Socceroos coach Graham Arnold on the challenges of man management

Socceroos coach Graham Arnold’s man-management skills are getting a serious testing at a major tournament coinciding with the transfer window and rife with selection headaches.

Graham Arnold has his hands full at the Asian Cup. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

• Ryan warns of ‘relentless’ Syria
• ‘They’re not an easy nut to crack’

He says it’s one of his strengths, and Graham Arnold’s man-management skills are getting a workout at a major tournament coinciding with the transfer window and rife with selection headaches.

If the new Socceroos coach didn’t already have enough on his plate under the weight of expectation reserved for defending Asian Cup champions, the distraction of lucrative club offers on the table for some of his squad adds a new element.

Rumours of Milos Degenek’s recently announced transfer to cashed-up Saudi powerhouse Al-Hilal have followed the departing Red Star Belgrade centre-back since the beginning of camp.

Graham Arnold has his hands full at the Asian Cup. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Melbourne City are believed to be targeting striker Jamie Maclaren, currently on loan with Hibernian from German club Darmstadt, and also have Urawa Red Diamonds forward Andrew Nabbout on their wishlist.

And Norway-based Alex Gersbach is reportedly in talks about a contract with NAC Breda, the former club of Arnold, who confirmed “Saturday night’s a great night out” in the Netherlands city.

Some have made moves themselves to curb the interruption — it’s understood Degenek wanted Al-Hilal to hold off announcing his switch until after the tournament.

Nevertheless, it’s presented a unique challenge as the team navigates a less-than-straightforward group stage culminating in Tuesday night’s decisive clash with Syria in Al Ain.

Degenek has tried to keep his focus on the Socceroos. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

“It’s a new one, that’s for sure,” Arnold said.

“Keeping them focused on their job and keeping them focused on what we’re doing while they’re getting agents calling them with offers — some are getting offers with crazy money.

“It can be (challenging). At the same time, I’m fully aware of what’s going on so I can talk to the players about it and remove it from their minds while they’re representing us.”

There’s also the matter of breaking bad news to players being dropped.

The bold move to bring in Chris Ikonomidis and Jackson Irvine for Friday’s 3-0 defeat of Palestine proved spot on.

But it also meant a tough conversation with Robbie Kruse and Massimo Luongo, and Arnold said he took a different tack with different personalities.

Telling players they won’t start is never easy. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

“That’s man management, that’s one of my strengths,” Arnold said.

“Man management is getting the best out of people. Communicating is a big key.

“Having to make that tactical change with Mass Luongo and Jackson and Robbie Kruse, I went and sat with them and explained to them why and got them to understand what I was thinking and why I did it.

“Once you do that, from my past memories as a player, the frustration is removed because the message is clear and it’s easy to accept.

“But if it’s not explained to you, then that’s when players get frustrated and they can become issues.

“I’m new in this job and I’m getting to know people as I go. Clubland, you’re with them every day, 11 months out of 12. You get to know their characters, their personalities, their way of life. I’m getting to learn that now.”

Luongo looks set to return to the starting line-up. (Karim Sahib / AFP)

Signs from training suggest Mark Milligan is set to shift to defence to cater for the absence of Trent Sainsbury through suspension.

Though he didn’t confirm, Arnold was certain the vocal skipper could still exert his influence from the back, with Luongo likely to benefit from the prospective move.

Nabbout is back in full training and pushing for some sort of inclusion, though likely from the bench if at all, with Maclaren and Apostolos Giannou both fit and scoring.

The expectation is Syria can be drawn out and exploited as they play for a win to keep them in round-of-16 contention.

Arnold said he hadn’t spoken to sacked coach Bernd Stange but was confident the axing of his former NSL coaching counterpart wouldn’t throw up any unknowns.

“It could’ve been if he was allowed to replace 23 players, but we know all their players,” he said.

“We do that much analysis. We’ve got a great analysis team and we know their strengths and weaknesses, and it’s a short time in charge for him to change too much.”

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