"Football is simple: you have to do the opposite of what your opponents are doing!" by Massimiliano Allegri (Patreon)

"This is about the philosophy of simplicity.

As always, before reaching theoretical conclusions, I want to propose you a practical example, taken from the field that I know best. Here it is: football, as I see it, is really a very simple sport. If you think about it, it is based on a principle that is even a bit banal: don't give the ball to the opponent. And how do you apply this axiom of rare simplicity?

First of all, it is necessary to teach the players how to get away from their opponents, in order to avoid the immediate confrontation of an opponent and maintain possession of the ball. Furthermore, it is important to teach the boys how to pass the ball, making them understand that not all passes are equal.

Sometimes there is someone who wants to make football more difficult than it really is, and it drives me crazy. I have had the opportunity to tell young people, and on some occasions even the first team players, this phrase: "Football is simple, guys! It's useless to complicate it: on the field you have to do the opposite of what the opponent does. If he comes to you, you move away. If instead he moves away, you follow him. That's it, that's all!”

But let's get back to the concept that is close to my heart, the <simplicity> of football.

I make it shorter than some theorist who treats football as an exact science. The purpose of the game is to pass the ball to your teammates, favouring the simplest solution. Nothing more, nothing less.

This is especially true for youth sector coaches, who have a greater responsibility than mine. I train players who are already formed, both technically and psychologically, while they are faced with boys who can improve a lot and who still have to find their own identity.

The two concepts in which I have tried to summarise what for me is the essence of football - that is, do the opposite of what the opponent does and pass the ball to whoever has the same shirt as yours - can seem, I repeat, of a banality even disconcerting.

For me, however, the game of football should be brought back to the goal of simplicity. Today, when talking about football technique, linear definitions such as the <right pass> are rarely used, preferring instead to refer to <diagonals> or <schemes>.

Frankly this is not football, at least not as I conceive it!

Football is made up of boys who play freely and for fun, and it drives me crazy to see how they try to complicate everything. I often hear people trying to explain football by looking for scientific terms. For me this is completely wrong, as well as useless and misleading.

The game starts at a certain time and ends, except in exceptional cases, after two times of 45 'each, plus break. But within each individual match many other ones are played: those who want to pass football for an exact science should know that it will never be, precisely because there are a thousand variables in the game. How can one think that in a sport where twenty-two players fight for a ball that bounces here and there one can only win by applying schemes?

Finally, there is one other aspect to consider, and that excites me: if I teach my players that they must pass the ball to whoever has the same shirt as theirs and do the opposite of what the opponents do, I will inevitably tease their adaptation and reactivity skills. And this becomes a great point of strength for teams who know how to win. It's called <tactical versatility>, and it comes from a simple approach, not from abstruse and complex concepts to teach and to learn." 

Massimiliano Allegri ( È molto semplice: https://amzn.to/3SxjYCd)