The science of modern defending | Thiago Motta’s Bologna 

Tbh this should be more obvious to people. Only the defending in 90s Serie A comes close to how organized and suffocating today’s defenses are.

there's a half truth there. There's also more time spent on making players proper athletes that are trained to play the modern game, and the modern game doesn't particularly allow for what we used to see as maestros, these guys that would straight up run past you with flair and grace. Centrebacks today will sprint as fast as any striker or winger, they'll leave no space. Now, it's when you look at lower levels of football that you see how much of a difference modern defensive football makes. A team that can properly press other teams will break records and whatnot. However, there's a niche that will soon begin to expand: Modern maestros. De Bruyne, Bellingham, and Müller all exhibit roughly the same quality, they exist beyond zonal marking and they make these seemingly random moves out of seemingly random locations that will lead to danger, goals, or even recoveries. We also have the strange case of Mitoma, who's a winger that specializes on 1v1 dribbling, yet he does it as a planned and studied way of adding value to the team.

I think it has more to do with what talents are considered important in modern football You can teach players to pass, shoot, dribble, etc at an adequate level You cant teach physical traits like size and speed Sure, guys like Pirlo were amazing skillful players, arguably more skilled than anyone else in this era, but these magicians were so athletically limited that they became a liability on defense, and when your entire system breaks when 1 player doesnt/cant play defense, you see why those type of players dont exist anymore

Players used to look better because they played against cardboard cutout defenders

​@@RralRonaldotbh it's not really the defenders themselves who would be specifically worse, it's that today's defensive structures are just way better and more organized although today we have more fast defenders

U made me subscribe before I even watch the vid

I already know it’s gonna be between the best 8-13 minutes of my day

Great comparison tbf 👍 I thought so too.. maybe more football teams should look into the different nba defensive schemes 🤔

Ricardo de Leon (Uruguayan coach 1923-2010) played a pressing zone with a lineal defense (around 1976). It is said that he was inspired by basketball strategies. He played pressing zones on man and also on the ball (two different approaches). He is considered on of the greatest South American coaches, of many that have existed. The Uruguayan school of coaching is very important and has a vast and old tradition.

@@FranciscoGarcia-ze5hg he was man beyond his time. More coaches are taking examples from other sports and introducing them to football, it's crazy in a good way.

I think it’s part of the same trend in sports. A lot of physical demand and the whole team moving as a unit

It's a matchup zone. Similar concepts to how that's done in basketball.

bologna's trick is that they alternate defensive intensity to rather sluggish and slow building offensive..they still can find the goal due to the tecniques shown in the previous video that aim to create space and exploit it with rapid bursts...but in transition bologna is fairly sluggish to get the ball going, and that's where they recover stamina.

@@majukun it's crazy because where im from (Montreal, Canada), a lot of what is considered to be the "high level" club basketball leagues for 12-17 year olds is full of full-court pressing, high intensity, high pace basketball. But it's not always the most high IQ basketball games to watch; they're just really fast and athletic. And it's really great to watch because some of these kids i've seen over the years ended up playing in Canada and USA universities. But for me, i'm very much 80-20 in terms of half-court defense to full-court defense. I'd rather my players, especially teenagers in school who on average don't have that much skill and vision, focus on half-court intensity and 2-3 concepts as opposed to playing some sort of Jurgen Klopp high pressing scheme. Then if you have years where you have great players and are competing for regional/provincial championships, then i might go 60-40 in terms of half-court to full-court pressure.

Can't remember playing any other system, in any team sport, here in the USA. It just looks slightly different depending on whether soccer, football or basketball. Key concept was tighter marking in the central areas or when your man had the ball (or 2nd player). Didn't have pressing triggers, though.

Yes! My local team is far from world class but we do focus a lot on this kind of zone play with high pressure, our coach loves it :)

I see some clubs doing the thing where the front 2 in charge if closing down rotates to give a break from time to time.. for e.g at Arsenal sometimes Kai Havertz or Odegaard goes to the LW or RW to have a rest while Martinelli/Saka will take over the first line of pressure.

