Although their salaries are generally dwarfed by those on offer to the top players in the game, it is hard to argue against the proposition that the most important person at any soccer club is the head coach or manager. If it were just a matter of getting the best players together and watching them win, then Paris St Germain and their expensively assembled squads wouldn’t have been so consistently disappointing in the Champions League since the 2011 buyout by Qatari oil billionaires. Great soccer players deliver great moments. But, a great coach can assemble those soccer players in a way that makes their team elite.
So while there is an eternal debate over which player is the GOAT – Messi, Zidane, Maradona, Pele, or someone else? – it could be argued that the more interesting debate is which trainer has been the most significant and influential. Who has had the alchemy necessary to turn a team of great players into a great team? While you can’t coach an average player to have the skills of Messi, it is possible to learn from the elite coaches in the game. Whether you’re trying to teach a team of kids around a soccer goal in a field by your house or you’re looking to win honors at a higher level, the following names have things to teach you.
Carlo Ancelotti
A player of no little distinction, Ancelotti played 26 times for Italy. He was a part of the great Milan team of the late 80s and early 90s. But it is as a coach that he has assured his place in the pantheon of greats. He is the only manager to have ever won the top league title in the Big Five leagues in Europe. Milan in Italy, Real Madrid in Spain, Chelsea in England, Bayern Munchen in Germany and PSG in France. With the first three of those, he has also won the Champions League. This makes him the only coach to have done that with as many clubs.
Approach to the game: Ancelotti was considered an overly defensive coach in his early days. To win favor at Milan overhauled his style to be easier on the eye while not sacrificing success. He’s been able to evolve his tactical approach. But, most of his best sides have played a 4-4-2 style with a diamond in midfield, an attacking right-back, and a front two pairing a skillful ball player with a canny poacher.Â
Standout player: You could name so many, but Ancelotti’s talents as a silky midfielder may have helped him understand and unlock the potential of Andrea Pirlo. He is perhaps the greatest playmaker the game has seen. So much so that the position he played, a withdrawn creative midfield spot in front of the defense, has become known as the “Pirlo role”.
Sir Alex Ferguson
Ferguson’s career as a player did little to set the scene for the kind of manager he would become. He was good but never great. On entering the dugout, though, it’s no exaggeration to say that he revolutionized the British game. He steered unfashionable Aberdeen to European soccer glory in 1983 and took over at the ailing Manchester United in 1986. Although he started slow at Old Trafford, he broke the club’s 26-year title hoodoo by winning the Premier League in 1993. He would go on to win it a total of 13 times. This was a part of a world-record 49 major trophies as a boss. Under Ferguson, United also won the Champions League twice.
Approach to the game: For the bulk of his career, Ferguson’s sides played a standard 4-4-2 with two ball-winning midfielders and a target-man up front. But, he wasn’t afraid to move with the times; many of his later sides including the 2008 Champions League winners played as a 4-2-3-1.
Standout player: Ferguson’s Class of 1992 – a group of youngsters developed at the club’s academy – contained David Beckham, Paul Scholes, and Gary Neville, who between them won 366 caps for England. But, the player who proved the catalyst for his United team was Eric Cantona. He was the maverick French forward whose signing turned the league in their favor in 1993 and who would go on to define the club for several seasons.
Valeriy Lobanoskvyi
You could call him the hipster choice in this list. Lobanovskyi never managed a club outside his native Ukraine/Soviet Union and, for stints as a coach for the UAE and Kuwait, managed exclusively within his home country. So many of the trends that have their mark in soccer in the modern era. This includes the use of sports science and pressing. They were brought into the game by the Kyiv-born polymath. He’s most associated with Dinamo Kyiv, where he both played and then managed on three separate occasions, the last ending with his death in 2002.
Approach to the game: To Lobanovskyi, soccer was a science. He varied players’ training loads based on what they needed and could handle. He trained his players to press and win the ball high up the field. This created scoring chances while the opposition tried to regain their defensive positions. Also, he is credited with recognizing the potential for players to switch positions. He argued that if a forward found himself in the right-back area, for example, they should be able to assume the position and play their way out of there.
Standout player: If you had to pick one, it should be Andriy Shevchenko, Ukraine’s greatest ever player. Shevchenko is recognized as one of the greatest pure strikers in football history and among the most versatile. He was capable of scoring from range and getting tap-ins, finishing with either foot and with his head as opportunity allowed. Like his mentor, Shevchenko both played for and coached Ukraine with distinction.
Johan Cruyff
Perhaps more than any other name on this list, Cruyff reached the top of the game both as a player and a coach. He stood out at club and international level, and played a huge part in innovating a new style of play. Some would argue that his place on this list should better go to Rinus Michels. He managed Cruyff at club level with Ajax, at Barcelona, and in the Dutch national side. Maybe that’s even true – but it’s impossible not to name Cruyff, who took Michels’ Total Football concept and perfected it, becoming the father of such footballing concepts as tiki-taka and the false nine.
Approach to the game: “Every trainer talks about movement, about running a lot. I say don’t run so much. Football is a game you play with your brain. You have to be in the right place at the right moment, not too early, not too late.” That’s a direct quote from Cruyff and sums up his style. His teams tended to start with a 3-3-3-1 formation, but fluidity was the entire point of Cruyff’s modus operandi. At Barcelona, he would often choose Michael Laudrup to play as the main forward. But, he encouraged the Dane to drop deep and use his passing skills to bring goalscoring wingers such as Hristo Stoichkov into the game.
Standout player: There are so many greats, and yet perhaps the ultimate Cruyff player is one that was not particularly physically gifted nor blessed with incredible flair. Josep “Pep” Guardiola did have an incredible football brain that allowed him to become the ultimate regista. Learning under Cruyff had an impact not only on the player he became but also…
Pep Guardiola
There is no denying that being the coach at a cash-rich football club is a leg-up for any tactician, and yet Manchester City’s net transfer spend over recent years is lower than any of their main rivals. This is due in no small part to Guardiola’s ability to develop and communicate an effective system and target only those players he feels can thrive within it. Having had sustained success in Spain with Barcelona, in Germany with Bayern, and now in England with City, Guardiola is the most recent claimant to the throne of managerial greatness. He has stated that his current role will be his last club job, meaning he may move to international management as soon as 2026.
Approach to the game: There is no defined shape for a Guardiola team. His Barcelona side operated differently from his Bayern one, and his standard formation at City is different again. A Guardiola side will, however, tend to see players in hybrid roles. Center-backs will move forward into midfield in possession, while fullbacks move more centrally to affect the play offensively. There often isn’t a great tackler in a Guardiola side. Central midfielders are expected to win the ball back without too many physical duels. Often his sides have also played without an out-and-out striker. But, since the arrival of Erling Haaland, the style has adapted again to make more use of passes played behind the defense.
Standout player: While it’s tempting to avoid recency bias, the midfield anchor Rodri, current holder of the Ballon d’Or, is fundamental to Guardiola’s most recent successes. Dictating play from a deeper role, the Spaniard also has a lot of responsibility in organizing the team defensively, and one stat is more telling than any other. With him in the side, City tends to lose once every ten games. Without him, it’s closer to one in three.
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