FA Cup time

I'm aware that many of you won't be able to read this because it's behind The Athletic's paywall:
theathletic.com/3158974/2022/03/03/access-all-areas-at-boreham-wood-lego-men-honesty-sessions-and-analysing-everton/

However it's a fantastic piece about Boreham Wood's preparation for tonight's cup game at Everton. Here are some snippets:

"“What comes with being tight with your units?” Garrard asks his players.
The room falls silent.
“What am I doing now?” Garrard says.
“Talking,” everyone replies.
“Communication is key. How many of you will hear me bellow on Thursday night? Minimal, yeah?”
Garrard looks towards the far corner of the room at Connor Smith, the club’s player-coach.
“You’ve played at Liverpool. Can you hear anyone?”
“No,” replies Smith, who played for Plymouth Argyle at Anfield as well as for Yeovil against Manchester United.
“Can you hear your mate 5-10 yards away?”
“Yeah,” Smith says.
“Communication will be massive,” Garrard adds. “And not only that, it engages you. So be alive to that.”"

"“My pitch-side manner two years ago… I’m vocal,” Garrard says. “I used to think, ‘I’d love to play for me’. Well, I’d hate to play for me two years ago. Hate to play for me, because of what I’ve learned over those two years.” Asked to elaborate, Garrard says, “Before, I used to hang on a negative. So Jama (Jamal Fyfield) would get caught under the ball and I’d say, ‘Jama, your starting position, you’re caught under the ball. Jama…’ Then I’d reiterate it and go again and again. ‘He already knew he got caught under the ball before you said it once, so why do you need to say it four times, Luke?’ “Horrendous,” Garrard says, shaking his head. “‘You’ve got to score, Marshy (Tyrone Marsh)!’ Or we’d miss a chance and I’d sit in my seat like this (he slumps back into his chair). So imagine he claps eyes on me doing that.”
Everything started to change, Garrard says, when he met Rob Blackburn, who is a performance mindset coach and a mutual friend of Brennan, Boreham Wood’s goalkeeping coach. Garrard reaches into his pocket and pulls out a miniature Lego man. “I’ve got an anchor here — positive pocket, negative pocket,” he says, pointing to his tracksuit bottoms. “If I say anything negative, you’ll see me do that (he puts the Lego man in his right pocket). It’s a conscious effort, ‘I’ve said something negative, I need to get it back into the other pocket by saying something positive’. So then I’ll deliver a positive message.”"

"Garrard asks his players about the movement of the powerful Eastleigh striker Tyrone Barnett on set-plays to check that they were listening during his analysis in the week. Several of them answer in unison.
“Perfect,” he replies. “One minute and I want a huddle.” As shirts are put on and a few players rub vaseline on their chest, Garrard makes one more observation. “The referee’s name is Aaron. Get him onside.”"

"Garrard smiles. “There are managers in our division now who have forgotten more than I know. I’m not that guy who says I’m reinventing anything. I’m trying to do the best I can as an individual. I nicked Hartlepool’s and Torquay’s (defensive) set pieces last year. Why did I nick them? Because they both got to the play-off final.”"

"It would be fair to say that some players look brighter than others when they take their seat at breakfast. “You look tired, Marshy,” says Garrard as Tyrone Marsh saunters in.
“Too early,” Marsh replies. Will Evans and Scott Boden could be forgiven for thinking the same. They both live in the north and travel into training together, setting off at 5am today. “Bodes’ dad drives us to most games, he’s a lifesaver,” Evans says. “We’re travelling two and a half hours for a home game — further than Eastleigh travelled to play us on Saturday.”"

"Before the players practise their set pieces on the training pitch, Garrard spends five minutes going back over the game-plan he discussed 24 hours earlier. This time, he asks questions, checking that the players were listening and know their individual and collective roles. He finishes up by refreshing the players’ minds in relation to counter-attacks and the number of players they will commit forward at different stages of the game."

There's loads more like this. Garrard is about preparation and ensuring that his players know exactly what is required of them. I don't think this game will be easy for Everton and while you have to think Everton will win, I think a lot of people will be impressed by BW's performance. Garrard is a manager going places, simply because he understands how to teach his players what he wants them to do.

I can't help thinking Klaidi Lolos would be a better player now at Boreham Wood than he is at Torquay. Hopefully that will change and he turns into a good striker for us.