Danny Röhl

Then you see, okay, we have still 35 games to go. It looks at first massive. The Championship is a special one, it’s a really strong league. You have a lot of games, a lot of ups and downs during the season. I think it was the the biggest challenge for me and for my team.

We always came back from setbacks. I think we improved a lot, we improved very quickly as a team, but the results weren’t good (at first). When you look back to the first six games, we had just one win. But the direction was still very good and I think it was a positive signal.

My team has a great mentality, they are really open-minded for all the new new things. Especially at the beginning, it was important that we find the balance between increasing the intensity but also looking for the injuries.

This is normal when you start with a new philosophy, with a lot of sprints and high intensity, you have to always pay attention to the injuries. All in all, we managed it well, we had a good load management and then we have step by step improvement.

It was a a big result against Leicester at home (1-1 draw on November 29th). In the extra time we got the equaliser. It was key and from this point we started to take points. Then we come closer.

We had a fantastic game against Hull at home (3-1 win), it was the 1st of January, we won three and then we were really close, from 13 points behind (safety to within three points.

One big part was active front-foot defending, high pressing. If you have high ball-winning situations you have a short way to the opponent’s goal.

A second way was to have a good net for counter pressing and the last point – and it was for me a big big point – was to improve the ball possession. I saw that the team didn’t create chances, they didn’t have ball possession and it was for me a big part.

In the week when I arrived there, we started immediately to find solutions with the ball, to have a better net, to have a good structure. The difficulty was that after the first week we had immediately three games in seven days, so you can’t train so much.

It was a lot of meetings and then we had the first win at home against Rotherham. That was special and after this game the relationship between the team, me and the supporters was very connected and I think this was crucial.

The second thing – and this is also a big part – is how you lead the group. It means I always look behind the players as well. Every player is a human and from this point you need this connection between your players.

You cannot just look to the tactical things and not to the human behind. For me, it’s always about I I see it first the positive things from a from a people, I’m open-minded for all the players. I demand a lot from my players but my players know that I always trust and believe in them and this is what I give them also the future.

It’s a a great sentence John Wooden – ‘A good coach can change a game, a great coach can change a life.’ Of course, you can improve him on the pitch, but for me it’s also a big part that we want to improve the players as a human of the pitch as well.

You cannot be just a tactical engineer on the laptop, you need also the human side: how you can teach your group, how you can improve your group, how you can bring all the tactical stuff to your players. I think this is a big part and I had a feeling that I can do this and when I compare now my job, of course the biggest and new challenge was to lead the group in all the difficult moments.

As an assistant coach or as an analyst, after defeat you can sit in the corner, you can sit listening to the manager, and that’s it, but now I have to go in front of the team, I have to be positive, I have to go forward and I have to believe and give belief to my players.

We are always humans. This is also for manager sometimes not an easy job, when you have a big defeat and the next morning you have to go in front of your team, but it’s important that you have done really the the belief and the trust in your team and you can do it again and again and I have a good slogan on the pitch, off the pitch – I said to my team two things.

First, we cannot change the past, but we can change the future. All in all there’s no time for disappointment. It’s the same on the pitch – if you lose the ball, you can be disappointed and you can say ‘ah it was not good’ or you go again and hunt again and you get the ball back and then you are happy. This is a big big part of my football style as well.

Then it’s also great to have people around you, they’re also looking, like you, and have the same view and all the information you can collect and then you have idea what the players need.

Some players, they need sometimes a bit more pressure to improve; some players need more smart words to help them, to give them more belief. You have a lot of different characters in your team and I think that, beside the tactical things, is the biggest part of how you can improve your team.

You need different profiles in your team as well. This is like in my coaching team – I have really really different profiles as my assistant coaches. That was a big big part when I bring all the coaches together. I know my strength, I know what we need in a group and I think all in all you need strong leaders on the pitch and off the pitch.

But to have just leaders in your group, you cannot win games, because you need also some guys that are workers and they go and follow the direction and this balance and this makes for a successful team.

For the assistants, everybody needs also a responsibility for a part of the game. This is important, this was my experience as an assistant coach. When you do not have this responsibility, I’m convinced that you will be not happy.

For me, it is important that I push my players and give them small details and advice on the pitch, but I have no problem that my assistant coaches lead the training session. My training is very different, it’s complex. We start with a warm-up, then we have always passing drills, but I always look to prepare the training not just to train, I always look at what we can take from the game and then we can create some exercises from the game to improve our style of football.

The experience in Southampton was different, you were more the underdog, you played more against the stronger teams. That was about having your identity but also having to adapt sometimes to the next opponent. And then I come to Munich. Munich were very successful, especially in the first year, when we won the seventh title, because we had a clear direction of what we wanted to do.

We had good pressing, but of course with Munich you have a lot of ball possession. I improved and developed as well in this direction, with my style of football and how you can have solutions in the final third. That’s a big part when you are the assistant coach of Munich.

In modern football you need all the four phases – with the ball, against the ball, in the two transition moments and set pieces are also a big big part, we should not forget this. But when you have a good structure against the ball, you have also immediately a good positioning with the ball, because everybody is in the right position.

