Koeman Is Trying To Toughen Juanmi Up Wednesday, 28th Oct 2015 09:22 Ronald Koeman has admitted that he is trying to toughen up Juanmi for the rigours of the Premier League, even refusing to award him a foul in training. Ronald Koeman belives that going forward Juanmi will be a great player for Southampton Football Club, but at the moment he is not up to the physical demands of English football and therefore steps are being taken to toughen him up. One of those steps is that in training matches, fouls are not awarded to Juanmi, so that he has to get used to the physical abuse he will suffer in an actual game. “There is progression, because it’s not physically a strong player,” “The contact on the battles in the midfield or in his position - left, right or behind the striker -you have to play fast, and that needs time to understand and to learn from that. “We are working hard with Juanmi to show him clips, even last Sunday against Liverpool was one action in the second half. “If he comes in a physical battle then he don’t win that because he’s fast, small, and he has to understand, and he is understanding because we are helping and he is improving himself. “If he is on that level he will get his chances.” Koeman continued: “Yes, it’s hard first for the player and the second it’s also hard for the manager because you have to make decisions. “We sign Juanmi as a new player but he’s a young player. Juanmi is 22 and he needs time and we know it’s a big difference about the tempo in the Premier League compared to different leagues. I don’t say the Premier League is stronger than the Spanish competition but it’s different in tempo, in physically what you need. That needs time. “We speak with Juanmi about that and sometimes I am the referee if we play a game on the pitch and I don’t whistle. I don’t whistle because sometimes he is falling too easy, he needs to be more strong and keep your football out of contacts. “That we are trying to develop.” This is a great example of what has become known as "The Koeman Touch",the Dutch manager looks at every little detail and concentrates on improving players rather than just leaving them to rot. Some managers might well have already have given up on Juanmi and decided that he was a gamble that didnt quite pay off and they would move on, managers like Harry Redknapp and Pochettino seemed to care only for the small elite group who were already up to the standard and anyone else was just making up the numbers. Koeman is different, he is constantly looking at how he can improve his squad rather than just his little group of starting players Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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