With three official matches for TSV 1860 München, the Portuguese manager has 2 defeats and 1 victory, having been eliminated from the German Cup by the 3rd division sensation team, Lotte, that also left behind Bayer Leverkusen and Werder Bremen. Despite the poor results so far, Vítor Pereira is a man of convictions, persisting on bringing his own game idea to a German championship where physical abilities prevail.
His game ideia is characterized by an excessive obsession for the tactical accuracy, discipline, organization and control. That was noticed reading his recent interview to the newspaper Expresso. With his bold, disconcerting but also ambitious and revealing a great personality style, Vítor Pereira leaves open the possible return to the Portuguese league but for now his future is in Bundesliga II, where he is focused on avoiding relegation with TSV 1860 München.
The Portuguese coach believes that playing this way, he’ll be closer to success. His ideas and game model conception now under analysis:
“(…). First, in defensive organization we need to clearly understand the moment to pressure. When and how to press. I don’t want a team… and I even need to put a damper, because they want to press, but press in a brainless way.”
Image 1 – Team organized defensively in a 1-5-2-3. In this moment Olic gets back on the field to help and close inside as the 3rd man, but in an occasional situation.
Image 2 – Intensive pressure when the ball gets on the sides. Collective behavior well identified with the team reacting and searching for numerical advantage situations to recover the ball possession
“I want a team organized, in a slow rhythm, tending to a determined behavior, and suddenly bam!”
Image 3 – Uduokhai with great relevance to the construction of the offensive maneuver. A young center back to follow closely. He takes risks, shows good ball relation with decision-making capacity. The team always offering passing lines – three in this example but two more in the right wing to help vary the center of the game.
“I want as soon as possible to put the vertical pass to kill the pressure that comes. If it is not possible, because they have closed, then yes, it’s necessary to keep the ball. I want the team to realize the moments with conditions to speed up, if it is possible to speed up.”
Image 4 – 1st phase of construction with the team concerned in playing at the offensive midfield. Starting with a supported play and always through the three center backs. Uduokhai with safe passing lines but choosing a depth pass for Wittek.
Image 5 – Liendl getting in the match and changing it. Discretion, passing quality and tactical intelligence. The Austrian midfielder stretching the game to the back of the opponent’s defense when he had secure passing lines. A calculated risk that allows the team to speed up.
“Therefore it is necessary for the team to learn to identify the moments with conditions to go fast and the moments to keep the ball, circulate it and to play in width.”
Image 6 – Again Liendl in the center of attention. Assuming the control of the game and promoting ball circulation. Uduokhai getting up on the field and supporting the offensive process. Lumor, wide open on the left as a left midfielder and Claase asking for ball between lines. On the other side Lacazette without opposition to receive and turn the play to the right.
Image 7 – 1st phase of construction with Mauersberger getting up with the ball controlled and three passing lines well defined. The ball being played to the left for Uduokhai to receive it and take advantage of the space to conquer meters to his opponent. Space to progress and speed up.
In the set plays the team shows lack of organization. As a result, for instance, they suffered 2 goals against Bielefield.
Image 8 – Even with numerical advantage the team shows some lack of coordination and organization in this moment of the game. Two players attacking the same ball and losing it, and then the lack of reaction allows the opponent to shot inside the area. The physical wining organization.
Vítor Pereira faces a soccer dogma and assumes that for him there is only one way: win and play well.
“Because you can play very well but if you don’t win the players won’t believe in your game. The balance between winning and playing well must exist. I mean, there are coaches that don’t care much about playing well, but if my team wins and plays poorly, I get upset. If my team plays well and loses, I get even worse.”
“A coach can not prostitute himself, his ideas, but you have to be able to adapt them to the reality at stake.”
“Now I’m playing with a different formation, 1-3-4-3. Hey man, it’s giving me an amazing pleasure. You know why? Because the dynamics are completely different from those I used to work with.”
This is how Vítor Pereira presents his ideas and convictions. A model based in a 1-3-4-3 with a cohesive and organized block. A team with some young talents but also with experienced players such as Olic, 37 years old, the most rated player, and also Liend, Boenisch and Mauersberger.
Starting in the back, the goalkeeper Ortega, searches for the short pass to one of the center backs – Uduokhai, Ba, Boenisch or Mauersberger. The wingers, Lumor – former Portimonense player – on the left and Stojkovic on the right, or Wittek that plays on both sides. Already projected to the offensive midfield, they offer passing lines to follow the play. With explosive capacity, irreverence and technique these players are hard to stop coming from behind.
Things get complicated in the midfield. With only 2 man working as the clock of the team, the German club needs more dynamic and intensity in this sector. Lacazette offers these skills but needs another element on his side to control the moments of the game. Adlung is a midfielder with passing ability but doesn’t have the same abilities as Liendl, who can get closer to the defensive block, score (7 goals in Bundesliga II), control the rhythm of the game and understand the right moment to play short, shift the side of the game or play direct in the front due to his vision and tactical intelligence. Another possible partner for Lacazette is the experienced Bulow that also plays as a center back.
In the front, the veteran Olic takes place on the left, coming inside and supporting Gytkjaer – the offensive reference, role that also Olic and Ribamar can take. The other winger, more vertical and gifted that usually starts playing in the second half to shift the game, can be Aigner, Aycicek, Claasen or the other former Portimonense player, Amilton.
The team reveals and excellent defensive organization ability, and also circulation and construction on the 1st phase, with a 3-man build-up. However, the quality of the offensive organization has been put to test due to the lack of discretion, discipline and especially collective ideas understanding. The German team is still struggling to find defensive solutions when the opponents come up with different defensive abilities presenting themselves in a compact and organized block. Nonetheless, individual talents have us believe the club will progress in this matter in short-term.
1860 München is a team that already reveals the hand of Vítor Pereira. The Germans progress to be the image of their coach but there’s still a long way to go.
The Portuguese manager promotes an ideological debate. He is seeking solutions to overtake the physical through the technique. A fable that is based on the story of David and Goliath. The “the small techniciansand ball guardians” overcome the “athletic and powerful aerial soccer players”. With this approach, Vítor Pereira intends to break with a tactical pattern and a pre-conceived idea of German soccer, putting his name in history. An adventure in German lands that will set tongues wagging.
By Francisco Gomes da Silva
Full interview available here (only in Portuguese): http://tribunaexpresso.pt/entrevistas-tribuna/2017-01-23-Vitor-Pereira-Meti-na-cabeca-que-ia-para-a-faculdade-e-ninguem-do-bairro-ia.-Tive-de-trabalhar-a-trolha-aos-fins-de-semana