‘Arnie, I can’t breathe’: How COVID made Graham Arnold a better coach

“I’ve become a better human being,” says Graham Arnold. “I feel that over the course of this pandemic, I’ve become softer. My way isn’t that of a dictatorship. I’ve always been firm but supportive. But if the past year has taught me anything, it’s that I have to be a father figure to these players.”

The Socceroos coach rarely drops his guard and opens up like this about himself but is doing so, here in the plush surrounds of the Bathers’ Pavilion at Balmoral Beach, after reaching out to the Herald late last week.

Specifically, he wanted to come out swinging for his players following the national side’s last three World Cup qualifying matches: a 2-1 away loss to Japan, a scoreless home draw against Saudi Arabia and a 1-1 away draw with China.

Those results have them parked in third spot in Group B, behind Japan and Saudi Arabia, with four matches remaining, the first against Vietnam on January 27.

Just what this means for the Socceroos on their path to the World Cup finals in Qatar in November depends on your perspective.

The unicorn-and-rainbow view is their “destiny is in our own hands”. A top-two finish will see them go straight through.

Socceroos coach Graham ArnoldCredit:Kate Geraghty

The doomsday outlook is they are no certainties to finish third, and, if they do, will have to walk through the valley of death otherwise known as playing the fifth-best team from South America. Yuck.

“There’s a lot of misunderstanding,” Arnold, 58, says. “A lot of people think COVID is over. That we didn’t go through it. They forget what’s happened in the past. In 2021, during a pandemic, we’ve had 10 World Cup qualifiers, nine away from home, we’ve won seven, drawn two, lost one. Considering what we’ve gone though, we’re in a great position.”

Arnold wants to come out swinging for his players but, to be honest, most of the criticism has been levelled at Arnold himself — and most of it from former Socceroos teammate Mark Bosnich, who once described him as one of the funniest men he’s played with.

They’re not laughing now.

“Bozza is the least of my worries,” Arnold says dismissively. “I have bigger worries. He’s entitled to his opinion. He’s a great guy.”

Great? Great. It’s Arnold’s use of this rather banal adjective that seems to have the football community in a tizz. After the draw with Saudi Arabia, he said in the post-match media conference his side was “playing great” and remained in a “great position” to qualify.

Speaking on Stan Sport FC, Bosnich seized on the remarks.

“I wonder what not playing great looks like,” the former Socceroos goalkeeper said. “Playing great for me means you’ve won 3-0 and it’s a Barcelona-esque-from-10-years-ago performance … Come on.”

Bosnich also said Arnold would take his criticism as a personal attack. They hadn’t spoken for 18 months, he claimed.

Mitchell Duke and Andrew Nabbout after the Socceroos’ stalemate with Saudi Arabia last month.Credit:Getty

“I can show you an email an interview I did with Boz, on Fox Sports, in November last year,” Arnold says. “It’s not true.”

I love Boz. I love Arnie. They’re devoid of bullshit and ooze passion for their code. Whenever anyone in Australian football rumbles with one another, it feels more like a family feud than the Hatfields taking on the McCoys.

I ask Arnold why he hasn’t reached out to his friend to clear the air.

“Why hasn’t he reached out to me?” he shoots back. “He’s the journo. If he wants to ask questions, why didn’t he reach out to me?”

Arnold relies on his circle to tell him what is being said by the media.Credit:Kate Geraghty

Arnold says he doesn’t watch TV nor read the newspapers, but there are enough people in his circle who keep him in the loop about what’s being said about him and his side.

On the morning we meet, his phone pings with texts alerting him to Bosnich’s comments the night before, and then published in the Herald, that Australia will struggle to qualify for Qatar unless there’s a “tweak” of tactics.

It’s a regular criticism of this particular Arnold team: a one-dimensional attacking structure that struggles to break down opposition defences.

“When Bozza says a tweak of tactics, I wish it was that easy,” Arnold says. “A tweak? What’s a tweak?”

‘If I went on TV and said ‘we’d played shit and it wasn’t good enough’, what am I going to get [from the players] next game?′

He picks up a glass and moves it a few centimetres.

“We’ll move that from there to there — that’s a tweak!” he says, chuckling, before adding: “What’s important is that players play match minutes for their club, overseas and here in Australia in the A League.”

This is the important context that Arnold’s critics either don’t appreciate or won’t adequately acknowledge: no other Australian team has had to endure what the Socceroos have had in the past year or so.

He’s lived out of a suitcase for most of it, deciding not to return to Sydney because he would have spent more time in hotel quarantine than out of it.

Just four days before their last match, only five of Arnold’s Socceroos were in the country.Credit:Kate Geraghty

“I had three decisions,” Arnold says. “Stay away to get this done and possibly get COVID; do 94 days in quarantine, which would’ve been impossible because I couldn’t stand 14; or walk away. I choose to stay [in the job] because I started this journey and intend on finishing it. I shouldn’t be called the Socceroos coach — I should be the Socceroos manager because you get minimal time to coach with international travel the way it is.”

Some of his players and staff have contracted COVID-19. Some played little or no football because their competitions were suspended. Travel to and from Australia has been difficult, and even then restrictive because of the 14-day quarantine requirements.

The Socceroos have had to make it work because the alternative was not playing in the World Cup.

The match against Saudi Arabia highlighted Arnold’s struggle: just four days before the match, only five of his players were in the country.

“Due to limited international travel, we had one training session — basically a 10-mintue session spent on tactics,” Arnold offers. “Sydney had just opened up, there were limited international flights, they couldn’t get here early enough … It nearly brings tears to my eyes [thinking about] the emotional side of things for those players coming back and seeing their parents for the first time in three years. They felt they let their families down [with the draw] because they wanted to win so badly. It’s my job to pick them up.”

Arnold identified a long time ago that players are delicate souls. He had to back them publicly, not bash them up.

“My role as the manager was to pick those boys up,” he says. “If I went on TV and said we’d played shit and it wasn’t good enough, what am I going to get next game? I learned a long time ago that players listen and read everything. You need to have a positive mindset. I’m sorry but the most important thing to me are those players.”

It explains why he believes he’s become a better human and better coach.

“You mean manager,” he says, chuckling. “My man management has improved out of sight. I’ve had to change my ways. When you’re a coach, no matter who that is, you are a control freak. But you change your ways when one of your players with COVID says to you, ‘Arnie, I can’t breathe properly’.”

Arnold won two A-League premierships and a grand final with Sydney FC but has no plans for his future beyond the Socceroos job.Credit:Christopher Pearce

As for an end date, Arnold won’t entertain his future beyond the Socceroos.

He admits he misses club football “terribly” but scoffs at rumours he could be headed to the Wanderers, whose active supporters infamously unfurled a putrid banner directed at him during a Sydney Derby when he was coaching Sydney FC in 2017.

“Me? To the Wanderers? Please,” Arnold says. “They can get the banner back out … I’m not walking out on these players. They’ve done a lot for the country; their effort for the Socceroos is untold. If some people get their way, they’ll chase me out the door like they chased out Ange [Postecoglou].

“But I’m not going anywhere. We’re building something that’s great. I know I’m not allowed to say that word, but that’s my belief.”

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