Bielsa, Sarri, Setíen, Santo, Wenger: The pure idealists
It’s the 80th minute, and you’re 2–0 down at home, and in desperate need to at least securing a point. Considering your team has shipped in 2 goals and has failed to score during the first 80 minutes, as a manager, do you still stick with your ideals and style of play, or purely act on the situation rather than ideals.
This one of the main struggles that managers face on a regular basis; finding the exact balance between winning and footballing DNA. How much of your footballing DNA and ideals do you have to sacrifice to win?
José Mourinho would prefer playing counter-attacking football with strong defensive solidity, willing to sacrifice attacking intent if it meant it helped him win or got him closer to a title. On the other hand, Quique Setíen would be almost unwilling to sacrifice his possession-oriented, Cryuff-influenced style of play, even if hoofing it up would be the better solution.
But here you have the pure idealists, those unwilling to compromise their footballing identity and style of play.
Marcelo Bielsa
Despite his spying antics and mad behaviour, “El Loco” is arguably one of the most influential managers in the game and the definition of “pure idealist.” Unlike Pep or Pochettino, who have been inspired by him, Bielsa will never alter the way his team approaches games, purely playing on his side’s strengths rather than focusing on the opponent’s weaknesses.
“It doesn’t matter how many titles he had in his career. We are judged by that — by how much success we have, how many titles we have won.
But that is much less influential than how he has influenced football and his football players. That is why, for me, he is the best coach in the world.”-
Pep Guardiola on Marcelo Bielsa
Apart from his madness, Bielsa’s known for his uncompromising ideals, trusting youth, and his intense football, with the Argentine’s intense style of play ultimately causing many players to get injured and eventually facing a “burnout.”
Despite making the UEFA Europa League final in 2012 with Athletic Bilbao, Bielsa’s side lost 3–0 in the final against Atletico Madrid, not because they weren’t good, but because they had nothing left.“It is quite a romantic view about football, but I can’t lie to you, in the last months we couldn’t even move. We had five games to play in the league and were in two cup finals and I think we lost all of them (they lost three of their last four games in La Liga and both cup finals 3–0).
Our legs said ‘stop’. We used to play always with the same players and were not at our best in the finals. We were a completely different team than we had been before because, to be honest, we were physically fucked.
We couldn’t run any more. We played I think 65 games that season — 38 in the league and a cup final in Spain and the Europa League final.
And if you see the stats, Marcelo Bielsa used to play with the same players, 14 maximum (15 players made more than 20 league appearances), so you can imagine how we finished the season.
I am not blaming the manager, because he did amazing for us and we should be very thankful because of the beautiful football, but the last month we couldn’t even move and that is the reality.”- Ander Herrera on working under Marcelo Bielsa
As wonderful as it is to watch Bielsa’s teams play, you can’t help but wonder if he became more pragmatic and decided to conserve the energies of his players. Instead of continuously playing the same players with the same intensity, while that is courageous and bold, this is probably the main reason why he’s struggled to win trophies in Europe. While Leeds United are one course for Premier League football next season, Bielsa will have to adapt to keeping his players fit and winning games, which may include a more conservative pressing system or in general less running.
I was going from a team that was fighting to keep alive, to the romantic football of Marcelo Bielsa, so it was a big change for me. We played amazing football. Marcelo Bielsa should always be in football, because the view he has about football is amazing.
I remember the things he would say: ‘If we score the first goal, we are going to try to score the second,’ ‘don’t waste time,’ ‘don’t complain to the referee,’ ‘even if you have a bad decision, keep running, keep fighting,’ ‘if you score a goal, the best way to defend is to score the second one.’
We had three or four months when we were literally flying, from November to February/ March, we were unbeatable. (They had lost only three of their 21 league matches from September 21st to March 11th). I talked to Alexis (Sanchez). He faced us when he was at Barcelona and said ‘my god, how much you guys were running.’
