Thomas Dennerby: Huge experience for me to work with younger players

The India U-17 Women's Team coach opened up on the development of the team ahead of the FIFA World Cup next year.

Thomas Dennerby is the man tasked with the responsibility of leading the India U-17 Women’s Team at their first-ever World Cup next year. A quick peek at his CV shows that the team is in more than capable hands. The tactician is an experienced campaigner having a managerial career spanning more than two decades, with ample experience at the highest level.

He led the Swedish National Women’s Team to a third-place finish in the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany, before leading them to the quarterfinals at the 2012 London Olympics. More recently, he led the Nigerian Women's National Team to the AWCON title in 2018 and was in-charge of the Super Falcons at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France.

During a live chat on the Indian football team’s official Facebook page, the coach revealed that he thought of his new job as a challenging proposition. He was also flattered by the proposal and looked forward to working with the talented young players.

“It is a huge experience for me to start working with younger players once again because I have only been working with senior teams since 2005. When I arrived in India, I could see that the girls have good technical skills, read the game well, are bright and have a nice touch on the ball. But, in comparison with the best teams in Europe and the US, I could see we were a little bit behind in terms of the fitness levels and the pace of the game," he began.

The FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup was initially set to be held later this year, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Speaking about the postponement, the head coach thinks the extra time that will be available might work in their favour and give them a chance to work on different facets of their play. “At least it will help us to get back the three months that we lose now. When we come back, it will give us more time to work on the playing vision, game idea and technical skills. It also gives some extra experience. So yes, it could give us an extra advantage,” he opined.

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Currently in Sweden, Thomas Dennerby must be itching to get back on the training ground to start working again with this exciting young crop of players. He has been in constant contact with the players on WhatsApp, monitoring their fitness and has held webinars to communicate his ideas to the players during the lockdown.

When asked about potential targets he has in mind when training resumes, the coach replied, “I think we will do the easiest thing first and that is to check the fitness level of the players. The result of the test will also help us to do a new long-term program all the way till the World Cup starts.”

“I think it will be fine, but we worry sometimes of the momentum because we left each other in March. The team was doing really well, but I hope we can come back to that and definitely I will say it again that don’t worry, we have the time. We will get the time back and we will handle this situation together with the girls because they are so ambitious and so passionate,” Thomas Dennerby reassured the fans.

In the short amount of time he has spent with the side so far, the coach feels that the girls have improved, but thinks that there are still aspects of their game that they need to work on. The tactician recognizes the need to increase the tempo of the game but added that the required change will only come about when the fitness levels and the decision-making of the players improve. 

“I think we have improved and I think we have to speed up the pace of the game and that comes together when the fitness level is higher and also the decision-making is so much quicker. It is probably the most important thing to speed up the game in football today. Even if you are the speediest player on the pitch, but if you handle the ball slowly, you have a lot of touches or you have a problem with receiving the ball and so on, you cannot use your speed.”

Apart from the above mentioned aspects, Thomas Dennerby has also been trying to get his team to play using fewer touches on the ball in order to quicken circulation of possession, leading to the creation of more space on the field. As a result, the coach wants to face teams of greater calibre, as playing consistently against them will accelerate the development of the players and help them gain valuable experience.

“The most important is the decision-making and that is also the reason why I want us to play higher-ranked teams because you get less time in these games and so that helps you to speed up the decision-making.”

“It helps you understand that, 'If I am this slow, I don’t have a good angle to receive the ball, they will be on me and press me, so I can’t turn and have to find a good angle to open up space for myself.' We are working on all those technical details to help the players speed up the game,” Thomas Dennerby remarked.

Furthermore, he expressed his gratitude to the government and the federation for their assistance, as they have worked in close liaison to create a better environment at the training camp to help the girls excel. He also believes that India could secure a higher-ranking in the next five years if they continue working together and display consistency.

The team also took part in a U-17 tri-nation tournament involving Thailand and Sweden, which was held in Mumbai last year in December. According to the tactician, such competitions are highly encouraging for the girls and massively help them in their development process.

“It was a very nice tournament and very encouraging for the girls and it helped us improve a lot. The first game against Sweden was very good. We had a couple of chances to score and honestly, Sweden were a little bit nervous because I don’t think they supposed that they will play such a good Indian team. The girls got a lot of experience playing a top team from Europe and they understand what level they need to reach to be a top team."

"The game against Thailand was also good and we should have scored a few more goals than we did. It’s important to know and learn that in the World Cup, you won’t get 7-8 chances to score. You might get only 2-3, but you have to make sure you take those. When the forwards train on their finishing and shooting, it is important for them to have a plan and just not shoot and wish for the best,” the tactician stated.

Moreover, the head coach hopes that the junior side can establish a relationship with the senior team once training resumes. He feels that it would be great for the girls to have a few training sessions with them and cooperate in some capacity. The coach also revealed that they had planned some tours to provide necessary exposure to the players, but those never came to fruition owing to the pandemic. He hopes to get a chance in the coming months to organize such matches against top-ranked sides, but confessed that he fully respects and understands if they cannot conduct the games due to the current situation.

Lastly, there have been a raging debate on the resumption of football and questions persist about whether it is morally correct to restart the game when lives are at risk. The tactician had his say on the matter.

“I think it is good that they started. Of course, players want to have full stands with spectators, but the situation is what it is and everybody accepts that. For most of these players playing in the leagues, they are professionals and they go to their work and do the best they can in the situation."

"No-one is really 100% sure what is going to happen with the pandemic, so I hope there won’t be any setbacks and that they can keep on going. I think in Sweden they now plan on starting the leagues in the middle of June and I think it is good,” concluded Thomas Dennerby.