Thing our fans and fans of this beautiful game called football in general have to know is the fact attack wins you games, but defence wins you trophies. They always say attack is the best defence, which sums up how important control is for any team out there, but its much deeper than that. Lets dive into it. Many managers taking a new job look at different things when doing so. Most of them want to see if they are aligned with ownership and what future would hold if they took over, but profiles you have in the squad dictate the way you want to play from the get go, so there is big difference between managers who want to play their football no matter what, and ones that will adjust and fit the football to what current profiles in the squad allow them to do. If you dont have goalkeeper who is comfortable and calm on the ball, defenders who are bad in terms of ball playing and concentration, midfielders who cant control tempo and attackers who cant drop deep and link up play, ofcourse you wont go for possession heavy manager given what your team has and needs. There is too many things that have to be taken into account when you judge any manager out there. We've seen plenty of times managers not doing well at one club, then they find a new job asap and crush it there. Its about culture, profiles, balance of the squad, owners backing, star power, coaching staff around you, and then the hardest thing out there for a manager - selling their ideas to players who will buy into the system and die for them. There is countless number of great man managers out there who arent that good tactically, but achieved amazing things and won trophies just by being so good at what they do best. There is countless number of managers out there who are tactically really good, but their man management is why they loose their players and dont translate their ideas well. Then there are ones who strive at both, and these are the best of the best - elite ones out there. Not all of them play possession based football. Not all of them play most attractive football. But they get results, and they do that for years. Manager doesnt become elite over night. He doesnt become elite after 2 years. That thing takes time. These people are obsessed with football. Their brains never stop working. To achieve greatness, sometimes you even have to sacrifice your sanity. Not only in football. One of the oldest questions in football is - is defending easier than attacking in football? Most attackers get their accolates easier, and you can see that clearly throughout history. Just open up a Balon D'or winners list, you can have your answer there. But what's the actual truth? In football, like in any sport, it changes. Eras define sports, and back then, i think defenders had it harder. If attacker makes a mistake, there is many things that have to happen for you to concede. If your defender makes a mistake, there is high chance you are conceding. But thats too simplistic right? It changed, especially in modern football. Now individual brilliance from attackers isnt enought anymore. Is it still highly important? Absolutely. But most managers nowadays want more from their advanced players. They need to defend and have top work rate OOP aswell. Not everyone is Eden Hazard or Neymar, where others around them will accept making those runs to cover their OOP faults. You can ask this question as many football people as you want, and lot of them will disagree. But what is harder to coach - defence or attack? On that one, most will agree that defence is harder part of coaching, and it's a reason why many managers out there loose jobs before they manage to make it work. This is where Xabi Alonso finds himself at the moment. We are dangerous up front, scoring lot of goals. Defensively, we arent solid enought. But in modern era, one where your attackers have to defend, when you are coaching a whole team what to do OOP and how to close down opposition and minimise the threat, it

Needed to get where we need to be. These things wont ever happen over night. Too many factors play into it. From personell, balance, leadership, willingness to work and believe in ideas, to the finest little details and intantibles that makes a team tick. Give Alonso time, and we