Analysis | Wilfred Nancy

The former Columbus Crew manager has been confirmed as the new manager of Celtic

A bright managerial prospect who is experimenting with relational football

I’ve put together a thread of some of the concepts his side has used Crew instigate an attack with the Escadinha Tabelando (Tabela Escadinha)

This involves players aligning diagonally towards goal and bouncing the ball back for the give + go

Players climb these escadinhas - ladders 🪜 - to find progressions inside the block

TACTICAL THREAD

Man City, modern build up & the Christmas tree

City’s performance vs Liverpool is worthy of praise for its dynamism & bravery to cluster centrally

But this opens a discussion over the importance of depth and if less structure can solve modern build up issues
Why is depth so important?

Typically a team will look to position their players on varying heights infront and behind an oppositions pressing line

This creates great conditions for combinations like a third man to get midfielders receiving & moving into the blindside

We often hear about the importance of Positional, Numerical & Quantitative Superiority

But there are other types of superiorities that aren’t explored or understood by coaches

In this thread I’ll explain the importance of

Socio-affective and Dynamic advantage 🧵 1 Socio Affective advantage

When we connect those who identify and understand each other well." Seriul-lo

Shared intentions and empathic resonance are the foundation-teammates who see the game through the lens of their teammate- they anticipate movements, sharing information

Ball Orientated build up is a contrast to how most coaches view build up by opening the pitch

Yet it’s an approach that facilitates verticality & more spontaneous play

In this thread I’ll show examples & argue why this could be a tool more coaches look to implement
Firstly we must explore automation vs autonomy

Automation involves pre-programmed systems performing predefined tasks repetitively, while autonomy involves systems that can make independent decisions, adapt to emergent information and the chaotic nature of the game.

https://twitter.com/jogofuncional1/status/1876324003817857325

A few weeks ago Malmo decided to part company with manager Hendrik Rydstrom.

I've put a thread together of my favorite videos plus analysis of some relational concepts used A typical relational influence in Malmo's play

Diagonal Pass - Escadinha + Corta Luz - 4th man run.

A Devastating exchange. The diagonal pass plus dummy is an offensive tool that is incredibly underutilized in most teams attacking play.

One that relies on shared intentions

Barcelona 24/25 tactical camera analysis

A video thread

Graphic: @Effmatch
I watched hours of footage to come to the conclusion that Barca are just a series of active & inactive diagonals

Short (local) circulation to form these emergent diagonals with the intention of reaching Zone 14 to combine close to goal

"As a coach, I was always trying to control everything. I talked to Lillo about how I was building my team in the fourth division of Portugal. He told me that I was obsessed with control, you cannot hope to be a good coach if you are obsessed with control” - Acácio Santos (1/3) "He said to me, 'the beauty of our role is to provide the uncertainty, to provide the chaos. And from the chaos we bring the organisation. And then again the chaos. And then you bring the organisation. Then again the chaos. And then the organisation...'" (2/3)

Barcelona 2010/11

Give & Go’s, functionalism & Positional Contradictions

Footballs most tactically misunderstood team

A video thread. Messi- Xavi- Iniesta: Offensive Triangle.

I receive, I pass, I go

Iniesta pass = perceiving diagonal affordances. Associative play

Also, look at the way Xavi used change of direction to find a directional advantage in his dribble. Blissful.

1st and 2nd receptors vs Big picture/Small picture

Breaking down the ‘center of the action’ & the psychology involved in strategizing attack (team/group/individual level)

Examples from Relational and Positional attack

A video thread

@Effmatch
1st receptors:

Radius of action that varies depending on the quality the ball carrier possesses and the support around him- positional superiority

Players can intervene with the ball through short circulation without much change to the ‘game picture’

The cognitive cycle (Seriul-lo: Espacios de fase)

Perception, Self evaluation, intuition & decision making

Decision to interaction is the heart of the process. To help the player capture the relevant information, to interpret it & self evaluate to facilitate an interaction
The cycle of interactions helps hide a players decision making and impacts the environment which conditions and modifies it simultaneously & permanently. A players psycho-behaviors are important to team integration, they must have a shared system of values (shared intention)

Fernando Diniz- Build up Analysis.