Yeah, doesn’t seem to be the kind of name that a Bayern board look to hire

He can’t speak German

You'll see it with BFC

At this pace he may play UCL directly with Bologna and I think he's actually going to stay there in order to gain more experience in a place with lots of enthusiasm and little pressure. As a Milan fan I like him and it would be nice if he replaced Pioli, but at the moment I demand Flick or Nagelsmann because of their character and experience.Yet had Klopp not decided to have at least a gap year, he would've been my first choice.

He is more likely to join barca if they call him for the job

Which team is Deco in?

@@Coach-rq6jxBarça

because our beloved sporting director (Deco) don't even watch them (and the Serie A). Just simply incompetent 🤦

He has a release clause which Barca can't afford at the moment

​@@toantu3005it's not that. Motta has a release clause much higher than what De Zerbi has at Brighton. Hence Barca will be trying to avoid both.

Because he doesnt won anything important. Marquez its just the last option

He needs to come to barca after one year at champions league.

The win of arsenal?

They done it today too

@@chris.48 yh it was very impressive, they struggled to play at all in the middle 3rd but thats no surprise given how strong both teams are, the narrative won't reflect this but i think arsenal were closer to winning than city overall

And incredibly boring and mind-numbing for the people who pay to watch. If it were Inter and AC Milan grinding out such a 0-0 draw, people would be all over the Italians for being so defensive.

What's really crazy is that with how much better the really top end of the Prem League is so much better than the rest of it, but there are still 3 out of 4 teams left in semifinals of UCL are supposed "farmers league" teams while there are zero(0) Prem League teams. Now THATS crazy.

Seguo

He first won it under Rijkaard

Pioli's HaramBall tactics

I agree. I'm a Juventino, and I'm sick of Allegri and his useless tactics. Even when we're playing a relegation team, we just sit back and defend. They always outplay us and have more ball possession. We're in the top 4 only because we have better players. Thank God we're getting Motta next season.

@@RenatoFitness-od6er I agree. Although I must say I don't agree with 'useless tactics' ? It's not a tactic. You're too kind to call that a tactic. Lord Dinollegrisaurus instructions is to sit deep, and pray that the individual skill of the midfielder and forward will help the teams to score goals. His tactics works well before because Buffon, BBC on the back, and Pirlo, Vidal, Prime Pogba in midfield and Higuain Dybala are there. Every professional coach could win Serie A with those kind of players. Now with Lord Dinollegrisaurus can't hide anymore with less experienced and much younger players on the squad. So yeah, I don't mind if next season we don't win serie A but at least we can see identity of tactics under Motta.

Yes everything always has a weakness. If you look how narrow the midfield four is we see that they choose to give up space on the flanks and get overloaded in the middle is unlikely.

against teams that played extremely outdated football lol. The argentinian league is trash, and river's lack of success at the copa libertadores while having such monstruous budgets, talent, and overall presence and reputation is telling of this, and that "gallardo's river" wasn't all that. They still have two striker teams in argentina. 442 cross centered tactics.

@@necromax13 Point is, its not new. Simeone have been using this in Ateltico Madrid. and i can remember old Man United games against teams like West Brom where we had to face this too. Football goes through constant RE-evolution with its evolution.

except isn't this made to confuse the opponent.

It's not about putting in tackles all the time. Sometimes it's just normal pressing which makes the opponent to put a wrong pass.

bro tried to sneak diniz in there as if we wouldn't notice.

Diego Simeone have been doing this in Atletico Madrid for ages now.

Arteta is at the top of these lists

nah. Naglesmann would be a better shout for Liverpool. or even Thomas Frank

@@bagtea yeah a guy that’s in a relegation battle with Brentford should manage Liverpool😬 My wishlist is 1. Simeone 2. Motta 3. Nagelsmann 4. RDZ 5. Fernando Torres and inshallah

@@crazybkfanisthebestyoutbub1265 well he struggled cuz of Toney not being available this season. Still a brilliant coach and would do wonders with Liverpool’s budget and players

@@crazybkfanisthebestyoutbub1265Zidane?

@@bagtea over the last 10 games Brentford are 16th. He’s an ok prem manager at best.