New England Revolution manager Brad Friedel claims that he has learned a lot from the game over his extended career as a goalkeeper. The 46-year-old played for the likes of Blackburn and Tottenham during a lengthy career, which primarily saw him play his football in the Premier league.

After recently returning back to the United States, Friedel has been expressing an interest in the coaching side of things. He received his first major break as the manager of the under 19 United States team. Now, he has just been appointed as the coach of New England Revolution, who had a pretty mediocre 2017 MLS campaign.

The lack of experience has been cited as a concern for New England Revolution ahead of the 2018 campaign. However, Friedel says that he has gained an impressive knowledge of managing the game over the course of his two decade long career. Since starting out in 1994, Friedel made the switch to European football in 1995 with Galatasaray. Even though he briefly returned to the United States for a spell with Columbus Crew, he is largely known for his time in English football with the likes of Liverpool, Blackburn, Aston Villa, and Tottenham. Since his retirement in 2015, he has been working with a lot of coaches too. After having played under several top coaches in his career, Friedel says that he will look to transfer the experience into the MLS.

“It [playing career] has prepared me very well and the longevity of my career also helped. I’ve used a lot of that experience, especially in the latter years of my career. I’ve been around for over 20 years as a player. That helps a lot in the mental aspect of dealing with players, understanding their nature and problems. I could start to figure out how to deal with them once I become a coach. With youth team - many of them were already professionals, so that was important as well,” said Friedel.