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12 Comments
1-4-3-3… If memory serves me correct the distributive and the multiplicative identity properties could apply to simplify this nonsense of "1-" before the tactic name.
As long as every team in the bloody world play with one "1" goalkeeper we can skip the goalkeeper factor in terms and for the sake of simplicity.
verticality – I see this every weekend with kick and rush teams
One of my favorite games ever to reference is Women’s Japan v Spain, group stage, in the last WC. Japan had the ball a quarter of the game and won 4-0. Japan’s direct play was superb, and by goal 3 you’re wondering what Spain is trying to accomplish.
Some interesting points in this talk here. Regarding 'going forward', and including direction in drills. I remember a comment I heard from one of Pep Guardiola's previous assistants (Carlos Vicens) in my Masters in Lisbon: 'don't underestimate the pull of the goal'. By this he meant, players intuitively know there is a goal there, and they know they need to go towards it, and this is not necessarily something that needs to be explicitly reminded, or included in drills at all times. The function of 'directionless' rondos is about speeding up passing, handling possession and moving the ball into open spaces, where a player can become 'the creator' with a little more time on the ball.
On another note, I think when things are approached so rationally I always struggle a bit. It's OK to have a rational perspective and its essential you understand what you are coaching, but on the other hand, the goal of winning a game and moving towards the goal is automatic. After that, its all about the how. Winning is important but the soul of football is in creating a type of football that is yours – meaning the unique combination of coach, players and context. Bielsa says 'football is a cultural expression' and I think that is important. It all comes down to what you are trying to create: and I think winning with your values is the ultimate goal.
Great view points and many take aways. really need that follow up episode!!
It's OK to have alternate views especially if it's backed up with how a coach, club or country dominates their football environment!
Foundations before Formations! No use you teach a formation but basic foundation skills of ball manipulation lacks.
Salzburg play direct even when they dont have an available forward option. Then they counterpress and win the ball.
There is another way to play direct/vertical. Luis Enrique will tell you possession is pointless. They play forward whenever they have the option. But hes evolved from when he was Spain coach and his team was playing rondos in midfield, doing nothing.
I dont think Verheijen’s idea of looking forward first is about playing long balls to a 50/50 duel
Football is more than the straightest line to goal. To define it only as “scoring one more than your opponent” is like saying the purpose of food is simply to eat — stripping away the artistry, the ritual, and the human experience that make a meal worth remembering. If that were all that mattered, we’d live on ration packs. If life itself were reduced to its bare function, we’d still dwell in caves, surviving but never truly living.
Marcelo Bielsa reminds us that football is a cultural expression. It is the music of a people played with the ball as its instrument. Possession, when truly understood, is not sterile; it is a way of sculpting space, controlling rhythm, and luring an opponent into the exact trap that unlocks a moment of genius.
If the forward pass is football’s uppercut — the sudden, decisive blow — then the sideways and backward passes are its jabs and hooks: subtle, persistent, shaping the contest, wearing down resistance, and creating the opening for the strike that matters. To dismiss them is to misunderstand the craft of the fight.
The beauty of football lies in the marriage of control and incision, in knowing when to probe, when to feint, and when to strike. It is not only about the destination, but the poetry of the journey. Those who see only verticality see only the ending of a story, never the story itself.
its mad how "look forward so you can play forwards, and the purpose of the competitive game is to score goals" is seen as unpopular or on the edges of out of the box thinking haha. verticality is all the rage at the moment anyway, liverpool were so direct last year and arsenal park the bus but when they do it its skipping lines and masterful defending but when its moyes or dyche its parking the bus and booting it
What a great episode! Thanks Jamie and Ilya! Everyone in the football enviornment must hear it!
I agree with his theory… however soccer is a game of systems thinking – there are many times when side to side passing throws off the defense and creates the opportunity. Isn’t the idea of possession to find the time when your opponent is out of place to find a time to move directly?