Since the spread of the religion that is football to the far corners of the globe and the creation of leagues to pit the best teams within and between different geographic regions, there came a time when it became possible to compare and contrast the best teams there are out there. As such, we come to know of the great Brazilian players with their technical skills and the organized Italian defence with their astute tactics. The rules may have changed over the centuries and as such, perhaps different skillsets and football philosophies became the determiner for success in winning matches. Nevertheless, the beautiful game still manage to capture the imagination of billions.
The Best League in the World
In the turn of the 21st century, certain football philosophies and teams came to predominate the game. Of course, in terms of league, the European leagues are miles ahead of the other leagues in the world due to the huge difference in capital and structure invested into the leagues. Interestingly, although the English Premier League, self-proclaimed as the best football league in the world, had the most capital and fan base worldwide, the teams had not produced the teams that dominate European competitions. With their embarrassment of riches and astonishing wages offered to players, the English Clubs are still unable to produce the greatest team in Europe and the best players do not play there. (See Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo).
Early 2000s
Perhaps around 2000 to 2005, English teams had some fantastic teams such as the vintage Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal 'Invincibles' but most would say the Italian clubs spearheaded by AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus were the best teams then. These teams then had the best players playing for them. AC Milan, who won the 2002-03 Champions League, Europe's premier football competition, had Rivaldo, Rui Costa, Paolo Maldini and an up-and-coming Andrea Pirlo. AC Milan won again in 2006-07 with players such as the original Brazilian Ronaldo, Cafu and the developed Andrea Pirlo. A particular characteristic of these clubs, emulated by the Italian national team, the Azzuris, who won the World Cup in 2006 is their tactical astuteness and robust defence.
Late 2000s to 2010s
Around 2005 to 2017, another kind of football philosophy came to emerge and dominate the footballing landscape. That is, the rise of 'tiki-taka' football. Some might say this football philosophy died way earlier around 2015, but no, this football mentality which wins games are still embodied in many winning teams as of 2018. The league that encapsulate this idea of football? No less, the La Liga. In 2010, the Spanish national team won the World Cup and in 2012, they won the Euros employing the tried-and-tested philosophy used by Barcelona. Barcelona itself is predominated by Spanish players who were trained in the football philosophy in the famed football academy, La Masia, who have produced football greats such as Andreas Iniesta and Lionel Messi. This football style, greatly attributed to the legendary Johan Cruyff, is simple in philosophy. 1) Positional Awareness 2) Movement. 3) Pass. Ultimately, this translates to the goal of Retaining Possession. The idea is that if the opponents cannot get the ball and have fewer chances, they are more likely to lose. As such, Barcelona and Spanish teams often have high percentages of possession of around 60-70% on most games. In reality, it takes a high calibre of players to be able to play this style of football; one who is comfortable with the ball and who has excellent tactical understanding.
The English Teams
Throughout this period, the English teams do have their own football philosophy. It had developed all the years in England, with the manic supporters and their clamour for entertainment. The people wants hype and speed. Arsene Wenger showed them how. English clubs are known for their physicality and pace of the game. Both elements combined makes for a widely more watchable and entertaining game than the slower paced games of other leagues. The wingers move at pace, the defenders tackle with no remorse. This unique football environment tests the best of foreign players who wish to try their luck in this league and many has failed. Particularly, Andriy Schevchenko, regarded as one of the best strikers in the early 2000s failed miserably in Chelsea colours. Radamel Falcao endured a torrid career in England, first for Manchester United and then Chelsea. From a staggering FIFA rating of 88 to a woeful 80 by the end of his time in Chelsea colours. When he left, 'El Tigre' incredibly regained his form and reputation as one of the 'hot' strikers in the world under Monaco in League 1.
This could be the reason for why chances to play in the Premier League are passed up by the best players of the day: their innate footballing talent are not being appreciated by the league. But on a more troubling note however, is the possible realisation that perhaps more-athlete, less-technique will not win you games.
Now
In the past 2-3 years, however, there seems to be a revival of sorts of the English teams. With every revival and improvements, there must be a shift in football mentality. As the game is now, the one in charge of the football mentality is the coach, more than anyone else. The coach brings his entire team -physios, trainers, goalkeeping coach, scouts, scientists etc- and models the team to his regime and idea of football. The club owners take a chance with the couch and his ideals and is paid for in service and results.
