Chelsea's management has just made a bold decision: appointing Calum McFarlane, who is currently managing the U21 team, as interim manager.
The decision by The Blues' hierarchy to place their trust in manager Calum McFarlane came as a surprise to many fans, especially given his background.
In fact, the 40-year-old coach had never managed a single high-level professional match in his career, yet in his very first game he had to face the renowned Pep Guardiola.
Interim manager Calum McFarlane (left) will face legendary manager Pep Guardiola in the early hours of January 5th. Photo: The Sun
According to the schedule, Chelsea will travel to Manchester City at 00:30 on January 5th ( Hanoi time) for the 20th round of the English Premier League.
This means that interim manager Calum McFarlane will face the Manchester City boss, who will be reaching his 1,012th match as a manager.
The difference in experience between the two managers, Chelsea and Man City, is undeniable. However, behind Chelsea's bold decision lies a quiet but not-so-clean work record.
Similar to his predecessor Enzo Maresca, interim manager McFarlane also comes from Manchester City's youth academy system. After deciding not to pursue a professional playing career, he transitioned entirely to coaching and spent four years with the Man City academy.
During this period, Calum McFarlane worked primarily as an assistant coach for Manchester City's U18 team.
Interim Calum McFarlane also built professional relationships with Glenn van de Kraan, Chelsea's Academy Technical Director, and with Joe Shields, the club's co-Director of Recruitment and Talent Development. These connections were considered crucial in bringing McFarlane to Chelsea's attention.
Coach McFarlane is also no stranger to his predecessor Enzo Maresca, as both worked in Manchester City's youth academy. Maresca later became Pep Guardiola's second assistant in the first team, which partly explains the similarities in their tactical thinking.
Before joining Chelsea, McFarlane spent two years managing Southampton's U21 team. This experience helped him make a relatively smooth transition when taking over Chelsea's U21 team.
This is McFarlane's first season as Chelsea academy coach, but he has already made a significant impact: his U21 team is currently fourth in the Premier League 2 after nine matches and leads the UEFA Youth League standings.
Beyond just achieving results, McFarlane has also demonstrated his ability to develop young players. Talents like Reggie Walsh and Shim Mheuka, thanks to McFarlane's guidance, were given opportunities to play in the first team this season by his predecessor, Enzo Maresca.
In terms of tactics, interim manager McFarlane prefers a 4-2-3-1 formation or similar variations, close to the philosophy adopted by Maresca.
Chelsea's top brass consider young manager McFarlane a "rising star" in the coaching world. In fact, to take on the job with the first team, he even had to update his security card at the training center – a small detail, but one that truly shows the "surprise" behind it.
Last season, Chelsea reluctantly allowed McFarlane to be in a swap deal with Celtic for a coaching position, but no agreement was reached.
Now that Chelsea must secure a positive result against second-placed Man City to avoid falling behind in the Champions League race, confidence in this interim manager with his unique track record will be boosted.
Source: https://nld.com.vn/bat-ngo-voi-ly-lich-hlv-tam-quyen-chelsea-196260103060414445.htm
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