Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
New Dons boss Thelin aiming to box clever as Reds revolution begins
NEW boss Jimmy Thelin is determined to get Aberdeen playing with an identity where they “overload the opposition penalty box”.
He also wants the Reds to be renowned for playing with an intensity.
The Swede is working hard on instilling that identity into his squad during an intense weeklong training session in Portugal.
Thelin aims to ensure the Dons excel in precise areas to ensure their style is immediately recognisable as Aberdeen.
The 46-year-old said he admires legendary managers such as Hansi Flick, Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola and Diego Simeone for building teams with identity.
And Thelin aims to do the same at Aberdeen – with the first steps to that taken in the Algarve.
He said: “I know what I want to achieve.
“I want to overload the opposition’s penalty box.
“That’s the most important thing for us, to be really good at something.
“You can’t be the best team at everything, that’s impossible.
“So if you want to have a strong overload we have to be really good on that.
“It can’t be a little bit of this, a little bit of that – then it is not clear and you cannot compete.
“You have to be really good at something.
“That’s what we want to create here.”
Thelin wants Aberdeen’s playing identity to be crystal clear under his managerial reign.
He is taking the Dons through daily double sessions in the 30 degree searing heat in Portugal to achieve that.
Thelin admires how Champions League winning managers Flick (now at Barcelona),
Guardiola (Manchester City) and Klopp (previously Liverpool) brought a distinct playing identity to their teams.
He said: “Fast-paced teams like Salzburg, Bayern Munich under Hansi Flick – this kind of thing.
“Jürgen Klopp did really well at Mainz, Dortmund and Liverpool.
“I like coaches when it is clear – if you look at a Guardiola team it is clear, if you look at a Klopp team it is clear.
“With a Flick team you know how it is going to look more or less – although there are always different qualities in the team and there will be some changes.
“Simeone (Atletico Madrid) is the same.
“It is clear and you can recognise the teams.
“That’s what I like more, how they can transmit their beliefs into the squad.
“That is always good for leadership and coaches.
“It is more that they feel that’s the way they want to play.”
To transmit and then instil an identity into his Aberdeen team Thelin insists it is vital he has absolute faith in it.
He says if he doesn’t believe in it, then players won’t believe in him.
And that has to come from day one, which is why the time in Portugal is so important.
On instilling identity, he said: “That’s the only thing coaches can do.
“The only power we have is how we train and how we want to play.
“It’s our job to make that happen.
“And hopefully we can do it so well that we win games.
“It has to be clear what we want to do and everybody has to recognise that.”