Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso is a tactical genius. He built a system based on unity and zero egos (look at his work at Bayern Leverkusen). That collective mindset creates magic, but now at Real Madrid it created friction in a locker room built on individual stardom.
He’s too smart to trade a cohesive project for a power struggle. We (the football fraternity) often underrate man-management a lot at big clubs. His standout qualities have always been authority, gaining the trust of the players, and control of the dressing room.
Even Jürgen Klopp isn’t a tactically elite coach but look at what he transformed his teams into. Coaching is not only about out-thinking opponents on the board, that’s 50% of the job, the other 50% is getting upper management, staff and elite players to buy into the collective idea, week after week, under pressure. At a club like Manchester United where the pressure is always high, and the media scrutiny is always brutal, managing egos, expectations and getting people to believe in you is the hardest part of the job.
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If a certified winner like Jose Mourinho considers United his hardest job, that should tell you it goes beyond just tactics. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer knew his strengths and surrounded himself with assistant coaches who were strong tactically and let them handle the technical details.
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