Marcelo Bielsa- Football’s most underrated tactician
A Tactical analysis
Marcelo Bielsa. Im sure you have heard of the name before. Praised as one of the greatest coaches of all time by coaches like Pep and Pochettino. Even though he is a tactical genius, there seems to be very little mention of his tactics in the press or media. The hours of analysis and the incredible amount of hard work seems to have gone under the radar.
Honestly, his tactics are some of the most impressive things i have ever seen. They almost calculate for every single situation possible and have a solution to the opponents moves almost every single time.
Please, go through this with full focus and slowly. I assure you it’ll be worth your time!
Introduction
Bielsa has 3 build up formations he uses. He rotates these depending on what sort of team he plays. Against a 4–2–3–1, he will build up in the 4–2–3–1 himself. The 4–2–3–1 itself doesn’t have as much pressing power as a 4–4–2 does, but it allows for easier interceptions due to the extra line being there. And against a 4–4–2, 4–2–4 or a 4–4–1–1 he has 2 formations he can use.
The 3–3–3–1, which we will be analyzing and breaking down this thread, is the more offensive option while the 3–4–3 is the less risky but less offensive option.
That’s why for most of the examples today on the tactics board, the opposition will be in a 4–4–2 formation. I will include man and zonal marking, and the 3 styles of press.
Key:
RCB- Right center back
CCB- Central Center back
LCB- Left center back
CM- Center mid
AM- Attacking midfielder
ST- Striker
Role of the center backs
The 2 wide center backs start the build up from the back. In this system, the team completely neglects playing through the center. The wide center backs are instructed to drive the ball forward while the wing back pushes up and the cm drops deep and wide to support him.
The central center back is mainly there for security and for switches. This system is very similar to peps system as it looks for constant switches, regardless of where it is on the pitch. This is an example of how it outplays a man marking system.
This is where bielsas build up system gets revolutionary. If they switch to zonal marking and make their line a more wide to not allow switches, one of the 3 cams drop deep to receive a line breaking pass. From this they can turn around and start an attack.
Role of the center mid
Well he acts as a roaming playmaker and actually has multiple purposes. Firstly, let’s pretend we are more advanced on the pitch. Let’s say the cbs are marked by the strikers, and the opposition is positioned surprisingly well.
Looks bad, right? Here the cm becomes useful. He can drop deep, which already makes this situation more dangerous on multiple levels. Let’s see what options there are from here.
Firstly, he receives the ball. After this, the opposition makes a move, and this formation outplays every single one.
Option 1: they don’t move their line or markers at all.
Here, the cm can be the main component for a switch, which lets the team progress the ball further and creates an imbalance in the opposition. We can either pass it back, or progress it to the wing back.
Option 2: their left mid or lcm presses you or their rcm blocks the passing lane back. In either of 3 options, an AM becomes free. From there the am can either turn around and start an attack with an overload or play it out wide again to progress the ball.
Out of 1 movement, the formation created 5 different possibilities to outplay the opposition and potentially get a goalscoring chance. The amount of analysis and creativity that was put into this system is crazy. What a genius this man was
When facing a heavy pressing team
Let’s say the team is facing a very, VERY pressing team. This press is called the diretta, where a team presses with their defensive and midfield line. This will cause panic but it is outplayable.
Well, the cm dropping deep doesn’t make sense since the position line doesn’t need to move to cover all holes, so how does the team outplay this. Here is where the striker comes into play. His job is to run wide. Again, the situation got a lot more dangerous.
Option 1: the center back follows him in order to not lose his marker.
This is the most dangerous one, but takes a lot of technical ability to outplay. The rcb can play a long ball over the top to find the 2 am’s. From there, it’s basically over.
Option 2: the full back drops deep to make sure the center backs don’t get dragged off their position. This opens up the wing back. From there he can revive the ball and look for one of the am’s, which means the midfield line is bypassed.
Option 3: their full back drops deep, and their rm covers our wing back. This creates a gap in the midfield line and allows a line breaking pass to be played by a deep dropping am.
Again, from there the midfield line is bypassed.
Conclusion
Marcelo Bielsa is truly a one of a kind manager, and its disappointing to see how little credit he gets.
I hope that this article helped you understand his work a little bit more, and maybe even inspire you to look into his tactics yourself.
Thanks for reading!
