Ryan Giggs’ first year: The accusations, the facts and where Wales now stand
By Ian Mitchelmore
Thursday 22nd November 2018
Ryan Giggs' first year in charge of Wales ended in dreadful fashion as the national side were beaten 1-0 by Albania at Elbasan Arena.
His impact so far has been heavily discussed during the course of 2018, particularly after the miserable friendly defeat on Tuesday night.
And it's safe to say there are a number of perceptions about his style, while several accusations continue to be levelled at the 44-year-old ahead of Wales' Euro 2020 qualifying campaign.
So following his first year as boss, we took a closer look at Giggs' time in charge so far to determine whether or not the claims and notions are fair or not.
The players won't/don't respect him
This is a claim that was levelled at Giggs even before he took charge and has occasionally popped up at times on social media during his reign.
The theory is that Giggs' lack of experience in management, allied with the fact he pulled out of so many Wales matches as a player, could adversely affect how this group view him.
When all is said and done, only the players can give you the real answer to this one.
But from the outside looking in, it certainly appears Giggs has the respect of his players who seem to be enjoying life under their current boss.
The training videos that saw the players performing 'man-tag' drills ahead of the clash with Denmark in Cardiff were a wonderful demonstration of the unity within the camp, something captain Ashley Williams alluded to in a press conference.
And former Wales international Craig Bellamy has revealed that the spirit and bond in the group has never been greater.
Speaking on Sky Sports Debate, Bellamy commented: "Ryan will have his own stamp. But the unit is unique. People always say groups of players are very close knit, and I see a lot of lip service, but you will not come across a group as close as this.
"I saw them when we were training with different age groups and as I went past, you stop and wait to talk to each other for a long time because we went through something that very few football teams and players have ever had to go through. That bond is co close."
Gareth Bale has often spoken about his respect for Giggs, previously naming his current national team boss as his favourite ever team mate, ahead of the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo.
And the young guns certainly appear to respect him given how much faith he's shown them over the course of their fledgling careers.
Craig Bellamy, along with Ryan Giggs, was also interviewed by the FAW for the Wales job following the departure of Chris Coleman.
He has no charisma and this is a problem
Giggs' charisma has often been the source of debate among football fans in general, not just the Red Wall.
But Giggs himself has admitted on several occasions he's learning about himself on the job while we've started to see more glimpses of his personality shining through as the games have ticked by.
His passion was evident in the 2-1 defeat to Denmark as he clashed with Danish boss Age Hareide following the incidents involving Ethan Ampadu and Kasper Dolberg.
He even roared on the crowd as Wales desperately went in search of an equaliser in that encounter, while Giggs is often seen frantically pacing between the dugout and the touchline.
And it appears that the persona he exudes in public is somewhat different to that shown behind closed doors, as players revealed in the mixed zone after Wales' 4-1 defeat to Spain at Principality Stadium.
Asked about if the Wales stars were given the famed Sir Alex Ferguson hairdryer treatment at half time in the loss to the 2010 World Cup winners, Ben Davies replied: "Yes, of course.
"And I think he was right. It was not good enough to start, we weren’t at it and against teams like that, they are going to punish you."
So while he may not be as animated as Jurgen Klopp or as brash as say Jose Mourinho, we're undoubtedly starting to see more of the real Giggs.
But let's be brutally honest about this one, if he delivers results, it's something that people won't give a moment's thought.
Chris Coleman's work is being undone
Chris Coleman will always go down as one of his country's greatest ever managers having guided Wales to the semi-finals of Euro 2016 against all odds.
But Coleman more than doubled his salary by moving to Sunderland and has since joined Hebei China Fortune where he is earning the kind of finances he was never going to be given by the FAW, or by most other clubs in Britain in fact.
Wales were 90 minutes away from securing a play-off spot to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, but an agonising defeat to Republic of Ireland ensured it wasn't to be, and the time for change had come. (Some may argue things needed freshening up even at the beginning of that qualifying campaign, but that's another issue entirely)
Let's also not forget, Coleman's own reign didn't exactly start with a bang.