A thread

Since Diniz has returned to management with Vasco da Gama, I thought I’d share a bitesize analysis of his build up. They Immediately overload one side.

Players staggered on different lines in a compact space creates conditions for very quick vertical exchanges to help the team get up the pitch

Scoop passes, paralela combinations & give and go’s (Toco y me voy) are very common

What does defensive theory tell us about diagonal attack?

Defensively we consider that running back to goal diagonally is more efficient than that of a straight line. To have the best chance of creating opportunities we need to get as close to goal and as quickly as possible …
Also from dribbling, if you dribble vertically the ball stays on the same line and it becomes easier for the defender to push out to the ball carrier. When dribbling diagonally it creates a moment of doubt for the defender who must leave his line to defend the ball carrier…

I've been reading Wade's Guide for coaches as a reference for an academic journal i'm fronting.

It's evident how much coaching delivery has changed- session plans geared towards strengthening dynamics & diversification of technique.

Completely alien to what is practiced now.

https://twitter.com/kestrelpsych/status/1887679691416646119

Interesting what's written: the smaller the teams the greater opportunity for individual development. The best coaching comes in ones & twos, how many different outcomes can you get in a 3v3? Modern coaching overlooks everything besides preparing teams for competition.

This is what the future of football will look like, at least in the teams I coach. A mix of positional players- who give the team depth & support under the ball and functional players who are free to migrate to the ball zone. Moving actions aren’t exclusive to functional players
The functional players are a means of help us make connections up the pitch, not just contacting with a specific player or space. Double width & asymmetry is also hugely important, whether to open angles inside the block diagonally, impose a tilt or attacking through paralelas

2000: Soccer Modern Tactics was published- a book on offensive & defensive theory with interviews from various Italian coaches.

Claudio Terzulli never coached higher than Italy’s 3rd tier- yet he forecasts how coaches would come to prepare teams in the age of imposed structure.
As seen in Arsenal’s microcycle, everything that takes place during the week is geared towards constructing the game model. Coaches seek to give the team as much organization (structure) as possible- Situation games/patterns/11v11 walkthrough and SSG with universal principles

Diniz talking about how street football, futsal and player autonomy influenced his coaching.

“Futsal is a game that’s very tied to the way I think. I’m very influenced by it. The street player plays from himself (intuition), he imagines his actions.

I’ve spoken about this- 🧵 Football was born from the disorder that reigned in the street game: no determined positions - the players set the rules (they are seen as objective) , also individual skills, disruptive creativity, freedom of movement, the appreciation of technique & its subjective beauty

The problem with hybrid systems is that it’s hard for people to distinguish where ‘relationism’ ends & Red Bull football begins. Even if a team uses one recognized functional concept it isn’t enough to justify claiming they’re influenced by it. We all agree they’re very different

https://twitter.com/stirling_j/status/1881343392933888105

That’s why there’s a reluctance to claim certain teams under the ‘relationism’ umbrella. I fully agree with the notion that relationism can flourish within positionalism and can be appreciated in a more ‘structured’ life form and that this has been neglected as discourse develops

How do methodologies in relationism and positionalism differ? -through constraints (Thread).

Tuchel says constraints are important for breaking behavioral habits, forcing a desired action through manipulating the environment to avoid making repetitive coaching points. There’s nothing wrong with what Tuchel proposes, there’s a defect in his teams performance and he’s creative with manipulating the environment to promote certain actions- diagonal passes/ movement inside the pitch- exposing them to new stimuli that is more cognitively challenging

Diniz speaking about planning training sessions: spontaneous sessions were often better than pre planned ones, changing or interfering the tasks set for the players based on what the environment is telling him and how it looks or feels. (Thread 🧵) Going against everything that we've been told to do in an European microcycle/Periodization model.
Every session is planned
meticulously and in relation to the micro-macro-meso cycle. The Physical/social/tactical components of the game model must complement each other.