No-one was able to run as much as us, it was impossible.”- Ander Herrera
Bielsa is a true rarity. Apart from being a football obsessive, he’s one of the few managers that would maintain the same style of play and intensity, even at the risk of winning trophies.
Maurizio Sarri
Despite failing to win any league trophies as Napoli manager, Sarri managed to collect 91 points in 38 games, a point tally which would’ve been good enough to win the 2016/17, 2015/16 and 2014/15 season. Sarriball or Sarrisimo is a brand of football revolved around high-pressing, quick passing, and ball retention, with a regista (deep-lying playmaker) usually the main focal point.
“If I saw my team defending and counter-attacking after 30 minutes, I would get up and return to the bank because I would not be having fun.”- Maurizio Sarri
Sarri is more of a coach than a manager. Instead of believing in buying the polished product, Sarri believes in taking the current tools he has and making them as good as possible. The perfect example is Kalidou Koulibaly, who was deemed by many as simply not good enough for Napoli; error-prone and lacking the ability to play Sarri’s fast-passing style. True to his word, Sarri and his team spent hours on the training ground instead of seeking a replacement, and the Senegalese defender is now one of the most impressive and in-demand centre-backs in Europe.
“Sarri taught me football”- Dries Mertens
“At peak effectiveness and with every player attuned to its methods, Sarri-ball is quite the sight. It’s a footballing style that moves the ball from back to front quickly on the floor in a sort of vertical tiki-taka.
“The system is conducted by Jorginho, who was brought over to Chelsea in the Sarri signing, from a regista-esque role at the base of midfield. It’s fitting that they were seen as a package deal, as without one, the other might not be anywhere near as effective in what they do.”
Yet Sarri’s ideal to play “vertical tiki-taka” and pure possession football has drawn criticism, especially after dropping points against Southampton, Leicester, and Everton at home. With Sarri, his lack of a plan B is what’s cost him at times. During Chelsea’s 3–1 away loss to Spurs in the league, Jorginho was man-marked, essentially taking out Chelsea’s main source of creativity, limiting Chelsea’s options.
The only thing really worrying is that he does not appear to have a Plan B — which has been the downfall of most of our managers in the last 10 years. If we get a striker in this window, I believe we will get top four, but playing Eden Hazard as a false nine is not the way forward.”
As Sarri continues to drill in his footballing DNA into the Chelsea team, it remains to see whether there’s a pragmatic side to him, especially finding a way to get the best out of N’Golo Kanté and César Azpilicueta.
‘If you want to repeat with Milan what happened with me 25 years ago, I will give you a name. It won’t cost you money, but he is the coach you need.” — Arrigo Sacchi on Sarri
Arsène Wenger
Managing to go 49 games unbeaten, mounting title challenges with a shoestring budget, and being able to play “possession with progression”, Arsène Wenger is surely one of the greatest managers in Premier League history. What made Wenger so revered in the first place also lead his downfall as a manager, with his reluctance to change his style of play attracting football fans around the world, also leading to playing such football with minimal defensive protection.
For idealists to keep on winning trophies at the highest level, there has to be a sense of pragmatism, which alludes to the reason why him, Bielsa, and Setíen’s main emphasis as managers isn’t about winning or results, but also for entertainment and creating some sort of art. Wenger’s Arsenal has always been a promising team throughout the 20 years he has been in charge, but rarely did it show any adaptation skills. Thus, despite being one of the most promising projects in modern-day football, Arsenal was never a reliable team under the Frenchman.
The main problem was that Wenger rarely analyzed and utilized his opponents’ mistakes, and solely trusted his own game. As we see with Manchester City, it is very much possible, but Wenger somehow could not manage to do so in ten years.But unfortunately, neither did he change his philosophy nor did he pay more attention to analyzing his opponents. In other words, as self-sufficiency and opponent analysis reached their peaks under Guardiola and Mourinho, Wenger stood by an outdated and superficial possession game.
