Cochrane worked with Garnacho

Alejandro Garnacho's goal against Fulham earlier this month was one of the highlights for former Manchester United academy coach Justin Cochrane. Cochrane knew that the player's finish had been inspired by a personalised training program, so he took extra pleasure in watching the player complete the goal.

Garnacho moved to United from Atletico Madrid in 2020, and he immediately became the highlight of the club's Under-18s' campaign in the FA Youth Cup the previous year. He contributed seven goals and three assists on the team's way to extending United's outstanding history in the competition.

This season, the winger has been elevated to the first team, and he is currently attempting to strengthen his starting position on the left side of the field.

Garnacho has made significant headway in the two years since he moved to Manchester, and he singled out Cochrane for a role in his development just before he departed to join Brentford. He claimed that the coach had been'very attentive' and'supportive' throughout Garnacho's time at Manchester. Garnacho is now playing for Brentford.

Cochrane was the Head of Player Development at Old Trafford, and he recently discussed his time working with Garnacho. He revealed that the academy staff developed a specialized training plan for Garnacho that was intended to improve his qualities in key areas. Cochrane's comments were made public recently.

That included instituting a "no chopping" rule regarding the ball during training, which Garnacho followed in order to score against Fulham.

Cochrane stated in an interview for the Training Ground Guru Podcast that the experience "was interesting" because it required him to "get to know him initially." Although his English wasn't very good and I only knew a few words of Spanish, we were still able to communicate well enough to form a connection.

We laid out a specific plan for his growth, and he worked in accordance with that. It went by much faster than I had anticipated, but he serves as an example of connecting with the player, getting to know him, comprehending him, and then having some context.

"He listened to me and he listened to the other coaches about some key development traits that you see him do now when he is playing for Manchester United," the manager said. The fact that it validates many of my preconceived notions about coaching makes viewing it all the more interesting to me.

If you wanted to play on the wing for Manchester United, you had to compete with Anthony Elanga, Jadon Sancho, and Marcus Rashford. However, they recently acquired Antony, so you won't have to worry about that anymore. Therefore, it was necessary for Garnacho to ensure that he is exceptionally skilled in the areas in which he excels.

And he is great in transition, making darting runs in behind the defense, being quick, and having the ability to finish. Therefore, we were able to provide him with a well-defined training program that he was a part of and into which he had input. He made a contribution to it, and we had a lengthy conversation about the various aspects of it.

"One of the areas actually was that we said about not 'chopping,' and it was one of the areas that we covered. When he was younger, he would always step down with his left foot, but when he got older, he preferred to step down with his right foot. And one of the things that I said to him was, "Look, in the next few games, when you get the ball on your left foot, take the shot with your left foot." Therefore, before you can come inside, you need to have two left-foot strikes under your belt before you can chop.

"Something so insignificant as that made a difference to him, and then we laughed because I used to tell him, 'no chops,' so that's why we laughed. And then you are ecstatic when you watch him score for the first team in the Europa League and he takes it on his left foot; and then the other day, he takes it on his left foot again.

"Now, listen up, that's not the coaches at Manchester United or me; that's all him," the manager said. You are aware, however, that you attempted to make an impression on the development side together with him.