Where Do You Draw The Line Between Progression and Success

3/20/2017 Wheredoyoudrawthelinebetweenprogressionandsuccess?
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Where do you draw the line

between progression and success?
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After Luis Enrique announced his seemingly inevitable resignation as Barcelona

coach, he made a poignant statement:The reason clearly had to do with the way
of life I need to have in this profession, constantly having to find solutions,
constantly trying to improve my team, he said. I need to rest.
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The Spaniard has been worn down, fatigued, almost broken by the incessant
demand for success at the Catalan club. An insatiable appetite for trophies has
been created at a club that, before relatively recently, were by no means a
constant fixture at the top of the European game.
Barcelona are not alone in this complacent assumption that they will be, without
fail, challenging for every trophy, every season. They are, in a way, symbolic and
indicative of the current culture of modern football that has left coaches with
much to consider when deciding how they approach their constantly scrutinised
jobs.
Enriques words were interesting for a number of reasons. They pointed out not
only the clear lack of time for a coach at the top level, but also the unenviable
pressure that seems to be only increasing as the game becomes more and more
commercialised. Gabriele Marcotti revealed in a recent article for ESPN just how
little of a full seasonis actively spent on the training pitch, using Bayern Munichs
Carlo Ancelotti as the example.
Marcotti calculated that the Italian coach will this campaign have a rough estimate
of seven-and-a-half hours per month with a full squad to do a full training session.
This is a result of many factors, varying from international breaks, injuries and
fixture congestion, and is proving to be an undeniable, seemingly unavoidable
issue for coaches.Add to this the sheer perpetual expectation on coaches in the
top leagues of Europe, and it has become something of a recipe for disaster.
Coaches are now increasingly, and understandably, focused on simply succeeding

at all costs, placing wild pragmatism ahead of progression. It has become an
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part of a managers repertoire that they will adjust, simply do what is
necessary to bring the team they are currently coaching the success that is so
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craved. But herein lies the problem; success in football is fleeting, forgotten in an

instant.
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Read | The obsession of Marcelo Bielsa
Take the recent, well-documented dismissal of Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri.

It was a perfect example of how football is a game of constant change, one now
without sentiment, and one which could begin to appear arbitrary. As Marcelo
Bielsa once said: Success is only one exception that occurs from time to time.
Everything in football points towards the reality that winning trophies is not the
only thing of importance. But still, there is a blinkered view amongst the majority
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is all that matters. Much of this is created by sections of the media, and by
the ever-growing financial demands of the game, creating an illusion of a lack of
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time, an absence of breathing space for a coach to work with any freedom.

Results are king, method is obsolete. This is unlikely to change.
The media particularly the tabloids will continuously look to create a feeling of
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pressure on managers, while the game is inevitably only going to become more
economically driven in the years to come. All of this is a hindrance for those
coaches that see the bigger picture the progression of football on a tactical
level, both through influence and philosophy.
Football did not magically appear in its current state. The first ever game of
football would appear almost unrecognisable to most of us an unorganised,
incoherent mess. It has, of course, drastically changed, but only through the
innovators and pioneers, and those willing to take a risk. Without that thoughtful
approach, it would not be what it is today, but that doesnt mean that progression
can just stop.
Herbert Chapman in the 1920s, for example, was the first example of what would
now be considered a modern manager in England, and without his impact in the
formative years of football, it may be that many of the things taken for granted
today would not be present.
Its unarguably more difficult to be the instigator of such change with the game no
longer in such a linear stage, but there are those that still place great importance in
the aim of doing so. One of those is Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola.

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Read | Pep Guardiola: the thinker who reinvented the modern game
This is a man obsessed with constantly perfecting his own idyllic philosophy, to
the point where the ideology can often be prioritised over results. He would not
be naive enough to entirely abandon an element of pragmatism within his playing
model, but Guardiola is the coach that perhaps most ardently advocates the
essential need to influence the next generation of coaches, and inspire others.
He was a student of Johan Cruyff, who in turn learnt from Rinus Michels and so on.
Guardiola, while at Bayern, expressed a desire to oversee the learning process of
players with coaching potential; the likes of Xabi Alonso, Manuel Neuer and Javi
Martnez.
For progression to come in football, it requires risk, selflessness and a studious,

dedicated mind. There are a lot of coaches around today who play a very
reactive game, Guardiola said in Marti Perarnaus book The Evolution. I mean
them no disrespect but were different. Were carrying on the work of Cruyff, of
Juanma Lillo, of the Brazil of the 1970s, of Menotti and Cappa, Ajax, the Magyars.
Were their natural heirs and of course well lose sometimes. But the sun will still
rise the next day and well go on dreaming our dreams, doing our thing. In
football, nobody wins all the time.
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Guardiola
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something that is often highly praised. Coaches that find a way of winning are

often hailed for their pragmatic, realistic, perhaps unpretentious approach, and as
a result see no need to view their roles as anything other than the man who works
out how to win. A coach like a Guardiola, or a Biesla, meanwhile, might appear
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dogmatic to the typical football fan, stuck in their idealistic methods, unwilling to
change when it seems that something is evidently not working.
A good example of this is with Guardiolas backing of Claudio Bravo at Manchester

City this season, and the criticism he received for persevering with a goalkeeper
considered better with his feet than with his hands. But he wont change his
principles, regardless of the views of others. This is a coach that views pragmatism
as a choice, not a requirement.
Possibly the most important question, then, iswhat is most important: success at
all costs or progression and innovation? What is perhaps rarely noticed is the
adverse effect success can have on a coach, and indeed a team. Ranieri at
Leicester proved that even the most astonishing victory can quickly become sour,
tarnished and end in tears.