The Great Coaches that started the Shift
1. Mauricio Pochettino, the Developer
He started coaching with Espanyol who were third from bottom in the La Liga and guided them to comfortable mid-table positions in the league. He then went on to Southampton in 2013 and couched them for a year before being poached by Tottenham Hotspurs in 2014 where he have continued working ever since. He is valued for his development of players, turning average or undervalued players into world-beaters. His work came to light when he coached Southampton where he developed an attractive yet decent team made from mostly homegrown players such as Luke Shaw who have since moved to Manchester United. In fact, during and just after his tenure, Southampton had become a sort of farming ground for the bigger Premier League clubs.
Currently, with a stronger financial base and greater ability to retain players, his team, the Spurs, has become a major title contender in the EPL, one of the Top 6, with players such as Harry Kane, Delle Alli and Christian Eriksen.
Pochettino's style of play is to play good football, a sort of combination of 'tiki-taka' football coupled with a good defensive shape and ability to launch quick counter attacks. Thus, it is seemingly an English hybrid of the Spanish style of play.
2. Jurgen Klopp, the Geggen Presser
Klopp started his official managerial career with Mainz 05 in the Bundesliga but he is more affectionately known for his work with Borussia Dortmund. The Bundesliga is dominated by the Bavarian giants, Bayern Munich, who have significant economic advantage and global presence, no less due to their history. However, in 2008, Klopp took a team that had placed 13th to a respectable 6th before going on to be title challengers in the next few years. He actually won the Bundesliga title in 2011 and 2012 where he won the domestic double when he beat Bayern Munich in the DFB Pokal Final, the FA Cup equivalent of the EPL. This was an incredible feat considering Bayern Munich operated with a net worth of USD$2.7 billion compared to Borussia Dortmund's USD$808 million (Stats as of 2018). Eventually of course, Dortmund sold many key players to Bayern Munich including Mat Hummels, Robert Lewandowski and Mario Gotze.
Klopp is famous for his tactics dubbed 'Geggen Pressing'. Geggen pressing is a tactic of pressuring the opponent in numbers and pace with atleast two players often pressing the opponent's players with the ball. The tactic requires the forwards to press the defence, thus ensuring the opponent cannot move out of their own half, and keeping a high backline, thus you often see the defence nearer to the halfway line than their goal. The constant pressure aims to force the opponent's player to pass prematurely thus they may lose possession and lose their team shape.
A characteristic of Klopp's team is their excellent attack with skill and pace and their woeful defence although it really is no fault of his defenders, with his style of play which leaves sometimes acres of open spaces behind for an opponent's counter attack. Back in Dortmund, he had Marcus Reus and Robert Lewandowski upfront. In Liverpool now, he have the excellent Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane (whom he must have spotted his talent from his time in Klopp's Southampton). All are devastating players with speed, shooting and dribbling abilities.
His Liverpool team now, with no surprise, (as of 23rd May) challenges for the Champions League title against Real Madrid.
3. Antonio Conte, the Defensive Master
Antonio Conte came to Chelsea following Chelsea's woeful 10th place finish in the 2015-16 season and was back then an almost unknown entity. Formerly a player in a world-class Juventus, he went on to coach several smaller Italian teams such as Siena, Atlanta, Barri and Arezzo with different success rates before coaching Juventus where he rose to prominence. Following that, he coached the Italian national team where he surprisingly took a squad without any star names and bereft of talent since Italy's heydays, to the quarter finals of Euro 2016.
Conte is reknown for his famous 3-4-3 formation with three defenders at the back and the use of wingbacks to overload defence or attack where required. His teams are drilled in a specific manner to restrict any spaces left in their own half by defending deep before counterattacking when the opportunity arrive. Most of the time, the team plays in a 5-3-2 in their defensive shell. Some might call it parking the bus but against smaller and less technical teams, this formation often becomes a 3-2-5 and they will have the majority of possession. The idea is, if the opponent can't score, we just have to score one to beat them and there will be lapses in the opponent's defence.
The tactic he introduced opened up the idea of tactical changes in England where before, the managers are reluctant to move away from the favoured 4-4-2 which they felt were crucial to not get a beating due to the pace of this league. Conte showed that it was possible with his remodelled Chelsea team and they went on to win the EPL in 2017.
Maybe perhaps, it is not the ideal world-beating formula but this tactic is seemingly the importation of the Italian model of the 2000s (which are still used in Serie A) which had grown out of fashion. Conte's teams produce excellent defenders (including midfielders who are made to defend), such as Georgio Chiellini, Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci, Arturo Vidal and N'Golo Kante.
