Having coached at the highest level at Manchester United and England, Jamaica’s new head coach, Steve McClaren, described himself as not an attacking or defensive coach but instead a flexible and tactical one.

McClaren, who was given a two-year contract by the Jamaica Football Federation to take Jamaica back to the FIFA World Cup for the first time in 26 years, pointed out that his philosophy is to keep it simple.  

“I try to be a winning coach,” he said laughing, while responding to questions from Our Today, at a pre-training press conference at the National Stadium today.

“Just winning keeps you in the job and helps you develop and helps you go forward. I am quite flexible and a tactical coach. I like the fundamentals. I like the basics,” he pointed out.

Replying to his preferred formation, McClaren pointed out that he is adaptable.

“It depends on the players. It depends on the opponent also. We’ve introduced one or two small things —  principles, non-negotiable, which we must have in the game. It’s not gonna be easy, it’s not gonna happen straight away,” he reiterated.

“We’re going to have spells where maybe we try to build up, but we make mistakes. I’d take responsibility for that,” said McClaren.

“We want them to play and be able to deal with handling the ball, control the game in possession; not just have a transition game, but to try and have some control, which is in possession control the game, out of possession, you’re in good shape. Good formation – hard to beat,” he emphasised.

Jamaica will play Cuba in its opening CONCACAF Nations League match on Friday inside the National Stadium starting at 7:00 pm.

“I like people knowing their jobs, doing their jobs, working hard and having a good attitude, which makes it hard to beat. I think that’s the platform of all performances,” he added.

He continued: “If you’re too stretched, then you can’t defend and you are easy to beat. You don’t win football matches enough”.

The Nations League is a qualifier for the CONCACAF Gold Cup and McClaren said he intends to improve on that and take Jamaica up the world rankings.

The Jamaican team had another training session this morning and the players and the coaching looked upbeat and raring to go.

“I’m here to help the players go to the next step, the next level. Yes, we are number one in the Caribbean, [so] let’s get up the rankings in CONCACAF and the goal, which is World Cup qualification in 2026,” McClaren noted.