Thread by @osegundovolante

Juanma Lillo: The professor who stopped teaching

How his article for The Athletic and his tactics at Al Sadd are leading a philosophical revolution in football.🧵

From a philosophical perspective, Lillo’s The Athletic article questioned the very approach that made him a household name in football. Using the World Cup as his case study, Guardiola’s former assistant highlighted today’s football loss for emotion, for nature.

Lillo expressed his contempt for the oversaturated world of analysis, where there must always be a why, a reason behind every result. In his words, after 30 years in football, the “only thing [he is] certain of is uncertainty”.

He continues by using the popular obsession with two touches as a symbol for individual repression before finally questioning, “Who am I to take them away from a life of learning as rich and valuable as they have, with their excitement and joy to play?"

Referencing Socrates, the philosopher, Lillo claims to believe teaching does not exist, only learning. Similar to Socrates, his approach is now one of a professor who does not teach, but rather stimulates knowledge by walking alongside his students and asking questions.

Lillo’s change in perspective represents a broader philosophical revolution in football. The meticulous scientific approach which has dominated football in recent years may be reaching a plateau, a stalemate. The answer? A return to the individual, to the spontaneous.

Coaching Qatar’s Al Sadd, Lillo has experimented with an approach similar to the likes of Diniz and Spalletti. Often referred to as Functional Play or Relationism, this tactical style is how this new philosophy translates into tactics.

The organisation tends to be rather formless, with a lack of predetermined structures. With players like Akram Afif and former Arsenal midfielder Santi Cazorla, players are free to roam and negotiate with spaces as they see fit.

In this case, some notable features include an asymmetrical shape and a focus and liberty in the central channels. These features are all direct consequences of his players’ characteristics, which as Lillo expressed, are now the guiding factor in the forming of his collective.

Before moving on, this functional approach to the structure can lead to some misconceptions, such as that the manager has no say in the team’s attacking system. This is far from the truth, and there is a better way of looking at this.

The manager must be nowhere yet everywhere at the same time. He is responsible for creating an environment where the players understand each other on the pitch and blend into one. He is responsible for stimulating the individual and their contribution to the side.

The focus is now on integrating the individual into the collective, not the collective into the individual.

In possession, we can see a clear distinction from his Atlético Nacional side in 2017. Asymmetry, overloads, and approximation have replaced maximum width and rational occupation of spaces.

Below, there is a total of seven players between the left half-space and the central channel, something almost forbidden in Positional Play. The priority is now the natural relationship among players, which is enhanced by proximity and overloads.

The constant creation of passing lanes around the ball is key to Functional Play. Players are free to move in and out of spaces, creating passing lanes before moving again. Its spontaneous nature further indicates this liberty in individual positioning.

While the average positions and initial shape indicate central overloads, there is no restriction. If possession takes them out wide, players are free to support and collectively progress there. If they wish to remain central and combine through the middle, they are free to do so

There is also the idea of possession as a conversation, of using possession to engage the opposition.

Below, we can see how they use overloads to lure the opposition into an area before exploring the space left behind.

Another method to engage the opp is slow switches. Rather than one big switch, which can still happen, Lillo instructs his men to switch with shorter and more feet-to-feet passing. At times, long switches can be easier to defend as the block shifts while the ball is in the air.

In this approach, however, the defence is required to engage with each pass as they try to shift over. This can create desirable scenarios and gaps to exploit. Lillo’s possession forces the opposition to act and his players to react.

With his article for The Atheltic and his work in Qatar, Juanma Lillo has displayed a significant change in perspective, specifically in his philosophical approach to football. This change has also been taking place in other corners of the world, with other protagonists.

Lillo’s Al Sadd displays some of the cornerstones of this new tactical style. As it grows in popularity, it will be very interesting to see how the style develops. However, it is clear that, once again, Juanma Lillo will play a key role in the development of a new tactical era.