🔗 Share this article

Ten years back, Anthony Barry was playing for Accrington Stanley. Today, he is focused to assist the head coach claim the World Cup trophy in the upcoming tournament. His path from the pitch to the sidelines started through volunteering coaching youngsters. He remembers, “Evening sessions, a partial pitch, organizing 11-a-side … deflated balls, scarce bibs,” and it captivated him. He had found his calling.

Metoric Climb

Barry's progression is incredible. Starting as Paul Cook’s assistant, he built a reputation with creative training and excellent people skills. His stints with teams included elite sides, plus he took on roles with national teams with the Republic of Ireland, Belgium, and Portugal. He has worked with stars like Thiago Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Cristiano Ronaldo. Currently, in the England setup, it's all-consuming, the top in his words.

“All begins with a vision … Yet I'm convinced that dedication shifts obstacles. You have the dream and then you plan: ‘How can we achieve it, gradually?’ We dream about winning the World Cup. Yet dreams alone aren't enough. We have to build a structured plan so we can to maximize our opportunities.”

Obsession with Details

Obsession, particularly on fine points, characterizes his journey. Working every hour under the sun—sometimes the moon, too, the coaching duo test boundaries. Their methods include psychological profiling, a heat-proof game model ahead of the tournament in North America, and creating a unified squad. Barry emphasizes “Team England” and avoids language like “international break”.

“It's not time off or a pause,” Barry says. “We needed to create an environment where players are eager to join and they're pushed that going back is a relief.”

Ambitious Trainers

Barry describes himself and Tuchel as extremely driven. “We aim to control all parts of the match,” Barry affirms. “We strive to own the whole ground and that’s what we spend most of our time to. It’s our job not just to keep up of changes but to beat them and innovate. This is continuous focused on finding solutions. And to simplify complexity.

“There are 50 days with the players ahead of the tournament. We must implement an intricate approach that gives us a tactical advantage and we have to make it so clear in our 50 days with them. It’s to take it from concept to details to understanding to action.

“To build a methodology for effective use in the 50 days, it's crucial to employ the entire 500 days we'll have after our appointment. In the time we don’t have the players, it's vital to develop bonds among them. We have to spend time communicating regularly, we need to watch them play, sense their presence. If we limit ourselves to that time, we won't succeed.”

Final Qualifiers

The coach is focusing on the last two of World Cup qualifiers – against Serbia at Wembley and away to Albania. They've already ensured their place at the finals with six wins out of six and six clean sheets. But there will be no easing off; instead. This is the time to strengthen the squad's character, for further momentum.

“We are both certain that our playing approach should represent all the positives from the top division,” Barry explains. “The athleticism, the versatility, the robustness, the work ethic. The England jersey must be difficult to earn yet easy to carry. It must resemble a cloak instead of heavy armour.

“For it to feel easy, it's crucial to offer a system that lets them to play freely similar to weekly matches, that feels natural and lets them release restrictions. They should overthink less and more in doing.

“There are emotional wins for managers in attack and defense – starting moves deep, attacking high up. Yet, in the central zone in that part of the ground, we feel the game has become stuck, particularly in the Premier League. All teams are well-prepared these days. They understand tactics – defensive shapes. We are focusing to increase tempo across those 24 metres.”

Thirst for Improvement

The coach's thirst for improvement knows no bounds. During his education for the Uefa pro licence, he had concerns about the presentation, since his group included stars like Lampard and Carrick. For self-improvement, he went into the most challenging environments available to him to improve his talks. One was HMP Walton in Liverpool, where he also took inmates during an exercise.

He earned his license as the best in his year, with his thesis – focusing on set-pieces, for which he analysed numerous set-plays – became a published work. Frank was one of those convinced and he recruited the coach to his team at Chelsea. When Lampard was sacked, it was telling that Chelsea removed virtually all of his coaches while keeping Barry.

Lampard’s successor at Chelsea took over, and shortly after, they secured European glory. When he was let go, Barry stayed on with Potter. But when Tuchel re-emerged at Munich, he recruited Barry from Chelsea and back alongside him. The Football Association consider them a duo akin to Gareth Southgate and Steve Holland.

“I’ve never seen anything like Thomas {in terms of personality and methodology|in character and approach|