Massimiliano Allegri
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MagIX
Senior Member
Interview (in italian):
https://www.corriere.it/sport/19_di...to-d2a99856-17f0-11ea-addc-85aa5b33ebd7.shtml
Massimiliano Allegri, how is football seen from outside?
"There are two things above the others: the first is that the African players are moving football to the physical side. The quality remains fundamental, but the basis of football is changing. The second is that I'm seeing a great return of the counterattack.
Counterattack?
"Yes, we've been following Guardiola for twenty years without understanding it. Guardiola only told of his exception, it wasn't football for everyone. The historical Barcelona was born with three great players who press hard and push their opponent's defenses into their area. So in turn, the midfielders go up and down and your defence can reach the midfield. But you have to have Iniesta, Xavi and Messi. We took as a common lesson a topic that concerned only them".
And the counterattack?
"It's one of my sensitive topics. When I hear Sacchi talking about holding the ball and having proactive attitudes I don't understand what he says and I get angry. Why shouldn't it be proactive to play vertically, why should it be to play twenty one-meter passes? I've seen Sacchi's games twenty times, I remember the one at San Siro where his Milan scored five goals against Real. He played straight ahead, like a spindle. While Real was calmly exchanging the ball. It was a vertical Milan, purely counter-attacking, which is not easy to do but when it succeeds, it is a great show.
What do you think about Klopp's football?
"The base is the same as real modern football, having three forwards who continuously press the defense, keep it closed inside the area. If you have Mané, Salah and Firmino you have to go for vertical lines. Klopp understood this and also that the attackers must be protected in all their work. When he was in Dortmund he scored more goals, I remember that. But he also plays a vertical game, he shoots all the time, he looks for space not on the side but behind his opponent. I don't understand why we should be ashamed to have invented this way of playing. It's one thing to defend yourself in order to take away a draw, when the draw was worth half a victory. Another thing is to lead the attack from the defence, to look for space in a different way. It's not a saving, it's another way to invest."
Continuing the review, are there any other interesting discoveries?
"The importance of the players and the real role of the coach."
In what sense do you mean the real role?
"That there are no tactical layouts, there is no artificial intelligence, the technician's eye counts. From January they will make the tablets available to the bench. You'll know which are the most popular courses. To do what? To summarize in a sentence what I have already seen. Football is a field, not a universe. Things are found, they touch each other, it is of no additional use if it's on an electronical device. You need a coach who can do his job on Sundays, that's the day you have to be technical. The rest is up to the players, to their diversity. Today I turn around, I see the football of the boys, of the amateurs, I talk to their coaches and I hear things that frighten me, they talk like printed books, like television, they are the most frequent slogans poured on boys who in turn will exchange football with another series of slogans".
So what do you mean when you talk about the simplicity of football and the logic of roles?
"Let me give you an example. Koulibaly, Manolas and Albiol, three great players trained by a technician, Ancelotti, whom I admire very much. The professor there in the middle was Albiol, for technical characteristics, that is, for readings of situations, for the ability to sense the progress of actions. Koulibaly is exceptional physically, less so in other respects. Manolas is very good at man marking, even less inclined than Koulibaly to the collective idea. I mean that football in my opinion is to understand this, the individual qualities applied to individual situations. Not an end in itself scheme. A man who integrates and completes himself with another to make a department. That's not what a number, a tablet or an algorithm tells you. Either you feel it alone or you'll never understand the game. That's why I'm convinced that the coach only recognizes himself on the day of the match."
Is something still missing?
"The executives. We have lived by intuition for many years, now it's time to build them. We can't imagine what it means for a coach to have people like Galliani or Marotta at his side. Cellino was already decisive for me at the time of Cagliari. Football is too much of a middle ground: you take very good managers who don't know him, or people from football who aren't real managers. I told Coverciano, we have to open up to the future, continuously prepare the new management class. We need courses on courses, hard exams, feedback of specific skills. Let's give Coverciano to the great minds of football: I'll name two, Lippi and Capello, they've done everything in their career and they're still young. No more friends of friends. If we don't have good managers we won't even have good coaches. In fact, we don't know who to give the big teams to anymore. We must ask the best to help us. Trust in quality rather than good will".
And what did they say to you?
"Simply not.But the national team is on the rise... "I found Salsano a few days ago, I begged him to congratulate Mancini. He's doing a great job. And do you know why?".
