Of all the managers to have been linked with Sunderland in recent months, Will Still stands out the most.
His comments about a possible move to English football helped to hype the situation, although those comments didn’t please everyone around his current club Stade de Reims.
Still has had a very widely covered rise in football management, and that’s seen Spanish newspaper AS ask for a word… and the manager revealing his big admiration for Newcastle United’s Eddie Howe.
Asked which coaches or managers have inspired him the most as he’s been on the journey to get to where he is, the Sunderland target told AS: “I was inspired by everyone. There is no coach better than another. I think there are different ideas throughout the world of football that we can learn from. Ancelotti too, who has done absolutely crazy things. But we also have Eddie Howe, in Newcastle, who does things very well. You have to try to capture as much information as possible to be able to apply it and not stick to just one style.”
There’s a chance Still could be in charge at Sunderland next season, if the rumours and hints up to now are anything to judge by, and therefore be a local rival of Howe and Newcastle United, albeit in different divisions.
Regarding his Reims style of positional play, Still was asked to explain his thinking behind that, and told the Spanish newspaper: “For me, positional play is creating superiority over the opponent to be able to play forward. That to me is the definition of position play. Play vertically and as fast as possible. I don’t like having the ball for hours and hours, that doesn’t interest me. I like to play forward and be vertical. And create superiorities and, in addition, generate a system with which we can play quickly forward. And when we lose the ball, react as quickly as possible in short distances to be able to steal and attack again.”
Stade de Reims are currently ninth in Ligue 1 and face PSG at lunchtime today.
