Tactical Innovation Quotes

I must have just dreamed that about Liverpool playing 3-4-3. What do people think that was, a bit of luck? A British coach playing 3-4-3? A foreign coach doing that would be a tactical genius. I imagine people think I fell into that system through a stroke of luck or something... it took some thought. I didn't just throw them out there.

When I have won a victory I do not repeat my tactics but respond to circumstances in an infinite variety of ways.

I think he [Sir Alex Ferguson] may have even surpassed the achievements of Matt Busby for Manchester United.

Dave Bassett was a key influence on me, the way he treated and talked to people. Wimbledon and Sheffield United were quite direct sides and he got the best out of what he had, but he was an innovator.

But at [soccer] tournaments you tend to see novel, unanticipated trends coming through, with everyone watching each other like hawks and immediately copying anything new. What is really important for every team is to be aware of its own capabilities and find a style which plays to one's own strengths.

I emphasized the significance of revolutionary strategy.

A piece of football history. A unique coach [Sir Alex Ferguson], among the greatest of all-time.

He was always brilliant, but when Pep Guardiola started to use him as a 'false' No. 9, he got even better. It's impossible to be more of a footballer than Messi.

Anytime you run a gimmick offence, you're a little bit afraid - you're not sound in what you're doing in your base stuff.

Nobody criticised me when we qualified for the World Cup when I decided that the best shape for us going forward was three men at the back and stretching the pitch width-wise, which gives you options.

Arsene Wenger has not just brought success to Arsenal. He is a very creative manager, producing almost fantasy football.

I respect Bielsa a lot. For me, he is a special coach. I think the best coaches in the world work in different things, and a lot of coaches, we cannot train like Bielsa. It's difficult to train like Bielsa. But every coach can learn from different coaches. But with Bielsa, I think all coaches learn something from him.

Renown awaits the commander who first restores artillery to its prime importance on the battlefield.

I think football management has obviously changed and evolved in terms of practices and methods, but I would say the values we strive to hold are the same as great men like Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley.

I think Pep Guardiola is a top manager. There's no doubt about that. Not only did he manage Messi and Iniesta, but he made them better and took them to levels they'd never been before. The best team I've ever seen is Pep Guardiola's Barcelona. I'm sure his management got something to do with that.

I knew Portuguese football and I knew that Rio Ave was a medium-sized club but I also knew they are organised off the pitch. We felt that we could achieve something special playing in a different way.

I think it would be great for football in Britain if Pep Guardiola wins leagues and dominates for a while with the way he likes to play and the players he'll bring in.

If men make war in slavish observance of rules, they will fail. No rules will apply to conditions of war as different as those which exist in Europe and America...War is progressive, because all the instruments and elements of war are progressive.