Why is he good?
"Of course, but that has always been the case. But now he's another person, he's become severe, serious...".
Wasn't it before?
"Of course he was, but now he's changed. Now he's talking about football with everyone, he's playing simple. He's a master. While ours is a world of professors."
For example?
"It's not an example, it's a memory. This summer I was in Pescara with Galeone and Giampaolo, and it was fatal for us to talk about football. I said to Giampaolo: "Marco, I don't give you advice, but I want to tell you one thing. You're at Milan, it's not for everyone. Don't make a team of hot guys because they'll break you in two. That's not the stadium for joking. Do you want a central fantasist? It's not Suso. But Suso is a great player. Synthesize, adapt. Football belongs to everyone. If you don't have the director you're looking for, there's nothing to prevent you from playing with two middlemen in the middle. What matters is the quality of the players. It's there that a coach must not compromise, on the competence of the managers, which is the real problem of our football".
Is it the old illness of being all philosophers?
"If philosophers are good, why not? The problem is the result, that is, the reality. Do you get it or not? I don't even have a computer at home, I just use my iPhone as a phone. But if I watch football I know what I see. And I have a thousand ideas. We are even stronger than technology."
When will he be back?
"Next season. Not before."
And your Sundays?
"I'll pass them by to watch football. In the morning around Piedmont behind my son, eight years old, five-a-side football tournaments. Then afternoon and evening in front of the television. And at the end of the day my son tells me that he will still be a Formula 1 driver".
https://www.corriere.it/sport/19_di...to-d2a99856-17f0-11ea-addc-85aa5b33ebd7.shtml
Massimiliano Allegri, how is football seen from outside?
"There are two things above the others: the first is that the African players are moving football to the physical side. The quality remains fundamental, but the basis of football is changing. The second is that I'm seeing a great return of the counterattack.
Counterattack?
"Yes, we've been following Guardiola for twenty years without understanding it. Guardiola only told of his exception, it wasn't football for everyone. The historical Barcelona was born with three great players who press hard and push their opponent's defenses into their area. So in turn, the midfielders go up and down and your defence can reach the midfield. But you have to have Iniesta, Xavi and Messi. We took as a common lesson a topic that concerned only them".
And the counterattack?
"It's one of my sensitive topics. When I hear Sacchi talking about holding the ball and having proactive attitudes I don't understand what he says and I get angry. Why shouldn't it be proactive to play vertically, why should it be to play twenty one-meter passes? I've seen Sacchi's games twenty times, I remember the one at San Siro where his Milan scored five goals against Real. He played straight ahead, like a spindle. While Real was calmly exchanging the ball. It was a vertical Milan, purely counter-attacking, which is not easy to do but when it succeeds, it is a great show.
What do you think about Klopp's football?
"The base is the same as real modern football, having three forwards who continuously press the defense, keep it closed inside the area. If you have Mané, Salah and Firmino you have to go for vertical lines. Klopp understood this and also that the attackers must be protected in all their work. When he was in Dortmund he scored more goals, I remember that. But he also plays a vertical game, he shoots all the time, he looks for space not on the side but behind his opponent. I don't understand why we should be ashamed to have invented this way of playing. It's one thing to defend yourself in order to take away a draw, when the draw was worth half a victory. Another thing is to lead the attack from the defence, to look for space in a different way. It's not a saving, it's another way to invest."
Continuing the review, are there any other interesting discoveries?
"The importance of the players and the real role of the coach."
In what sense do you mean the real role?
"That there are no tactical layouts, there is no artificial intelligence, the technician's eye counts. From January they will make the tablets available to the bench. You'll know which are the most popular courses. To do what? To summarize in a sentence what I have already seen. Football is a field, not a universe. Things are found, they touch each other, it is of no additional use if it's on an electronical device. You need a coach who can do his job on Sundays, that's the day you have to be technical. The rest is up to the players, to their diversity. Today I turn around, I see the football of the boys, of the amateurs, I talk to their coaches and I hear things that frighten me, they talk like printed books, like television, they are the most frequent slogans poured on boys who in turn will exchange football with another series of slogans".
So what do you mean when you talk about the simplicity of football and the logic of roles?
