AAGS 2021

18 Star Chat Arsene Wenger spoke specifically about the development of a young player, how important is giving young talent an opportunity? Very important. I think it’s important to know the mentality of the young players, what you need to do with them. I came from one beautiful school, the Partizan Belgrade. I learned there how to play football and after I prepared my training focusing on the children, it’s so important. But you need to show what they need to do. Is that difficult when you can’t speak the same language? How did you communicate? In the USA National Team in 1994, there was no language, but we had a very competitive team. My empathy with the players was great so because of that, I was happy. What you show them in the field is the most important thing, not how much you speak. How do you make your point clear there? Through what you showed them? Very, very easy communication, empathy in every training. The most important action in the game is the next one. The ball decides where you need to move in the field. You can speak so much but you need to have a relationship with the ball, what you need to do when you have the ball and when you don’t have the ball! For that, step by step and one day you become a great player. You’ve made a big name as an international manager and your huge success in FIFA World Cups and therefore bringing an international team together, is that different from a club manager? It’s the same, you need to know what you need to do to be competitive, I’m so lucky, do you know how many international games I have? 312 international matches, I think this is important. You’re learning but football is the player. You need to know what you need to do with and without the ball, later, you need to show it, so easy! What have you learned and what do you know today with all your knowledge and experience? To enjoy the game. They speak so much about the pressure, I don´t think pressure exists. For that, I don’t need to think about against whom I will play, but I need to repeat what I do in the training. All the time I need to do my best. If I do my best everything is easy. You need to have team spirit. You will need to work in the training spirit. How do you train? You train how you play. How you train is how you play, but you need to know exactly what you need to do. As an international manager, that was your job to help the players forget about the pressure and to reinstall enjoyment? You need to enjoy the game. Why? You need to do your best. And after when you play the game the only thing you need is to repeat what you do in the training, but this is the key. What you do in the training, how you do the training then after everything is easier. Do you think it’s more difficult to always enjoy the game today? Do you think there are added pressures today? No pressure. For example, for our player today. I’ll tell you; I support Qatar. They had to build stadiums for the public, everything, grass, everything, everything is perfect. Now what I need to do, I need to repeat what I do in the training. I need to enjoy the game, do my best and repeat. The next action is the most important one. The game is 90 minutes and finishes. Bora Milutinovic