What does Carlo Ancelotti actually do? 

His book on Quiet Leadership was awesome. By all accounts he treats all players and staff with equity and respect. His teams are completely bought in and he keeps a positive mentality throughout the team. He's flexible with his style dependent on his players and what the club owners are looking for. Give it a read if you enjoyed the analysis by JJ!

Ancelotti isn't a revolutionary.... He is, simply put, efficient. And Consistent. And that wins Trophies.

There was a story about how he did have a tactical identity until he went to Juve and coached Zidane. After struggling to get the best out of him, the next season he just let Zidane do his thing and it worked wonders. It taught him to be more flexible and let his star players do what they love most.

He wins. Out of all the so called elite managers he is by far the most underappreciated!

This season's Champions League run is really Ancelotti's magnum opus. The knockout stage was a giant slaying run. Very difficult but somehow managed it against every single world class team and world class manager they faced.

As Ancelotti said "Modric and Kroos do things in the pitch that I don't even ask them to do" he understands that the job of a manager only goes so far and when it comes down to it the players are the one who make the decisions, he's like the polar oposite to Guardiola who wants to control every pass and movement that his players make on the pitch.

I think something that was missed about his man management was that he always gives credit to his players when they win and takes the fault when they lose. He keeps their morale high, even the players that don't play as much. Recently in an inevitable with Hugo Sanchez he said that he cannot treat humans as football players, they are humans that happen to play football. This shows on the players, you can see that they're all willing to run through a wall for him, he kept even the bench players happy. His ability to get the best out of players is second to none, and this quality will bring him success anywhere he goes.

Yeah, Everton was what cemented him as a great manager for me. I don't know his history that well, but getting the performances he did out of that squad shows his quality

He also sounds like a genuinely nice guy. Seemingly the most humble of the elite managers.

He took a Madrid team who had convinced themselves they were in a transitional period and gave them belief. True “mentality monsters”

He’s an excellent man manager. Handling egos is his thing. He also seemingly builds his tactical set up around the players he has. It’s not rigid from club to club.

Carlo is just as good as any other legendary coach you can think of if not clearly better. The Peps, Klopps, and Joses only have him beat in marketing and that's it. He always goes out of his way to give credit to the players, unlike other coaches who love to bask in the limelight when people call them geniuses. It's funny that a guy who had an excellent career as a player is by far the most humble out of coaches today. Proper gentleman, great tactician, by far the best at being a leading figure in a locker room with big ego players.

IMO he's underrated in the English speaking world at least because in football we call season/multi-season ways of playing Tactics instead of Strategy. Tactics outside of football are more often short term, situation based plans of actions which is what he excels at. So I see Pep & Klopp as Strategic managers, who occasionally dabble in tactics and Ancelotti as the best Tactical manager. Problem with repeated patterns of play is that it can only be so flexible so if someone finds a weakness it's back to the drawing board. Someone like Ancelloti is talented enough to spot those weaknesses AND adapt his team sufficiently to exploit them. Which is easier said than done.

People focus too much on his man management and forget that he has done his time as a tactically stringent 'revolutionary' coach in his hayday as Sacchi's heir. He just evolved to something better. To be flexible as a coach is just being better. Something people underrate. Same thing Carlo's protege too suffer from. Zidane's flexibility is from Carlo's book.

His 14-15 real madrid team is also an example of this. He shifted his 4-4-3 that won la decima to a 4-4-2 to accommodate James, Bale and Ronaldo. They were scoring goals for fun until modric got injured and the team was exposed.

I'm not sure what he exactly did with Di Maria back in 2014 or why it worked but he put him in midfield in a free role (a lot like Iniesta) and it was honestly unplayable. He came deep and picked up the ball, drifted all over midfield and made piercing runs into the box. Di Maria was crazy good that season. Can't figure out why Man Utd and PSG didn't use it.

I remember when Modric played that outrageous pass through He-Man's legs in the PSG game, can't believe he accidentally fell on his sword. Skeletor laughing in the stands was an iconic CL moment

Vinicius and Valverde not only neutralised Liverpool's wide threat in the final, they also tortured Robertson and Arnold whenever the opportunity arose. Liverpool were forced to attack through the middle with Henderson seeing a lot of the ball, and with creativity not being one of his strengths, it became hard for them to create clear chances. This shows just how well Ancelotti did his homework while Klopp went for the tried and trusted. It's a myth that Ancelotti doesn't do tactics. He just is a lot more balanced in his approach than your Guardiolas and Klopps and focuses on lots of other areas of management. Players who worked with him love him, and he's managed some giants of the game like Buffon, Thuram, Cannavaro, Crespo, del Piero, Zidane, Pirlo, Seedorf, Ibrahimovic and Ronaldo. Kind of disgraceful that English-based journalists in particular don't give him his dues, probably because he worked very few years in England and didn't win CL with an English club.