He took over in truly devastating circumstances following the tragic death of Gary Speed, and Wales lost their first five matches under Coleman, the fifth of which was a 6-1 hammering at the hands of Serbia in Novi Sad.
The same can be said about Speed - whose reign started with three consecutive defeats against the Home Nations - who played such a pivotal role in getting Wales to where they currently are.
How Ryan Giggs' record compares to his predecessors
Giggs has had nine matches in charge so far. Here's how his record compares with Wales' most recent bosses:
Record in first nine matches in charge of Wales
Ryan Giggs: W3; D1; L5
Gary Speed: W4; D0; L5
Chris Coleman W3; D0; L6
John Toshack: W3; D1; L5
Mark Hughes: W1; D1; L7
It's worth remembering that almost everyone was calling for Coleman's head after Wales were pummelled by Serbia. And things didn't turn out too badly in the end.
That's not to say the same will happen under Giggs. Only time will tell on that front.
But an evolving process is taking place at the moment. And this time next year we'll know whether it has been a successful transitional period or not.
Wales manager Ryan Giggs
He's tactically naive/inept
Before we get stuck into this section, it's worth pointing out that 2018 has been as close to a free hit as you'll ever get in international management for Giggs.
By this point in previous years, Wales would have already played a number of European Championship or World Cup qualifiers, but due to the introduction of the Nations League, Giggs is yet to take charge of a match geared towards one of the two major competitions.
It has allowed him to experiment with his formations, as well as his squad selections and tactics.
Giggs has handed no fewer than 10 players their Wales debuts during the course of his tenure so far, while he's used a staggering total of 36 different men in his nine matches.
Wales' debutants under Ryan Giggs
Chris Mepham v China
Connor Roberts v Uruguay
Billy Bodin v Uruguay
Matt Smith v Mexico
George Thomas v Mexico
Tyler Roberts v Republic of Ireland
Daniel James v Albania
James Lawrence v Albania
Rabbi Matondo v Albania
Kieron Freeman v Albania
And it's all been done with the Euro 2020 qualifiers in mind. Giggs has been able to experiment to see what works as well as what doesn't.
So coming back to the original claim, the four Nations League matches are undoubtedly the best measure of Giggs' credentials given that they have been the only competitive matches in his reign to date.
And while the Red Dragons claimed the double over Republic of Ireland, they were ultimately beaten twice by Denmark.
A swashbuckling performance saw Wales sweep Ireland aside in their opening fixture while they had to show plenty of fighting qualities in Dublin as they emerged victorious at the Aviva Stadium without Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey in their ranks.
Wales were competitive in both losses to the Danes too, particularly at Cardiff City Stadium where the hosts had 18 shots, eight more than Denmark while they had seven - four more than the visitors - on target. They also saw more of the ball.
Hareide's men are notoriously streetwise and have the experience in their ranks to find a way to win, but how often is it that you see Wales genuinely go toe to toe with a side ranked above them and create a raft of opportunities against them?
That said, Wales should perhaps have been more defensively minded against Denmark and played on the counter attack, as similar tactics have yielded memorable results in recent times, most notably in the meetings with Belgium under Coleman.
And there is a fear among some sections of the Wales faithful that under Giggs, the national side will be more than capable of putting the lower ranked sides in their place, but their bold attacking approach will leave them too open when it comes to the big guns.
A defensive approach doesn't appear to be in Giggs' DNA, however, so whether you agree with or not, he's sticking to his guns when it comes to his philosophies.
Conclusion
There have been plenty of positives.
The introduction of the youngsters, the dismantling of Republic of Ireland in Cardiff and the battling display from an inexperienced side against Mexico being a few.
However, there have also been a number of negatives.
Back-to-back defeats to Denmark were hugely frustrating while the loss to Albania was undoubtedly the low point.
But the serious business is still to come, and that's what Giggs should really be judged on.
The team will be far more settled in 2019 with a lot less chopping and changing, and Giggs' thoughts should now be as clear as they have been ahead of their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign.
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