UEFA Champione League 2010-11 Preview: Top FIVE Managers to Watch Out For
The wait is over. The countdown has begun. Few more days and the titans would clash again. The most reputed competition in Europe – UEFA Champions League – is always expected to produce some of the most arresting moments in an unforgettable fashion and the scene is no different once more for the 2010-11 season.
Europe has seen quite a few signs of revolution in the pattern of football over the last few years. A decade that has seen as many as eight teams reigning supreme over ten titles has assured quality football to prevail all around. Almost all the footballing philosophies and ideas have worked in the last decade and we have seen champions coming from all the distinguished genres of the game.
From the out and out midfield driven Bayern Munich to a totally reverse containing approach of FC Porto – have all worked and worked to their best. Carlo Ancelotti and Jose Mourinho have been the only managers in the last decade to have won the honour twice – the latter of course with two different teams.
AC Milan and FC Barcelona have been the only teams in the decade bygone to manage the winners’ badge twice – failing to do so on successive instances though.
It is no secret to anybody pertaining to the football fraternity the great role does a manager play in structuring a team’s success at the Europe level. Tactical supremacy has been the lethal weapon for the managers on their way outwitting the counterparts and eventually guiding their side attain the highest esteem.
Not much different in nature, is this year the Champions League going to be. There are some of the Europe’s most exciting managers eager to add the highest glory to their CV whereas there are many keen on marking their presence a felt one.
An important thing to understand is that a great manager may not necessarily win the title for his club but is the one who makes the most of what is available to him riding his team to the correct path and see to it that they deliver their best on the field. Rest as they say is destiny and if you have any doubts over it, ask Ottmar Hitzfeld – for reference, Hitzfeld led Bayern Munich in that infamous final of 1999.
Let us focus on five of the managers most likely to steer the tournaments’ fortunes with their percipience and shrewdness. Here is a look at the five picked ones I feel would formulate the diagram of this year’s championship.
Jose Mourinho (Real Madrid CF):
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It is no rocket science to identify this Portuguese as the most dangerous prospect when he is leading any side at Europe and when he is marching with the most successful one in the history, it is cretinous to count him out.
The tag of the “Special one” may be a self-proclaimed one but does not at all fall out of place. The tag has been lived up to its stature time and again.
The power of Mourinho lies in his instincts. The man is never afraid to follow his heart and the tactics issued on-field have often been evident of this fact.
Having Javier Zanetti play at the right of the holding midfield in a Champions League final is not something many dare apply.
The buy of Ricardo Carvalho in an otherwise youth seeking approach is another example.
His techniques have never been exactly beautiful but their efficacy has never been questioned.
One of the more known facts about Jose Mourinho is his pursuit of excellence when it matters the most.
To put an end to the eight year long thirst of a Champions League title at the Bernabeu, he is the best man can be thought of and he is raring to go win it all.
Predicted Success Rating: 8/10
Domingos Paciencia (SC Braga)
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It is always special to lead a club that is entering at this stage for the first time and Sporting Braga are surely a club having already managed enough buzz around them ending the path for Spanish giants Sevilla.
Paciencia is a man who has chosen to stay grounds. He has always known his side’s limitations and that is where so many of his cards have unfolded far better than expected.
Having finished second in the league – the best the club has ever managed to – the Portuguese is an extremely confident outfit thrilled with the first birth in Champions League.
In my limited chances to view Paciencia’s managerial approach, a pattern that I could observe is he believes in keeping things simple.
A disciplined 4-3-3 approach, choosing a set of players who are more than likely to survive a full 90 minutes time, implementing least alterations to the starting formation are some of the quite visible attributes in his theories.
Although having the highest mountain to climb from where his team stands at this point, what may work in favour for him is a completely charged up side that is all up and ready to thrill.
Predicted Success Rating: 6.5/10
Claudio Ranieri (AS Roma)
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Talking about the tactics & techniques and not including the master Italian in the debate does not complete the list.
One of the oldest horses in the game and when I mention the old age, he is the one having honed into a better ring master with every single day passing – may I add.
Not having featured in the Champions League last season does bring the required thrust to this completely traditional tactician and the aroma of his football that he has spread at Stadio Olimpico has set the hopes high.