We have target zones, where you can make the transition offensive. Having ball possession is not just to have ball possession – for me, it is always a tool to prepare the next attack. This is what I showed my players, this is also what we are looking for in the meetings, to give my players these points where we can attack.

Sometimes you need maybe the first, second and third pass to lull the opponent, but then when the opponent starts to press then you have to attack and then it’s from a really attacking forward playing forward and then it means we need a good net as well – we have to travel together.

We have to travel together, otherwise we have big distances between the the players. Then you don’t have a chance to counter press.

For example against West Brom (3-0 win on April 27th), it was two goals after an offensive transition. Against Sunderland (2-0 win on May 4th), both goals we scored it was ball possession. The first goal was after 18 passes and the second was 25 passes. This is also difficult for the opponent to prepare what happens next.

I have identity, I have clear principles of what I want to see, but I’m open and I’m flexible from game to game. This is for me also a big part to to improve your team.

At first, when you ask me what is your your shape or your system, for me it’s more about having principles. Then we come from these principles from game to game to different set-ups. That depends on the opponent.

At first we look always at how we can build up from the goalkeeper, what makes the most successful way to come to the next zone. Then we are looking at the positioning we need.

The next step is to find the solution in building up against midfield pressing. The biggest challenge is always the final third, because for this you need habits, you need good solutions and you need also the quality of your players, because they have to make the decisions and I think this is also a big part.

As a manager, as a coach, we can give our players a lot of principles, we can help them, but the decision-making on the pitch is about them. This is, for me, a big part of training – to bring my players always in situations where they have to make decisions. I like to be building up some habits, but I want to see also players making decisions on the pitch, instead of me saying, ‘You have to pass always to them’.

The final third is the biggest challenge. You can increase your chance when you have a lot of players in the box, around the box. I come back to my word ‘travel together’ – when you don’t have a lot of players around the box, into the box, then the chance is less than when you have a lot of players.

We scored a goal at home when we had nine players around the box and just two players in defence.This is a direction I like, but this is about working hard to come to such situations. That’s the biggest challenge for every team.

There is then also the part when you look to the opponent. Sometimes, for example, you can build up in a two-three positioning, because then you have three players in the midfield to go immediately counter-pressing; sometimes better to have a 3-2 positioning.

These are the small details and this is what I prepare during the week with my team. But, all in all, when we speak about decisions, I’m looking more forward instead of backwards.

And in a game against Norwich (on April 9th) we didn’t play well in the first half and at half-time I made four subs (and scored two second-half goals to draw 2-2). This is also for me a bold decision. I’m not a coach to just cross my fingers and wait for something to happen. For me, it’s about being active and this is what I demand from my team as well.

The game in Ipswich was different (when Wednesday were beaten 6-0 in April). Of course when you look to the paper, then you say, ‘Oh, six, a big big defeat.’

But I said, ‘You have two ways to go to Ipswich. They are on a good run; you can try to play active and you can try to play your football and you are brave and make bold decisions and you play with courage, and then it could be that after the game a big defeat because they are stronger. Or you go to a game and say yeah, okay, let’s have a look, try to play defensive and stay deep and then even in this you concede goals.’

This is not the big point for me. The big point is after the games how you react after defeat and it was really great to see for my team sometimes after defeat. I had in the past some teams when you had the feeling match day plus one, oh the team now, it’s really down, but my team they were immediately on fire by the next training session, they had a spirit that you feel immediately they want to show again that they are better than the last result and this mindset was fantastic to see, fantastic.

I had a good conversation with the club. We spoke about my future and then we spoke about the future of the club, what we can improve, what we can do. Now it’s about preparing the new season.

It means we have to sign new good players. For me, it’s about writing the schedule for the pre-season, to plan the the friendly games, looking for the opponents. We know the Championship is a tough one and it will be a tough new season as well.

I’m really looking forward for my first pre-season as a manager, this is great to see, and I think we will have a lot of good things what we can do.

Of course there were some offers from other clubs, but for me it’s about my next step and my journey was not finished after the first season with Sheffield Wednesday. The crucial thing for me how we can improve as a club, how we can improve the squad, and I think this is what I looking for, this is what I want to try at the moment.

It’s not always easy at the moment, the market, but we have some good players in our in mind and this is now convince them, try to get them, and hopefully then we have a stronger squad than last season.

We have to do a lot of things right. The competition in the Championship is tough, but I saw also last season that if you have a run, you can take the momentum with you and then there’s always a chance.

Especially with Sheffield Wednesday, you have great supporters, they are dreaming for more, but again we have to do a lot of things right, we have to play good football, we have to sign good players and we have to develop the club step by step on different phases, like the facilities and so on.

I want to work at a high high level now as a manager. I worked on a high high level as assistant coach, with Munich with the national team, that was great to see, and now it’s about making the next step.

Improving yourself is a big goal is for me, working the highest level, and it means the Premier League, when I have the choice, and the Bundesliga is also a big goal.