4. Jose Mourinho, the Charismatic Manager
The affable manager started his managerial career at Benfica when he moved up from his post as assistant manager to Jupp Henckles (of Bayern Munich fame). Everywhere he went, he experienced success over success. After Benfica, he went to manage an unknown Uniao de Leiria where he guided them to a fourth place finish. Afterwhich he went to Porto where he won the Champions League in 2004. After Benfica, the Special One enjoyed success at Chelsea where he created a stellar team and a permanent slot for Chelsea as a Top 6 team in the EPL. At Inter Milan, he again won many trophies including the Europa League and made Inter Milan into a top team in the European stage, getting into the finals of the Champions League in 2010 where he lost to Barcelona. After Inter Milan, he went to Real Madrid where he had a topsy turvy spell of success. In truth, he did win a trophy or a title every season during his time there but due to the high standards of Real Madrid, his last season in 2013 where he won the Spanish Super Cup was deemed as his career's low. After Real Madrid, he went to Chelsea again where he won the league in his second season in 2015 before being fired the next. He then went on to Manchester United where he won the EFL trophy on his debut season.
Mourinho is perhaps one of the most successful managers in the modern era but to put a finger on his style of play, it is perhaps harder than it seems. With Chelsea and Manchester United, he is accused of 'parking the bus' by getting his players to defend in numbers constantly with limited focus on attack. However, that is never closer to the truth. His teams only defend where they had to and if they could they wouldn't. It is really due to the style of play in England that it seems that the team is constantly defending. Mourinho style of play is simply put, get the best players in the game to join the team and watch their talent shine through. Most importantly, he trusts his players to understand the game and play as they see fit. It is not a hard kept secret that every top player wants to work with Mourinho. Having him be interested in you shows that you are a good player. All his past players have a good word of him and spoke fondly of him. Mourinho keeps contact with all his past players and develop a great relationship with every one of them. His charisma is what brought the teams he manage success. Of course, his teams have to have the potential to buy the top players. As such, he would naturally go into the teams with the financial clout to develop a Mourinho all-star team such as Real Madrid, Abramovich's Chelsea and Manchester United.
Some players who have joined a Mourinho team includes Ricardo Carvalho, Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Diego Costa and Willian.
5. Pep Guardiola, the Total Football Dominator
Guardiola was an excellent midfielder in his playing career and started his managerial career couching Barcelona B in 2007. In the following year, he became the manager of the main team. In that year, he offloaded many famous and important players such as Ronaldinho, Deco, Eto'o and Thuram to name a few but he still won the treble, including the Champions League. After three successful seasons, he took a sabbatical in New York City before returning to manage Bayern Munich a year later in 2013. He won the Bundesliga and DFB Pokal in his debut season and in 2014 and Bundesliga in 2015. He then moved on to Manchester City where his incredible team dominated the league by the end of the 2017-18 season with a whooping 100 points, 19 points above second placed Manchester United.
Guardiola is the epitome of perfect football designed to win games. It is not surprising, considering how much of his playing and managerial life revolved around Barcelona. His football philosophy centred around La Masia's, hence Johan Cruyff's idea of Total Football, as mentioned above. The players he retained or recruited all possess similar attitudes that he wants or requires: technical ability and tactical astuteness, which is required to play Total Football. Although Manchester City already has a formidable squad with the likes of Sergio Aguero and Kevin de Bruyne, Guardiola still recruited many more players, at lofty fees, in order to create a behemoth of a team. He famously dropped club favourite Joe Hart for the supposedly technically better Claudio Bravo (although he endured a tough first season) before recruiting Ederson Moraes, an excellent keeper good with his feet and at shot-stopping.
The Rise of the English Clubs
With these five managers, gone is the era of pure athleticism and here emerges an exciting era of clashing football philosophies that could stand a chance of winning other European clubs who employ various other football philosophies. Just a few years ago, English clubs are constantly out of the Champions League in the early stages, and deservedly so, but with the introduction and maturing of these new football philosophies in the English Premier League landscape, one might wonder how far the English clubs can go now. Who will triumph? The homegrown talent world-beater? The fast paced, high octane boss? The hardworking, hard-knuckled manager? The charismatic Special One? Or the Football maestro? The next couple of years would be an exciting time for English football clubs.
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