It was at Napoli that he truly earned my respect, I'd never seen anyone play with a Centre-Full Back, It was a 4-4-2 on paper but with the right back played by Maksimovic who was a centre back, and Fabian a centre midfielder as a Left Wide Midfielder, the formation morphed into a 3-3-4 and was brilliant to see. Definitely one of the best managers to ever grace the game.

Being Ancelloti means you've transcended into the next dimension of football. He is the only manager that have the deepest understanding of the game, when some one gets into his level they get rid off their ego and use every player by giving them the role that gets the most efficient and effective result. His trophy cabinet speaks for itself and there is no right way of football, it is only the most effective way. Give him a Guardiola team, a Klopp team or a Mourinho team he will win more than them in their own playing style, that is how deep he understands football. The real 🐐

God it was like Ronaldo was in the room. I have chills. Oh and very underrated manager.

Ancelotti's first run at madrid was a 4-3-3, he converted Di Maria, into an inverted CM, and it was amazing. I miss that Modric/Di Maria/Xabi Alonso midfield

Perfect manager for Real Madrid. In the end he will be remembered for all his trophies and glorious moments not his “tactics”. Watching the “tactician master” Pep scratch his bald head not knowing where to look in extra time was blissful. Make no mistake about it, he is the reason why Vini JR is excelling at the moment. That alone deserves so much praise. And ofcos Benzema’s Balon D’or season was under his watch. These are not coincidences.

Must've felt nice playing under him as a good player. Choose your best position and just vibes with the trophies.

I still remember Mourinho's Madrid because that was the time I started following Real Madrid. Didn't won much to show for but Mourinho's Madrid were absolute Demons to play against. Thanks to him we acquired "Never say Never" attitude. In my opinion, it was after Mourinho, Real Madrid started to make a team rather than just a group of Galacticos. And after a decade, here we are! The Champions of Europe.

It's amazing how young Ancelotti was considered a radical coach in applying Sacchi's principles, so much so that he basically forced Zola out of Parma to Chelsea (also Parma was signing Baggio but he pushed to abort that deal). Then he learned to adapt, mixing his great tactical knowledge with the ability to manage players as human beings, becoming probably the best manager (in the literal sense of the word) ever

I think the players and pundits often mistake tactics for strategy. Strategy is essentially tactics for the long-term - the teams that set up a specific identity in how they play. Ancelotti is purely tactical - how to win the next game.

What you forgot to mention and which is very significant, Ancelotti was a top class midfielder who won trophies on the playing field with AC Milan playing alongside the likes of Gullit, Van Basten, Baresi, Maldini, Donadoni, etc.

It feels like there are two distinct paths of great managers: systems and personnel managers. Klopp and Pep get your team working like absolute machines but sometimes your big personality players can't fit into them (Ibra and Pep). Then you get your Carlos (and I'd maybe put Fergie and Zidane in here). They can get the best out of huge personalities and when you have such talented players playing at their best, you always have a chance of winning any game no matter how bad the situation is (Real Madrid in the Champs this season). I'd have loved to see what Carlo could have done with the United squad last season, lots of talented big personality players not performing at their highest and not able to change their style to a different system. Could Carlo have made Ronaldo, Pogba, Fernandes, Sancho, Rashford, Fred work? We'll never know lol

I remember reading an article from the Athletic about CR7's relentless work ethic which mentioned how Carlo wanted to play 4231 in Madrid when Ronaldo met him in private to voice his preference to play on the wings instead of central. Ancelotti then agreed to change the formation bc "you are the best player and so we should play however best for you". it shows how good of a manager he is that like the video says, he creates systems that best accommodate the best players to gel together.

He is in that great tradition of Italian managers that are all about realism, adaptability and emphasizing the human factor. Italian Serie A has declined since the mid-2000s, but Italian managers are still very much in demand across the world.

Ancelotti is such an overlooked manager, he's one of the few that have a great record against Klopp and Guardiola, during the 13/14 Champions League when he faced both Klopp and Guardiola in the QF and SF's respectively he beat them, then likewise last season in the SF and the Final he beat both of them, plus on top he beat Tuchel as well. The Don's still got it, form is temporary but class is permanent.

He motivates young men to perform better and adjusts tactics to fit his opponents.

