There Isn't Just One Way

According to Goal Magazine, Cesc Fabregas played under the #1, #4, #8, #10 and #11 coaches of this century.

Between Pep Guardiola, José Mourinho, Vicente Del Bosque, Antonio Conte, and Arsène Wenger, he’s had no shortage of strong influences to draw from as he develops his own coaching philosophy.

Last week, Fabregas was asked to reflect on the unique dynamic of having played under so many of the iconic figures in the modern game, and who he thinks he emulates the most.

I found his response quite interesting:

“I like to go and talk to other managers, and I see myself more open-minded than some. You can see that they were brought up in a way, and when they speak, they can only speak about this way,” Fabregas says.

The difficulty with believing in ‘one way’ is that whenever you encounter changing conditions, are faced with unique tactics, or innovation occurs rapidly, your ability to react and respond can be severely stunted.

This often causes the coach to retreat inside themselves to refine ‘the way’ in search of answers. Sometimes this works, but oftentimes not. The rigidity of their belief system means there’s no working solution to complex new problems, leading to a coach who looks tortured and tormented — as if they’re stuck in a Christopher Nolan movie where reality is folding over on itself.

Fabregas takes a different approach: “Having played under so many ways, I can say, ‘We won this way and won, so I am convinced of it’ but I can also think back and say, ‘We also did the complete opposite…and we won too!’ This makes you believe that there is not one way, and that you need your game idea, coaching philosophy, and tactical model to adapt to the players that you have.”

I guess you could say he’s been shaped by the diversity of his own success, and has emerged as an adaptable coach who is skilled with a wide array of tools, and is comfortable using them in a variety of different ways.

A craftsman, perhaps.

This, in my mind, is the coach of the future. One who isn’t as ardently focused on playing one particular style or approach, but is comfortable to coach in a multitude of ways to get the best results.

This flexibility and adaptability will make coaches harder to measure, but will mean they’re more effective in a modern landscape where, as we’ve seen recently, the timeframe for having success is down to about two weeks.

For what it’s worth, Fabregas also gave a small response about how he’s been shaped by the best skills of each of the managers he played under.

Learned from Arsène Wenger

“Good football, but very vertical and very fast. Highbury was a small pitch, so we would recover the ball and we’d fly. I remember, we’d been defending our own box and then two seconds later Thierry [Henry] would be scoring down the other end.”

Learned from Pep Guardiola

“More tactical, more possession-based, going back to what I was used to from growing up in the Barcelona system.”

Learned from Antonio Conte

“More system football, robotic football. I say robotic because he was telling us everything that you need to do, every pass — A, B, C, D. So he gives you other mechanisms that you never saw before.”

Learned from Vicente Del Bosque

“I learned management more than football. We didn’t work as much on tactics or the way he wants to do this or that, so he wasn’t in the detail. But the man management and the game management that he had was outstanding — always making the right decisions.”

Learned from José Mourinho

“How to play with the brain of the players: how he takes the best bits from here, squeezes you here, motivates you here, challenges you from this angle. He’s top! And his methodology in training is quite impressive, too.”