COMMENT Carlo success down to love of the game
THE most important result in the past 25 years of football happened this week in the Bernabeu.
Because this was not just a victory for Real Madrid over Bayern, but also a vindication for self-expression over robotic football.
There was a quote from Carlo Ancelotti after the game that summed up everything that is right about his philosophy and everything that is wrong about the Peps of this world.
Ancelotti’s attitude is all about his players. Pep (inset) makes everything about himself.
And he has spawned wannabe Peps – coaches who parade about the technical area thinking they are on a catwalk, wearing skinny jeans and white sole shoes.
To them football isn’t a game; it is a process.
Winning to them isn’t as important as ‘attacking through the thirds’, ‘getting our distances right’, ‘finding space between the lines’.
These guys try to blind you with science, try to be miniPeps. They have Armani jeans on their legs and a look of smugness on their face.
And they fail.
Rob Edwards is a mini-Pep at Luton.
Gary O’Neil is a mini-Pep, whereas Ancelotti is his own man, a winner, one of the greatest managers in the history of the game, a title winner in five countries.
That’s where you see the difference between a spoofer and a winner.
Ancelotti makes the game look easy.
Here is why. “Football is not that complicated,”he said.
“The pitch is always the same, the opponent is always XI, the ball is the same, the goal does not move. Football is simple.”
So why do so many clowns try and complicate it, then?
Ego
It comes down their ego.
And also a lack of trust in players.
I look at a coach like Edwards, wiping his eyes in front of the Luton fans after relegation was confirmed on Saturday.
Coaches like Edwards are taking individualism out of the game.
They have been on so many coaching courses that they have failed to make the distinction between information and knowledge.
They come out with phrases like “we worked on that on the training ground” when asked about a certain goal their side scored. They are too arrogant
to or else too stupid to realise they are subtly insulting their own players.
And then I look at someone like Ancelotti – the man has won the Champions League four times and can make that five when Real Madrid take on Dortmund later this month. Last week he kept his nerve while Thomas Tuchel lost his, substituting Harry Kane with five minutes to go because that is what a modern coach does: he tries to be too smart. Ancelotti, in contrast, retained belief in his players but also in himself.
The work was done on the training field.
And it was all about executing it on matchday.
Even as the clock ticked down on Wednesday and the exit door loomed large in Real Madrid’s face, their coach stayed calm.
He trusts his players. He gives freedom to a superstar like Vinicius Junior to run at defenders. Ancelotti is the definition of confidence. He isn’t a bragger, although with his CV he has every right to be. No, he’s comfortable in his own skin because he knows the game inside out.
Here is a sample of what he had to say: “The mistake the new generation of coaches make is that they give too much information to the players in the game when they have the ball.
Creativity
“This takes away the creativity. It is one thing to indicate to the player what their positioning should be without the ball.
“But with it, they need to be given freedom.”
And then I listen to O’Neill and Edwards.
They come out with stuff like “the players took on board my instructions”.
And it’s clear to me that the game is being ruined because coaches like them are driving home the concept of fear football, of making short, safe passes because then they can point to stats after the game which suggest they had plenty of possession.
Pep loves his stats.
And he also loves himself.
But Ancelotti loves the game. And that’s why he continues to succeed. For football’s sake, let’s pray that continues to be the case.