"Picks the best players he has, makes them play well together and puts them in their best positions." When you put it like that, it DOES seem obvious!

Pretty obvious that Ancelotti prioritizes protection and control in the middle of the pitch (AC Milan, Chelsea, Real Madrid) but rather than imposing a style of play he makes sure to utilize his best players and get the most out of them. If he has a trademark its getting the max out of the experienced players and always having a reliable spine that always performs and shows up in big moments. His teams can be argued as being bred for the big moments and the big occasions which shows how much he cultivates mental strength.

In the 2020/21 season, many called Mourinho (Spurs) and Ancelotti (Everton) wash up has been and fast forward 2021/22 season, both are European champion in their respective category (UCL & ECL). Football bloody hell, won't be surprise if Man Utd gets relegated now

Against superior opposition teams. He neutralizes the game at the start by setting up the team in a way that matches the difference in players' quality. Then bring the right players as a sub and try to win and avoid defeat. He is more simple but very adaptable and effective.

When Liverpool were at their best, the only manager who beat them regularly was Ancelotti...including in friendlies (when he was managing Napoli). He was the first manager to work out how to find the weaknesses in Liverpool's tactics, this season everyone started to understand, so Liverpool have changed slightly into more of a 3-4-3 or 3-2-5...depending on the situation also sometimes a 4-3-3 like before

He is everything thomas tuchel isnt, a coach that is loved by the dressing room, a coach that makes the players better and happy

Seedorf was an incredible player. Hugely underrated and imo one of the best midfielders in the world in his day.

JJ kinda missed on Milan's formation and details like Oddo was on right for most of the time and Gattuso was there as rm in 4-4-1-1 in possession and on out it becomes 4-3-2-1

Ancelotti over Mourinho. Because of the "pragmatists", Don Carlo has won more. In more places. And done so adapting to times, to players, and needs of the club. Also, as this showed, he's a match planner. Because he's adaptive, rather than idealistic, Ancelotti has no problem shifting between shapes and concepts to put his players in the best matchups to win. It doesn't create confusion to play more direct, like it would with Pep. Because the commitment is to get the ball to the most dangerous players. Not dominate possession or compress space.

He defeated Pochettino,Tuchel,Pep and Klopp on the road to UCL Glory 💪🏽 An Underrated Feat👏🏽

Ancelotti was relevant when I started watching football in 2003 (right at the time Milan beat Juve in the UCF finals). It's 2022/2023 now, and Ancelotti is not only still relevant, he's managing REAL MADRID! Of course he deserves to be in a certain GOAT conversation when it comes to winning.

He delivers. That makes him the greatest of all. Who said you need a style of play or "identity" to win?

The thing is Carletto makes the players feel important. He doesn't treat them like they're children, or like they're dumb. He doesn't act like he knows everything and they know nothing just because he's the coach. He acknowledges they're the ones who actually go out on the pitch every week, so they know better than anyone what they're good at and what they're bad at, and what the team needs, and he works together with them to find the best results. He's one of the best in the world at helping players reach their potential, both individually and as a team. Look at Vinicius, he was a very promising but very rough product. The way he was playing it looked like he could equally turn out to be a world-class player, or another young Brazilian flop. Then Carletto arrives, and suddenly nobody would dare to doubt he's one of the best u-21 player in the world. That's no coincidence. Look at Militao's evolution too. Last season he was already looking like a failure. Under Carlo he became Madrid's most reliable CB. Under Carlo, Courtois finally silenced all the doubters, Benzema had the best season of his career and is set for the Ballon d'Or, Modric looks like he's 23 again, we saw the best Carvajal and Asensio we've seen in the last 3-4 seasons, Rodrygo and Valverde have become decisive players, and Camavinga has integrated perfectly into the team.

He's a puzzle solver, and above all, a motivator and a place of security and respect.

He goes with the flow and wins. That’s his style. He makes players play the way they want and blends that into a team game. ABSOLUTE MONSTER OF A MANAGER

Really cool how you managed to get an interview with Ronaldo - couldn't believe it when I heard his voice!

what a manager ... i believe many players would love top play under him. I would certainly love to play under him as a professional

His first spell at Madrid he used 433 and 442 with Dimaria in the midfield. 4231 was mourinho

Goat of man management. Never heard a single player say anything bad about him. Sacking him was the biggest mistake Chelsea ever made. Think he was also in a star trek film wasn't he?

