On the right path

I come from the Coverciano school of Italian football.

That is the Italian Football Federation’s coaching school, which has been around since 1958. That was 20 years before I made my debut for Italy, as a 14-year-old, and about 40 years before I began coaching.

My style is possession, playing out from the back. I want my teams to try to dominate the game, creating more opportunities and better chances to score. To find the right movement and solutions to be effective against the opposition.

I also like rotation. For example, in a 4-3-3, I don’t like to have a static centre-forward who stays in the middle. To do these things, though, you need to have players with the right qualities, and the right physical preparation. If I want possession, I need to have reactive, agile players who are able to think quickly.

The long ball can also be a solution when it is the right solution; for example, when we have the right number of players in front. But generally, when I ask for a long ball it is across, not down the middle, if we are in a numerical disadvantage there.

Of course, I have coaches who have inspired me. The first is Pep Guardiola. Also Jürgen Klopp, for the gegenpressing. Now my favourite and inspirational coach is Roberto De Zerbi.

"The way his team plays, he shows the most beautiful football"

I also followed a lot of Luciano Spalletti in Naples last season. In 2023, they won Serie A for the first time since 1990, with Spalletti in charge. The next season, they lost just one player – Kim Min-jae, to Bayern Munich – but they also lost Spalletti. They have not performed like they did in the title-winning season.

I have heard it said that the coach’s influence is 10 per cent. What has happened at Napoli without Spalletti shows that is not the case. The influence is much more, in my opinion.

I have followed De Zerbi since he coached Sassuolo. I like how he has brought something new, and how he is using the third player. The way his team plays, he shows the most beautiful football. 

During the 2022 World Cup break, when De Zerbi took Brighton to Dubai for a week, I also went there. I observed and talked with him and his staff, just to understand his philosophy. There is the structure his team has in their half – a two plus four with the full-backs narrow, that can become a 3-1 or 3-2 in the opposition half. I like that they play one touch, two touch. He doesn’t say to the players: “You must play one touch or two touches.” He gives them solutions and they pick the right one. 

That is the best way to coach. Not to codify every situation, but to coach principles that players must follow, both in possession and out of possession.

For example, in possession, if you don't receive pressure, you have to drive with the ball until an opponent comes to you. That way, you can find a free player. Out of possession, you have to try to win the ball back as soon as possible. If you cannot, you get behind the ball and cover the space.

"A cross is like a long ball – a 50/50 ball. That is why it is much better to play short"

What we try to do – as many teams do – is press man-to-man and recover the ball as soon as possible. Because if you win the ball closer to the opponent’s goal, you have more chance to score.

Another thing that is important to me is that, if you look at the best teams in the world, they don’t cross a lot. They try to access the box by playing a pass from the half-space, rather than cross.

That is the Guardiola school. A cross is like a long ball – a 50/50 ball. That is why it is much better to play short. Maybe you make more mistakes because you play more passes; but if you lose the ball, you are there to win the ball back. That is the kind of football that I like.

I study by watching matches. It is my passion. That can be learning from young coaches, like Vincenzo Italiano at Fiorentina (above), or someone who has been around for longer but still likes to progress, such as Spalletti.

There is always room to improve as a coach. You should never stop learning. That is the most important for a coach to understand.

It is also important to adapt yourself to where you are. I like coaches who respect the qualities of the players. I have never been dogmatic and said: “Okay, I will only play 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1.” No, I wait to see what players I have, and after I decide. Sometimes I decide one thing, then change – maybe during the season. As a coach, if you always use the same system, you are predictable. The other coaches can study and stop you.

"I didn’t want the defender to only play a long ball and stay there. No, they can attack"

When I started to coach the Canadian national team in 2009, they had been playing long-ball football under a Norwegian coach who preferred to play more direct. I prefer ball possession, that is true. But if our opponents press with intensity, my team becomes more vertical. If the opponent waits, we have to find another solution, to move the ball and try to find the space when they make a mistake.

As a coach, I need to know the strengths and weaknesses of all systems. I have to give my players the principles and more than one solution. It is the responsibility of the player to know not only their position, but also their function, and to pick the right solution as quickly as possible. They choose what they have to do on the field, and I guide them from the bench.

When I took over Canada and proposed my style of football, the players were happy because they realised that they could play much more. I found a team that was very open to learning something different. I didn’t want the defender to only play a long ball and stay there. No, they can attack. There are two phases – with and without the ball – and everybody is involved in them. It is not about the position, it is about the function.

I was told: “Canada will not be able to play like that.” That was not true. We are talking about a national team. Technically, the players knew what to do. It was my job to explain to them why, when you have the ball, you need support behind. Why you need more options to play. How we can support the player with the ball. How to be more effective out of possession; more proactive when you don’t have the ball.

"We could stop, help them understand where to receive the ball, how to receive the ball"

They adapted. People stopped saying the Canadians couldn’t play that way when we won 3-1 against China in Toronto. The stadium was full and everybody clapped the team, because they didn't expect something like that. But actually, we had changed it immediately. We won the CONCACAF tournament in 2010, for the second time in their history.

We also improved the physical performance. At the 2011 World Cup, we had tournament-leading numbers for distances covered at high speed. The physical trainer I used had worked with me when I was coaching Italy and been in charge at Inter Milan for many years. He was also my physical trainer when I was a player.

