Patterns of play are often found out and then easy to play against. Look at ourselves for example, getting the ball down the wings and the full backs getting forward, we don't have anyone who'll win the ball in the box so it's easy to defend against. Teams are more than happy to see us down the wings, if they flood their box with players then we don't have an answer to the question that the opposition asks.
If you make the same run 5 times a game, the defender marking you is going to pick up on that, that's where the instinct and intelligence of the individual has to come into the equation. Do they keep following the pattern of play blindly knowing the opposition defender is going to win that battle, or do they switch it up, throw a body feint in there, set off earlier or be the dummy run for someone coming in behind them?
Patterns of play will only get you so far.
Yes he does. Pep isn't going to tell his players to make the same runs over and over, he's more intelligent than that, he'll also want the individual instinct and intelligence of the player to come into play.
No. If you pop is just attack from the wings boys and cross like hell. Then yes it's easy to counter. That's not tactics. That's 101 spray and pray football.
Tactics are tiki taka. Tactica means your team have several play.
Say play a :
Both flanks occupy fb and make forward runs whenever your midfield general make certain signs, could be a simple showtrick to indicate that a is in play. Dm would push forward and occypy am position while your maestro make runs towards the channel. Your striker would then draw opponent out or could simply harras small cb. Fullback would move forward to midlane on standby if the attack broke down and ready to counter press. Cb would have their own sets of instructions. And so on.
And that's only 1 sets of play. If you have several well designed play your chances to break down opponent would be better. And play like the above are very hard to counter in real time in 90 minutes.
Added on top of that individual brilliance, for instance a winger would improvise and cut right. Or strong cb bombing forward to disrupt man marking.
And that's only one phase of play. You'll need another set of defensive situation. Say who's marking whom if your opponent made a blitz etc.
This is where good tactical manager can improve the team. Simple instructions every non idiot can follow but devastating if pulled as a team. The rest then would fall on execution of each player.
Obviously I'm not pep. But if you think tactical coaching is simply cones and corners then everyone can be a manager.
And also. When you have say 5 sets of play. Your opponent would have to first know which play is in effect, then 6 of them have to move accordingly to counter the opposition, and that's assuming 6 of them can handle 6 of us.
And that's a big ask for half the team to correctly guess which is which and half of them to counter in sync.
Hence defensive teams just try to stack up and soak whatever comes their way. It's up to the attacker to be creative and break teams down
An example is middle ages battle. Every troop and formation consists of simple moves. Be it forward, turn left, turn right or retreat. It's up to the general to combine those simple moves into brilliant maneuvers. Ole doesnt have this sophistication, truth is not many manager does. Some relies on simple yet effective but doesnt work all the time. Some likes to tinker and tries to outmanuver their opponent. Some just soak hard and wary their opponent. But a better tactician would fare better more often than passive one