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Read | What is good football? The role of aesthetics in the modern game
It appears that Ranieri and his players were distracted, made complacent by the
noisy, inescapable hysteria of success, and made ignorant to the silent,
camouflaged concept of progression. Its no real surprise that Ranieri decided to
make almost no changes to side that so spectacularly won the Premier League,
but football is a game in a constant state of flux. Unfortunately, while success is a
visible, reachable target, progression can be compared to evolution; drawn out,
often not noticeable as it occurs, but essential nonetheless.
One of the most historic instances of influence came in the 1974 World Cup and
the Netherlands team led by Michels. Although they lost in the final to an excellent
West Germany side, the Oranje would prove an inspiration throughout world
football with their Total Football approach to the tournament. Its certainly not
unfair to say that that team, encapsulated by the outstanding Cruyff, are more
widely revered and recognised than the team that beat them to win the games
most coveted trophy.
Michels side, in his own words, hunted the ball, playing an attacking, pressing
game and introducing a new brand of stylish, aesthetic positional play replicated
by many in various forms in the years to come.

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There are coaches in the modern game that strive to play expansive, ambitious
football; SERIES
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Eddie Howe at Bournemouth, Quique Setin at Las Palmas to
name a few, but these are the minority. Many coaches conform to the mantra that
the sole purpose of football is to win, and while there is undeniably an element of
truth in that, there simply has to be more to the game than just victory.
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There have been
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numerous examples in the past where a coachs previous
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success is simply forgotten after a period of decline Enrique and Ranieri recently
which only serves to point out how futile and contradictory the almost unhealthy
obsession with success is in todays game.
David Mitchell summed up, in typically cynical fashion, exactly why the game has
to be looked at with far less tunnel vision, and far more contemplation, in a
Mitchell and Webb sketch. Every football team will be playing football several
times and in various combinations, he said, mocking a Sky Sports presenter. You
can catch all of that football here, where well be showing all the football, all the
time. Catch all of the constantly happening football here. Its all here, and its all
football, always. Watch it all, all here, all the time, forever it will never stop. The
football is officially going on forever.

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Read | That was Cruyff: how a legend changed the game
Mitchell is clearly not a football fan, but that doesnt mean to say that his point is
not a good one. The game has a relentless tendency to continue moving forward,
with no time for reflection, no time for consideration, and most importantly, no
time for experimentation, implementation. Todays climate, with an abundance of
gratuitously money-driven agents, TV deals and social media hype, and indeed
the aforementioned lack of time on the training pitch, mean that it is supremely
difficult for coaches to concentrate on anything other than winning the next game.
But ideas can still be put forward and new methods can be taught.
If indeed football is officially going on forever, its crucial that those willing to
advocate change are prevalent figures in the game, and not shunned to the side
by those motivated only by the financial benefits of avoiding relegation in the
Premier League, for example.
A man who hasnewideasis amadmanuntil his ideas succeed, says Bielsa. The
Argentine coach is an encouraging example of a man that puts his philosophy and
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ideology Menuof the mad rush for immediate success. To dismiss him as a hipster
ahead
coach is to take a blinkered view of his work. Bielsa has not been the most
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successful of coaches, his career is not laden with trophies, but he is not revered

simply for his idiosyncratic and unorthodox methods. He is an innovator, a student,
a teacher, and a philosopher of football. Most importantly, he has inspired
countless others, and continues to search for improvement, new ideas and
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development.
Bielsa, Guardiola, Michels, Cruyff; these will all be names remembered in years to
come for their impact on the game, perhaps more so than some that have
accumulated more silverware. The reason for this is that, as David Mitchell so
mockingly points out, football will never stop or will at least go on for very long
time to come.
Trophy winners are remembered in many cases, of course, but it is the coaches
that bring progression that, in a hundred years time, will likely be not just
remembered, but respected, documented and even immortalised. As difficult as it
is, managers must consider their legacy, and the games development, while
attempting to avoid the unforgiving grasp of modern footballs irrepressible need
for short term success.
As American revolutionary Benjamin Franklin once said: Without continual growth

and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no
meaning.
By Callum Rice-Coates @Callumrc96

Where Do You Draw The Line Between Progression and Success

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3/20/2017 Wheredoyoudrawthelinebetweenprogressionandsuccess?

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