He knew my style of play as a coach. With the players, I would work on technical and tactical aspects for 15, 20 minutes. Then I passed them to the physical trainer, for what we called a ‘break’. 

It meant that my tactical interaction with them could be a little bit slow, with not so much movement from them. We could stop, help them understand where to receive the ball, how to receive the ball. Then he could get them doing something fast, before I took them again. That would help because after 20 minutes, the mind of the player, they can lose focus.

It wasn’t really a rest for them with the trainer, but it broke things up. Then they were ready to work with me again.

"england did not win the european championship by accident"

Preparation is so important. If you miss the chance to prepare in pre-season, you miss such an important part to work on what you want to do, how you want to play. This is the time when the coach shows the team the target for the season and explains to them how we can achieve that. The modern training session includes a squad of at least 23 players to work with; two players for each position. This could be a good, experienced player, and one young, talented player. All have to respect the rules of the team.

I wanted to come to London City because the most important women’s football now is in England. No one – except maybe the Spanish – have achieved in the last 20 years what has been done with women’s football in England.

England did not win the European Championship by accident. It is the organisation here, and not just at the high-performance level. At the base there are now more than 100,000 females playing football in England. In Italy, we have around 40,000. We are a little bit behind.

When I coached the Italian national team, between 2000 and 2005, the first thing I did was bring in a sport psychologist and physical trainer. Nobody had that at the time, whereas now it is normal. 

The problem we had then was that national team players were training for the level of the league, but the level of the national team was higher. You risk injuries, so we spent a lot of time speaking with the club coaches to push them to have physical training.

Now, it is different. I coached Milan and Lazio between 2018 and 2021, and they have everything. They can use the facilities the men have: doctor, physios, recovery.

"It was certainly a different experience, but a beautiful one nonetheless"

Back in 1999, I managed a men’s team, Viterbese, who were in Italy’s third division. We beat Ancona and Ascoli – teams that ended up playing off for promotion to Serie B that season – in the Coppa Italia Serie C. But I left the job after two months, because of interference from the president, Luciano Gaucci.

Gaucci used to tell his coaches which players to pick. When he did that to me, I said: “Okay, I will leave.” He tried to stop me, because he respected that I had the courage to stand up and say no to him. For me, that wasn’t courage; it was normal. 

I am still in touch with some of the players I coached at Viterbese. One of them, Fabio Liverani (below, left), went on to play for Italy and has managed in Serie A.

When you coach men in the professional game, you coach athletes who are used to having everything since they were kids. They might have started with the youth sector of Milan, Inter or Juventus, for example. They are prepared, they are professional, and they know what they have to do. 

In the women’s game, it has not been like that. Women haven’t had those opportunities, that experience of the professional game. In that way, it was easier to coach the men.

But me being head coach was too much for Viterbese to handle at the time. Because I was a woman coaching men, the world’s media was there all the time. All of that attention needed managing, but the club was not prepared for it. It was too much, allowing the media there every day, when I needed to focus on my work with the players. It was certainly a different experience, but a beautiful one nonetheless.

"we are in very good hands. It will take time, but we are on the right path NOW"

As a female coach, it is not the same as being a male coach. The culture in Italian football is that the head coach decides everything. I remember when Fabio Capello went to Roma. He changed everything, even the gate where the players went in. If the coach is a female, there has been more resistance to what you want.

I feel privileged to be here at London City Lionesses, where Michele Kang has recently taken over from our founder, Diane Culligan. Michele is an amazing lady who knows what she wants to do, and has very high standards. She owns Lyon, one of the best teams in the world, and also Washington Spirit, a formidable organisation from the NWSL. 

London City will be connected to both clubs, and Michelle knows the standard she wants here. She knows what we have to do to arrive at the top. So, we are in very good hands. It will take time, but we are on the right path now.

The Championship is a very tough tournament. In particular this 2023/24 season, because many clubs want to get promoted. Tactically, there are many good teams. 

We have struggled this year because we had to rebuild the squad when we arrived. There were many training sessions where we had fewer first-team players than usual, so we had to integrate the Under-21s.

"my ambition is always to get the maximum out of my players"

When you integrate the first-team with the Under-21s, you miss something; the technique and speed is not the same as the first-team. People can see what we are trying to do with the team, but it has been difficult in these circumstances to get results. The team is new, and it takes time to understand each other’s games and get on the same wavelength.

We have some very good players, like Dan Carter, Georgia Brougham, Ruesha Littlejohn, Emma Mukandi, Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah and our captain, Lois Joel. Off the pitch, we have been working with colleagues from the Spirit and Lyon to oversee high performance, including [Washington’s vice-president of performance] Dawn Scott, who has done amazing work in the sport. Dawn is a guarantee of the highest level in women’s football, so we are very happy with that.

My ambition is always to get the maximum out of my players. That maximum could mean you finish somewhere in the middle, or it could be to arrive first. It depends on what you have. But as a coach, what I ask is to give my maximum, and to have the maximum from the players. 

To give our best, every day.

Author: Craig Bloomfield

Popular

Newsletter

The Coaches' Voice Weekly Superb insights and stories from the top names of football delivered to your inbox weekly.