He proves that the most important thing is man management, if you can handle humans you can win anything as a coach, this is why pep and Mourinho did have a hard time in recent years, now you can argue with guardiola and it will go extensively, but that’s my opinion, winning the league with the amount of money he has and full backing of the board is the minimum he can achieve

He gives you the same team without rotating it making it obvious on who's going to play and and how he's going to play therefore, selling a dream to the opponent, especially if he's losing, it makes his opponent come down and that's exactly how he wants you to react, then in the dying minutes he makes some weird random substitutions which Real had already revised and are already aware of what those substitutions mean and what tactical changes they have to make which will have to take the opponent's time to adjust but it's nearly impossible to adjust with time against you and that's how he takes advantage and preys on the opponent

This is one of the best Tifo IRL videos so far, love the use of Don Carlo's book

His style of play basically is adaptability. Not much managers are able to withstand different decades or football. Even when football philosophies change, he's able to stay at the top because of how relatively easily he can adapt and isn't stuck in 1 style.

Klopp mentioned as one of the best ever is absolutely tragic.

Considering in the Italian league teams sporting directors typically decide on who the clubs signs to compliment the team it makes sense that he doesn’t have a fixed concept of team setup. Even so what he has achieved is impressive even that Milan side who beat Liverpool in 07 you think they lost shevchenko in the summer almost got kicked out because of calciopoli and than the season afterwards failed to qualify for champions league football it is a massive achievement. Also considering how well he adjusts to new eras remaining relevant and successful it hard to think of a comparison

Somehow I think players were much happier playing for Ancelotti than other high calibre managers (especially pep).

Zidane once said about his managerial style - for him, it's not about trying to improve a player by teaching them new things it's more about building and helping these players work as a team. Guardiola/ Klopp/ tuchel/ arteta/ naggelsmann etc are not just managers but also coaches who focus extensively on teaching them a new way of playing football. Klopp is more about coaching without-the-ball side of the game such as the pressing and less about the ball. There are other managers who are not coaches but it really does not mean that they are less tactical. I would say Mourinho is a very tactical manager but he leaves the attacking side of the game(on-the-ball stuff) more to the players to improvise rather than through methodical repetition. Same with zidane/anchelotti they all know about the 'tactics' but it's less about coaching these players a new way of doing things.

Carlo is underrated in my opinion. He is a true genius and one of the best coaches ever. He has adapted his football with different teams for 3 decades now.

He was famous for Christmas tree formation You gotta consider his playing career. He was a great player in his own right. And he played with some of the best footballers in his generation. He is fairly old compared to the likes of Guardiola but don’t forget where he comes from

This guy is the best of the Tifo staff. He's hilarious, informative, love your vids, keep it up mate

God seeing Jj grow from when he first started this is so amazing he’s really come into his own and it’s so great to see

His AC Milan team played absolutely beautiful football and I'd match them up against anybody.

I think a lot of managers are slowly realizing that forcing star players into roles they're not exactly suited for isn't the best way to winning football. Even Pep, notoriously known for having his players play exactly a certain way, has recently embraced the creative talents of Foden, Silva, and of course, De Bruyne who is allowed to make almost whatever pass he pleases in the final third, because Pep knows playing a strict possession-based style when you have a player with possibly the best playmaking vision in the world is reductive. Alonso at Bayer Leverkusen, Emery at Aston Villa, and plenty of others are embracing systems that allow them to field their best 11 and allow the players to amplify their natural strengths.

It is old school management. He manages clubs who have players drilled and taught by coaches in every conceivable tactic. Selects the team and expects them to adapt and change based on the requirements. They have a discussion and try what the experienced heads feel they are capable of doing. Doesn't work in bad situations when players havent played in winning systems or have a low responsibility about them.

Fantastic vid. To me that's what makes him an all-time great manager. He's not hidebound, he's able to adapt to his situation and keep winning. Similarly Sir Alex kept on evolving Man United, knowing when to move players on - and consistently kept United as one of Europe's top teams. Guardiola keeps evolving his tactics to meet new challenges. Lots of managers come up with a tactical innovation that teams aren't used to - but the true greats are the adaptable ones.

I think being adaptive is more tactical than relying on a single system and play style for every game

I’d love to see another gaming series where the Tifo staff each pick an iconic manager, and create their respective dream teams (only including players that they have managed in their entire careers). Pep, Klopp, Carletto, Mourinho, Wenger, Sir Ferguson, etc.

Fantastic video, as always. Where did you get the football shirt prints that are framed in the background? I'd love to buy some!

I've really enjoyed our first book club with JJ Bull. Can't wait for the next one!

