My Football Philosophy
M y football philosophy revolves around teamwork, structure, malleability and weapons. My main goal is for the team to be a cohesive unit that works together.
For that to happen, the atmosphere of the team is important. I want serenity and tranquillity, terms I came across a lot in Italian football and from Italian coaches. I want a peaceful team. Perhaps this is a little bit of Phil Jackson, too — Zen. I want a dressing room that is calm and happy. I want guys having fun and being relaxed all the while remaining within the remits of seriousness, discipline and focus.
We should have a united dressing room that is very secure and relaxed with no cliques or groups. Anyone should be able to sit with anyone in the changing room. Everyone should be free to speak and voice opinions and these opinions should be handled constructively and respectfully.
Structure is the next part. Everything on the field itself depends on your structure and your system — i.e. where and how your players are positioned. I want a compact team and I always start with a solid defensive structure. If we don’t concede we can’t lose — this is a simple and basic concept of football. The team has to be compact and hard to break down.
Malleability and weapons sort of fall together. Once I have the teamwork ethic in place, once we have our structure, now we want to be fluid and able to change and adapt to every situation that may arise on the field of play.
I believe that, as has increasingly become the case in American basketball (NBA) and American football (NFL), the modern preference in elite team sports is for players that can perform more than one role.
In NBA you see “stretch 4s” and combo guards. In the NFL you have hybrid defenders that, for example, can play a mix of safety and line-backer or running backs that are now able to catch and be extra receivers.
It is the same for me in football if you want a team that can play multiple formations and styles in one game. Defenders need to be able to play the ball and contribute in building attacks. Central midfielders need to be all-round players, like Luka Modric, that can play the 6, 8 or the 10 equally seamlessly. Wingers need to be able to play on either wing and cut inside or go outside.
Wingers also need to be smart and possess good technique so that, if need be, they are able to shift inside into more central areas in order to cause overloads as we saw Isco do to great effect for Real Madrid against Juventus in the 2017 UEFA Champions League final. It is absolutely imperative in the modern game to be flexible.
Lastly, weapons.
My team is based on weapons. Simply described, this is transcendent attackers that score goals and cause fear in opponents. In a team of 10 outfield players I aim to have three players that are absolute weapons. Obviously, you have to find a balance. Weapons are cracks, special players who 1) have never been enamoured with the nuances and hard work of defending from a young age because their job has been to be stars, and 2) need to conserve energy in order be fully effective on the offensive end.
So, you can’t have too many weapons because that will compromise your defensive strength but you can’t have too few because that will put too much pressure on the weapons that you do have and depend on.
Although what I have talked about so far may sound fancy, football is not complicated at all. And that is the key. Yes, many components go into a successful team but ultimately your success comes down to how simple you make things for your team.
I love Pep Guardiola; he is a role model as a man and a coach in terms of how he handles himself, his passion for his craft and his dedication to excellence. But his approach is too scientific. He sometimes makes the game too complicated and it causes struggles when he doesn’t have his perfect players. You won’t always have your perfect players as a coach.
Simplicity is easy for anyone to understand and it brings out the best in everyone.
