Great weekend full of soccer, with drama all over the world. In the English Premier League it is getting down to the wire with thrilling climaxes at both ends of the table. At the top it looks like Manchester United are going to win their third Championship on the run, an incredible feat. Liverpool are keeping up the pressure, but it is out of their hands.

More exciting than the top of the league is the battle to avoid relegation. West Brom are now back in the hunt to escape the drop, they had no pressure on them because everyone assumed they were already relegated. As I write this post, the Tyneside Derby between Newcastle United and Middlesbrough is being battled out and has been dubbed “The One Hundred Million Pound Game.” That’s how much is at stake between staying in the Premier League or getting relegated.

My beloved Blackburn Rovers are not yet mathematically safe, but they have reached 40 points and that is always significant.

As always, let’s look at what we can learn as coaches from some of the weekend action.

Firstly, I learned again not to beat my players up for making defensive mistakes…it is incredible to see almost “schoolboylike” mistakes even in the Premier League. The coaches must be squirming on the sidelines. How many goals could have been avoided this weekend if there had simply been better defending?

We can use these mistakes and show our players what was wrong, how it resulted in conceding a goal and how we can avoid the same or similar mistakes in our next game.

What did we learn on the attacking front? I am really pleased that players are receiving the ball on the wings and are now being more positive and really taking defenders on.

I like the way Rooney is now doing this, he has started to receive the ball out wide on the left and he is really going at the right back, cutting inside for a shot or cross.

This skill/attitude seemed to had been lost, players were no longer taking on defenders, but now they are and it is showing how dangerous it is.

I will be working with my players to really encourage them to take on the defender with pace and aggression and focus on producing a shot or a cross instead of playing safe and passing off the responsibility.

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