He is a reminder to the tactics and data plebs that football is won by the best players most of the time. Get extremely good players, put them in areas and positions to excel, have them understand their roles in the team, don’t rotate incessantly, have luck with injuries among key players, and you’ve got a really good shot at winning anything.

Ancelotti change after his time at Parma and at Juve he find Zidane in his team who he cant find place in his "beloved" 442 .. From stubborn to implement Sacchismo to be more flexible ..

Great video JJ. Very well made, clear and funny.

Great video!! I love that Borat was reading Ronaldo’s line nicely done

Why did you include Klopp in the conversation for best ever 😭

10/10 Ronaldo impression. Gotta love JJ

I think what you pointed out about the calm and finding the player's best position makes the difference. The man knows where to put players. Or even who to put on the pitch . Take Milan as an example. He brought Kaka from Brazil , played him as a sort of a shadow striker and Kaka was brilliant. Moving at Real at being used more on the left side didn't bring much out of Kaka. As for the second point: he had Abiatti in goal. Dida came from loan from Brazil, Carlo dropped Abiatti ( Italy's number 2 keeper at the time) and put him in the starting 11. The man can see the players he needs and play to their strenghts. That is his best quality. World Class manager

I'd say his style/approach is really a pragmatic one that focuses on putting his players in the best possible position to be at their best. I'd say this works well with a mature team that has seasoned players who have been around the block. May not be as effective with a younger squad who probably need a more set style of play

Carlo just gets it done and he does so without lording himself up as some sort of coaching prophet (Nagelsmann, I'm looking in your direction!!).

He just make players more capable he brings out the right quality out of them he actually brings the inner quality more and he alters the players as to there capabilities he had created many world class players and moulded them even if you look at alaba now he plays as an cb so look at his vision on altercation he sees a lot of potential in any player all we wants a right track

I love the videos about managers.

It would have been interesting to see what Ancelotti would have made out of the current Man United squad. His talent seems to lie with turning talented individuals into a high-functioning team. But could even he have done it with the shaken jigsaw box of the Man United squad?

0:11 i think its absurd that people actually think jurgen klopp (as great as he is) is anywhere NEAR the pedigree of carlo ancelotti, forget about being BETTER than him

6:49 Same things I kept ignoring in PES even in lower difficulties, so when I had to address it on higher difficulties, I started switching to 4-2-2-2.

As a Liverpool fan it pains me to say this but Carlo knew exactly how to beat us in Paris. He knew Liverpool would go full throttle from kick off and instead of trying to match them, he just intentionally disrupted their rhythm but doing simple things like kicking the ball out of play. This happened in the first 3 mins of the match when Liverpool were in the Madrid half. As soon as Madrid won back possession they just kicked the ball out for a throw in and it threw the whole Liverpool team off their game. At the time I didn’t get why they did that because there were passes available but you could see the Liverpool,players were confused and it just knocked them out of that high intensity rhythm. Carlo is an absolute legend. Just love the guy. Pure class.

Guess Sacchi really inspired so many great coaches. Klopp and by extension Wolfgang Frank took different things from Sacchi compared to Ancelotti.

His midfield diamond is pretty unforgettable

So excited to see a breakdown of the Xmas tree

I consider him to be one of the best. I also think it's worth noting that in his managerial career he's only won five league titles, which can be considered an underachievement when you see the teams he's coached. Four European titles is incredible though.

He basically makes players express themselves.

he's a football manager.

Excellent analysis!

Something I noticed in the final was valverde dropping into midfield and they played kinda diamond with modric at the top and Benz and vini upfront. Not always put did play like that at times.

Out of all those managers he's probably the most efficient .....all the other ones tend to have a choke with their rigid philosophies

06/07 Milan beat Liverpool in the final, not Juventus.

Most comments mention his leadership, his capacity to win trophies and to be close with the players, to create a positive atmosphere in the team. To me, he also is a stargrower. Look all the players he coached : Dida, Cafu, Pirlo, Kaka, Inzaghi, Shevchenko, Drogba, Lampard, Zidane, Ibrahimovic, Modric, Benzema, Vinicius... A lot of these great players were already good and famous, but a lot also grew (Verratti and Vinicius for exmple) and became better with him, and had their best period with him.

Always been a big, big Fan of Italian coaches. Trapattoni and Ancelotti being definitely my favorite two...my favorite coach of all time through is Otto Rehagel.... Ancelotti has the experience and titles that demand respect from his players...he seems to be a father type figure that knows how to keep his players on his side. Tactically he is a product of the Seria A...I wasn't happy when Bayern München let him go.

No. Simply because of EPL bias. All the names you mentioned are "EPL" managers.