8 Questions with Mads Davidsen

The pursuit of wisdom in any walk of life quickly reveals that what you think you know is not nearly enough to get you to where you want to go. As I'm starting out in my football journey I challenged myself to reach out to those already working in various roles in football to answer a short list of questions. My goal wasn't to get answers but relevant perspectives on the game within the game.

Here is Mads Davidsen:

What is your first memory of football?

I played from when I could walk every day - all the time, but on tv it is in particular the World Cup 1990. My grandfather had a farm and got a new cow at the time, which I that summer named Gary (Lineker).
  

What attracted you to coaching?

My mentor Flemming Pedersen - currently head coach at FCN in Denmark. He was the first coach, who made my understand the game in a different way and he called me, when I retired and convinced me to try going into coaching.

What is the biggest misconception/cliche regarding coaching you’ve run into?

There are many: An English classic is 'the game is the teacher', which is nonsense and completely misunderstood just to let kids play and then expect themselves to figure it out. Another related to that is assumption creativity comes from freedom. It is not even related to football, but scientifically wrong. Creativity grows in structure, so we need to structure the game and training session in details, to decrease the complexity to then open up for systematic creativity.

If you could start over what skill would you build on first?

As a coach? I would go even harder into analyzing the game phase to phase. I did this over a 8-year period trying to analyze 5000 games to understand the game and still today, I can learn new things.

What is more impactful for a player: psychology or environment? Why?

I see it as a holistic approach, where the environment are they key element for creating a path and base for talent to grow - including developing the character of the players and their mental strength.

What three (3) coaches would you want to have a meal with? Why?

I've been extremely lucky to meet and observe top coaches like Pep, Sarri, Simeone, work with some like Sven Goran Eriksson and Andre Villas Boas of them, so actually, I don't know who it would be.

What is the next frontier of coaching?

More structure on the final 3rd offensively as well as more complete players, who can swoop positions. For example the center backs have a huge potential in becoming a bigger part of the offensive game.

What is your favorite quote or saying?

Football is the most misunderstood game of all sports.