"Let me give you an example. Koulibaly, Manolas and Albiol, three great players trained by a technician, Ancelotti, whom I admire very much. The professor there in the middle was Albiol, for technical characteristics, that is, for readings of situations, for the ability to sense the progress of actions. Koulibaly is exceptional physically, less so in other respects. Manolas is very good at man marking, even less inclined than Koulibaly to the collective idea. I mean that football in my opinion is to understand this, the individual qualities applied to individual situations. Not an end in itself scheme. A man who integrates and completes himself with another to make a department. That's not what a number, a tablet or an algorithm tells you. Either you feel it alone or you'll never understand the game. That's why I'm convinced that the coach only recognizes himself on the day of the match."
Is something still missing?
"The executives. We have lived by intuition for many years, now it's time to build them. We can't imagine what it means for a coach to have people like Galliani or Marotta at his side. Cellino was already decisive for me at the time of Cagliari. Football is too much of a middle ground: you take very good managers who don't know him, or people from football who aren't real managers. I told Coverciano, we have to open up to the future, continuously prepare the new management class. We need courses on courses, hard exams, feedback of specific skills. Let's give Coverciano to the great minds of football: I'll name two, Lippi and Capello, they've done everything in their career and they're still young. No more friends of friends. If we don't have good managers we won't even have good coaches. In fact, we don't know who to give the big teams to anymore. We must ask the best to help us. Trust in quality rather than good will".
And what did they say to you?
"Simply not.But the national team is on the rise... "I found Salsano a few days ago, I begged him to congratulate Mancini. He's doing a great job. And do you know why?".
Why is he good?
"Of course, but that has always been the case. But now he's another person, he's become severe, serious...".
Wasn't it before?
"Of course he was, but now he's changed. Now he's talking about football with everyone, he's playing simple. He's a master. While ours is a world of professors."
For example?
"It's not an example, it's a memory. This summer I was in Pescara with Galeone and Giampaolo, and it was fatal for us to talk about football. I said to Giampaolo: "Marco, I don't give you advice, but I want to tell you one thing. You're at Milan, it's not for everyone. Don't make a team of hot guys because they'll break you in two. That's not the stadium for joking. Do you want a central fantasist? It's not Suso. But Suso is a great player. Synthesize, adapt. Football belongs to everyone. If you don't have the director you're looking for, there's nothing to prevent you from playing with two middlemen in the middle. What matters is the quality of the players. It's there that a coach must not compromise, on the competence of the managers, which is the real problem of our football".
Is it the old illness of being all philosophers?
"If philosophers are good, why not? The problem is the result, that is, the reality. Do you get it or not? I don't even have a computer at home, I just use my iPhone as a phone. But if I watch football I know what I see. And I have a thousand ideas. We are even stronger than technology."
When will he be back?
"Next season. Not before."
And your Sundays?
"I'll pass them by to watch football. In the morning around Piedmont behind my son, eight years old, five-a-side football tournaments. Then afternoon and evening in front of the television. And at the end of the day my son tells me that he will still be a Formula 1 driver".
Richard.H
Senior Member
What about Juve? I thought for sure he's going back there
soul24rage
Senior Member
Maybe Zidane to Juve??
DonAK
President of FC Barcelona
Maybe they'll get Zidane.
Fati_Future_BallonDor
Well-known member
Uff dont want to see Allegri at Real, better if Raul or Loew goes there.
Richard.H
Senior Member
Allegri is a league master though and knows how to win vs crappy domestic teams, something that Zidane somewhat struggles with. Could see them dominating LL if he goes there
Fati_Future_BallonDor
Well-known member
You are underrating allegri serghei
Birdy
Senior Member
LOL
What are you talking about?
Allegri is 20 million times better coach and tactician than Zidane.
Does not have the black magic pot, yeah that's for sure.
But, unfortunately for us, you will see you quickly he will resolve tactical issues of RM.
He will play defensively though, hence never an option for Barca.
But that's no news for RM, Zidane has been doing it the last 5 years
Fati_Future_BallonDor
Well-known member
Without Messi and Real having Allegri we can say ciao to la liga for next three years
Birdy
Senior Member
Blessing for Barca if that happens
serghei
Senior Member
Sounds like a very old school, didactic and rigid manager to me. Kind of the opposite of the guys we see succeeding today if you ask me. It's almost like Mourinho.
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