Jonathan Wilson
Jonathan Wilson's Articles (Bot)
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2010
- Messages
- 695
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
Pep Guardiola helped redefine football with Barcelona but a few years down the line his teams can struggle to defend and may be picked off by rapidly countering opponentsManchester City have kept two clean sheets all season. Liverpool have kept three. Both sides may have come out of last weekend lamenting defeats that have allowed Chelsea to open up a small gap at the top of the table but it could equally well be argued that with defences like they have it is remarkable they are as high up as they are. But this, perhaps, is the modern way: defending in the old-fashioned sense has become unfashionable.
“There is no modern generation,” José Mourinho growled in the summer of 2015, after winning the Premier League with Chelsea. He was responding to criticism of his supposedly “boring” style of play and with a certain level of wilful misunderstanding dismissed those who supposedly rejected the counterattack as “stupid”. He may have had a point that there are certain coaches who pay too little attention to their defences, but he was surely wrong about there being no new generation. Pressing, high lines, percussive, vertical football are in vogue, from Dortmund to Liverpool, from Sevilla to Hoffenheim.
Continue reading...
More...
“There is no modern generation,” José Mourinho growled in the summer of 2015, after winning the Premier League with Chelsea. He was responding to criticism of his supposedly “boring” style of play and with a certain level of wilful misunderstanding dismissed those who supposedly rejected the counterattack as “stupid”. He may have had a point that there are certain coaches who pay too little attention to their defences, but he was surely wrong about there being no new generation. Pressing, high lines, percussive, vertical football are in vogue, from Dortmund to Liverpool, from Sevilla to Hoffenheim.
Continue reading...
More...