Quique Setién
What makes Quique Setién so revered by so many football purists is his ability to play an attractive brand of football and not sacrificing his ideals, no matter the circumstance. Setíen sees the game like chess, where teams must attack in numbers but also defend in numbers, explaining why so many of his matches have ended up high-scoring. While many criticise him for his tactical naivety at times (playing an open game when leading), many revere and adore him for his football.
“That’s not true,” Setien argues. “That is a falsity. Nobody can say you can’t play a particular way.”
Setíen was already quite famous in Spanish football but raised more eyebrows around the world when Real Betis came to the Camp Nou and dominated FC Barcelona in a 4–3 win, playing a style of which many Barcelona fans want to see at the Camp Nou. His side’s performance drew praise from Sergio Busquets, who said, “To Quique, with appreciation and admiration for your way of seeing football. A hug”.
Real Betis set up using a 3–4–1–2 structure as they looked to beat Barcelona at their own game. The visitors insisted on playing out from the back, even against the high-pressing hosts. After limited early success with their short build, goalkeeper Pau Lopez soon looked for clipped passes into the Giovani Lo Celso in the number 10 position. His movements away from the central lane created a useful passing option out from the back.
The Betis front line always provided forward passing options through Barcelona’s midfield, as Lo Celso, the seemingly evergreen Joaquin and Loren Moron maintained a central presence. From here, wing-backs Cristian Tello and Junior Firpo supported in wide areas, as the deeper midfielders — William Carvalho and Andres Guardado — could pick central passes to split the Barca midfield unit.
Furthermore, as the only manager to have beaten Real Madrid and FC Barcelona in their own backyard in the past season, and winning the past 2 matches against Sevilla FC, Setíen clearly proves that his style of play works against the bigger sides.
“I’m a romantic, I like the football.”
“I’m a spectator, and I don’t buy a ticket to watch a team stay stuck in their half waiting for a 0–0 or a counter-attack.”
Even at a club like Real Betis where he doesn’t have world class players or the best players suited to his system, he ability to stick to his ideals and play an attractive brand of football will only attract the bigger clubs, especially if he secures European football for the second season in a row.
Nuno Espírito Santo
“We don’t know how to play any other way,” said Nuno.
“There are two ways of reacting to something that happens, for example against Leicester.
“Either you react by changing, or not. We will not change, because we want to build something more important,
“We’ll keep doing the same things that we train, that we want to achieve, and we have another opportunity to do so.”
Nuno Santo’s persistence with his 343 high pressing system probably explains why Wolves are able to beat the likes of Chelsea and Spurs but lose to the likes of Huddersfield and Crystal Palace. But why? Here’s what Wolves captain Conor Coady has to say about Wolves’ inconsistency this season:
“We like to keep the ball, we like to move the ball around, but when teams bank up and they don’t let you go through, then it becomes tough, it really does. Whereas when the big teams come to Molineux they kind of play their own and we play our own way, leaving gaps and spaces to exploit.”
Santo has yet to change from a 343, and rarely has changed the back 3 combination, which not only suggests his ideals but also the faith he has in his players. Unlike other managers of newly-promoted teams who enjoy playing it long or sitting back, Santo like his teams to play with expression and the intent to win and score, not just sitting back.
Whether Santo will eventually change part of his tactics in the games against the smaller teams remains to be seen, but because he’s so stubborn with changing with what he’s done so far, he’s a pure idealist.
The reasons football managers are idealists could be because they believe more in the style of play than winning, or they’re early into their career. While managers like Nuno Santo has only been a manager for 7 years, he might eventually become more pragmatic as times progresses, whereas with managers like Bielsa, if they’re at this stage of their managerial career and still unwilling to change their style of play than they believe more in style of play than winning.
It’s not that being more pragmatic automatically translates into winning and trophies, but when you have multiple opponents with each having a different style of play than it does come down to your belief in using a plan B or adjusting the positional shape of your team.
Seeing idealists’ footballing DNA ingrained into a football side is truly beautiful to see, but isn’t their pure idealism a hindrance to their chances of winning trophies?
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