that show there's a pathway: Reece James, Levi Colwill, Josh Acheampong, these are boys that have all progressed from our side of the training ground to the other side of the training ground, and they're role models for the other boys to have. We have got some players like Tyrique George who's with us at Chelsea, he had the most amount of minutes of any under-17 in the world in pre-season, and played more than Max Dowman, so that's incredible and credit to him for his age at 16 to be playing as many minutes on tour with the first team as he did, as did Reggie Watson and Shim Mheuka. The boys are getting these chances and there's a big drive for the talent to be seen by the new manager and to impress, and some of the boys are taking that chance in pre-season, and all credit to them.
Finally, the Otten Innovation Cup is all about looking forward and introducing rules to innovate the game in new ways - is there anything you have particularly enjoyed about them?
I think it was a really good adaptation this year that not all yellow cards are sin bins, that was a really, really good decision as it was something that impacted the tournament last year, because people stopped being able to tackle a little bit because you didn't want to cause a yellow card, so they've obviously listened to the feedback, and that has been really good. I also really enjoy the free-flowing nature of the tournament and what the rules allow for - it lends itself to a really good spectacle and I really enjoy it.