Arsenal striker Marouane Chamakh revealed former Bordeaux coach Laurent Blanc was an important figure in his development as a footballer.
Speaking to Arsenal TV Online, the Moroccan said how the Frenchman’s objective was always very similar to Arsene Wenger’s in terms of playing the game the way it should be played. Chamakh added how Blanc – who took over from as France’s manager after the World Cup Finals – always asked his players to express and enjoy themselves on the pitch.
The 26-year old striker, who left Bordeaux to join Arsenal last summer, also said how Blanc’s philosophy included short, yet very important speeches to his players.
Now 44, the former defender played for a number of prestigious clubs in Europe before retiring, including Barcelona in Spain, Napoli and Inter Milan in Italy and also Manchester United in England.
On Blanc, Chamakh said:
To me it was clear that Blanc’s main objective was to send us out and play football. He wanted us to express ourselves and enjoy ourselves, as that mean we would create chances and score goals. It worked really well.
He [Blanc] gave me lots of confidence. He wasn’t the sort of coach that made me work ten hours a day. Just a few words here and there from him were enough to improve me as a player sometimes.
It wasn’t long since he had retired from playing himself, and you could tell that he was still instinctively a footballer and felt the game as we did.
I gained a lot of confidence during the three years I worked under him. Thanks to the confidence I got from playing for him, I tried things out on the pitch that I wouldn’t have done otherwise.
From thegunninghawk.com
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