Ranieri deals with one match at a time. Even over a full season, it is extremely difficult to derive a particular mantra that worked for him for flexibility being his only weapon. He does not really attempt to target his counterpart like many in Europe tend to but is only concerned about his game.
Roma after a terrible start last season were actually potential Serie A candidates at one stage – all thanks to the old man.
He has not remained much in news during the transfer window but has been smart enough to acquire the needed creativity in his attack in names of Adriano and Marco Borriello.
He has seen things enough in Europe black & white and has a side that is perfectly shaped to cause all kinds of threat to some of the more famous ones.Lesser expectations may work in favour of Ranieri and his approach – a little stringent at times – to keep his layer-based play preserve in no matter what circumstances is in my views going to be a driving factor for his success this season.
Moreover, his side is led by a skipper who perhaps deserves the most to lift that trophy.
Predicted Success Rating: 7.5/10
Carlo Ancelotti (Chelsea FC):
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Jose Mourinho would be most pleased to see this name being framed here in the same league as that of his own.
Ancelotti much like his Italian compatriot Ranieri is a man of discipline and that is what he has exhibited in all his years of glory at Milan.
Having been the only manager in the last decade to claim the trophy for the same club on more than once occasions, he is so desperate to take this toll to London.
A double on debut rubbished all the doubts speculated over the speed at which he would catch the hold over the English game.
Ancelotti perhaps has the luxury of possessing the most formidable squad in Europe that gels in his favoured 4-3-3 formation so well that it sometimes questions the very need for Carlo sitting at the Boss’ job.
His strength however remains in his dynamic approach. Without even the notice of the opponents, an introduction of a substitute would entirely change the design Chelsea operate with and it would be viewable only after it has caused the damage it aimed to.
The best he has done for Chelsea in the one year time is that he has stacked the Italian in himself aside and approached the English game from the scratch.
His rotations of individuals work impeccably perfect even while not changing the formation.
He is having the most envious ammunition to achieve the highest honor at Europe this season, add more to an already ‘sought after’ CV and also bring the glory for the first time to the most deserving ones to have never won it.
Predicted Success Rating: 9/10
Louis Van Gaal (FC Bayern Munich)
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Perhaps the most pragmatic of all. van Gaal is a manager who values his players above his own ideas of organising them into a system. This phenomenon is much shown in the personnel he chooses to operate with on different stages.
The prime parameter is the strength of the individuals he picks and then the formation is formulated accordingly. This is a reverse approach but has apparently worked so amazingly over the last season.
His dynamics are unquestionable and his proactive intuitions are an additional gift. Arguably he is having the best men in Europe to form a midfield of. In my views, the Dutch is one of the most vehement under-achievers and with the force – that is reckoned a born-to-kill-material – which he is having in his top ranks, he is the man to watch out for.
He has mainly sought for speed in Bayren’s play and with the best winger of the world he is having in Arjen Robben it is no surprise. The X-factor however, lies in the mechanism he has introduced where his both centre midfielders – van Bommel and Schwensteiger – are mainly spotted unusually close to his forwards and moreover, he chooses to orchestrate his attack with two wingers in parallel.
That makes it a total five attacking players comprised over two layers and given the ambitions of his centre midfielders, the number with-in no time reaches seven.
This whole design is a trademark brainchild of van Gaal which he had tried to implement even at Barclona but could not materialize properly given the egoistic propensity of Patrick Kluivert and Luis Enrique.
Bayern is a team however, where these untested yet effective methods can be practiced and van Gaal is the best man to carry them forward. A tactician to the core – makes it the brightest chance for Bayern to clinch the title on the opening season of this decade as well.
Predicted Success Rating: 8.5/10
And at The End of It........
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The tournament as always is promising some of the dream battles to be fought hard enough to leave their mark in our memories.
Above listed are some of the brighter candidates who in my views are set to shine but having said that, who wants to miss the chance of being bestowed with the honour that is no match for anything?
The whole football brotherhood around the world once again awaits the whistle to blow. The only thing that remains to be seen is, who out of them would cheer the most at the last whistle blown?
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