Euro 2016 top 5 managers

England, France, Belgium, Spain and Germany showed us at Euro 2016 that talents and individual players don’t necessarily win you games.

Its a thing to have the talents, its another to be able to get the best out of these talents. Its the job of a good manger to get the best out of his players regardless of the level of their talents.

Euro 2016 has shown us that team work, cohesiveness and a manager who can grind out results are qualities very important to winning championship.

Here are sportsration top 5 managers from the just concluded Euro 2016

5. Didier Deschamps (France)

The France manager who could have joined Berti Vogt has the only men who won the championship as a player and manager would blame himself for his team’s failure to clinch the title in front of their own fans.

If a team win trophies we praise the manager if they don’t we shouldn’t spare the manager.

He started the tournament with a 4-3-3 formation that put his star duo Griezmann and Pogba in missery and ended the match way off their standards. As the game progresses the hosts got better and the former Juventus manager found his winning formula and selection.

With the number of talents at his disposal Deschamps should be disappointed with their outing, they could have easily won the final from the bench, they played against a Ronaldo-less Portugal side and couldn’t take them apart.

Kudos to him he brought them that far but almost in the final is nothing.

4. Lars Lagerback/Heimir Hallgrimsson (Iceland)

It was Iceland’s first ever appearance at any major competition but they played like a country who has been there forever. The recorded one of the biggest shock in the history of football beating England in the second round before losing to France in the quarter-finals.

Quarter-final finish for a country without a professional league, whose joint coach Heimir Hallgrimsson is a dentist and the population of just 323,002 is a great feat, one that will forever be remembered.

They played the same starting XI in all five games – something that has never happened before at a European Championship.

The managers got the best out of their players the underdog status never affected them, as they played as unit all through their campaign.

3. Antonio Conte (Italy) 

The new Chelsea manager showed the Chelsea faithfuls what to expect from him if giving the chance to play his way. Injuries to his key players such as Marco Verratti, Claudio Marchisio, Riccardo Montolivo and his refusal to call Andrea Pirlo and Sebastian Govinco made many bookies to write off Italy.

Conte played with a 3-5-2 formation all through the tournament, they got a surprise 2-0 victory over Belgium, outclassed the defending champions Spain in the second round before eventually losing to Germany via penalty shoot-out in the quarter-finals.

The way the Italians pressed from their back line through their wing-backs/midfielders and to the attack, and their tactical discipline key to what they achieved. Italy getting as far as the quarter-finals with the players they paraded was down to Conte’s tactical genius.

2. Chris Coleman (Wales)

Wales called by many as one man team topped a group many thought they wouldn’t qualified from. Coleman and his players showed they were more than a one man team as they attacked as a unit and defended as whole.

He won the tactical battle against the most expensive and most attacking side at the tournament Belgium before bowing out to the eventual winner Portugal in the semi-finals.

1.Fernando Santos (Portugal)

Sometimes he’ll sacrifice a player to play in a particular way and shape because of his opponent. In the second round against Croatia he started Adrien Silva because of his ability defend and harrass opponents and the gamble paid off. The Euro 2016 champions were no flukes as they played with passion, commitment and urgency all through the campaign, even in the final when no one believed them they never lost hope. They lost their star man Cristiano Ronaldo the guys showed us they can do it without him and they were no jokers.

Fernando Santos and Portugal showed us it takes a tactically sound coach, committed and discipline players not just super stars alone to win championships.