Danny Higginbotham: Man City boss Pep Guardiola might not do ‘tackling’ but that doesn’t mean he’s defensively inept
Spaniard criticised for comments about training methods but are there any managers who actually practice tackling?
PEP GUARDIOLA has been criticised for saying he “doesn’t coach tackles” – but I’m 100% behind the Man City boss in that regard.
Look, I love a good old-fashioned tackle like the next man.
And tackling remains an important part of football. It is an art in itself to get it right.
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But if you cannot tackle, then you would never make it as a footballer in the first place defensively in the Premier League.
Perhaps Pep’s comments have been lost in translation.
No manager in my experience ever put on a specialised tackling drill or session.
As far as I’m aware, it’s unheard of in the professional game.
As a defender, I was never asked to hone my tackling skills in a training routine specific for tackling.
In training, you would regularly do one v ones, two v twos, three v threes, four v fours for example – and tackling would be incorporated within those sessions where the aim of the attacker was to score and likewise the aim of the defender to stop by tackling him or blocking a shot.
To interpret Pep’s comments as an admission that he doesn’t “do” tackling sessions, well that would be misguided.
Pep has worked with some of the great defenders of this generation, the likes of Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol at Barcelona, as well as Javier Mascherano, whom he transformed into a central defender from a midfielder and Jerome Boateng at Bayern, who he improved no end.
You couldn’t do that without having any coaching experience or nous.
My old boss at Stoke City, Tony Pulis, was one of the best defensively-minded football brains, and I doubt he would ever ask his defenders to practise the art of tackling.
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There were never any specific tackling sessions – instead they were defensive sessions where it was attack v defence.
On a general point, defending is no longer seen as important as attacking.
When players come through and eventually make the first team, they are not perhaps as defensively astute as those from yesteryear because there isn’t the emphasis placed upon defending.
There aren’t so many good defenders around these days because what is valued on a football pitch is perhaps so focused on attacking unfortunately.
In games now, you see more interceptions than tackles due to more movement off the ball.
In the 90s and early 2000s, you saw more tackles.
Now defenders have to read the game quicker and more efficiently as there are more runners off the ball.
The game is more about positional sense these days than a bone-crunching tackle.
Higginbotham’s Top 5 Premier League Tacklers:
Nemanja Vidic – A whole-heartedly, tough-tackling defender. The Serb put his head into places where others wouldn’t dare put their feet!
Roy Keane – When he went into a tackle, he went all-in. If you lacked the commitment, then you went flying in the opposite direction. Absolutely magnificent the way he tackled
Paul Ince – One of my first 50-50s in the Premier League was against Ince. Jesus. Let’s put it this way, when I came out of the tackle my foot was full of blood. And yet it was a fair tackle
Jaap Stam – Stam was immense in the tackle. A big, tall and strong man. The same mould as Vidic in the way he prevented the attackers from advancing
Ryan Giggs –He had this uncanny ability to slide tackle. Absolutely brilliant. The ability to track back, get his foot in front of the full-back or winger, win possession and then start an attack with the ball at his feet.
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