Premier League: Amorin should learn from Guardiola and Slot how to use people

Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca immediately requested signings to the club after Levi Colville was seriously injured - even if there are five or six central defenders available on the team. Meanwhile, Manchester United coach Ruben Amorin insists on introducing a new midfielder despite having Kobe Maynu, who is young and in good shape. However, they should learn from Guardiola and Arne Slot: how to really make good use of existing players.

Maresca's "necessary needs" are reasonable?

The football world has never lacked absurd plots, and Maresca's reaction to Colville's injury and retreating is the latest.

Colville is likely to miss most of the season due to an ACL rupture. Considering that he made 35 appearances in the Premier League last season, it would be a major loss for any coach. But the problem is that Maresca's response is not to adjust tactics or tap potential, but to ask his boss Todd Burley to open the "already loose wallet" again and introduce a new central defender.

"The club is very clear about my thoughts," he said in the interview, "We need a central defender. We are trying internal solutions, but as I said, the club understands my needs."

But is it really no one available? Not so. Currently, Chelsea still has five central defenders. If new player Jorell Harto (who focuses on left-back in his early career, but can also be competent for central defenders), there are six people; plus the abandoned Disasi, there are seven people; and with the young player Alan Anselmino, there are as many as eight people.

Maresca's reason is that other players cannot fully implement his specific tactical system. He acknowledged that some players "have adaptability potential", but still emphasized that they have clear candidates in their hearts.

"You all know how critical Colville was last season, especially in the way we pursued," he explained. "We repeatedly stress that as long as we organize properly, we can create offensive opportunities. And Colville is the core of this system. We played 64 games last season, and he and Adarabiojo were in each game. Now he was absent, and only Tosin can do this role."

"Fofana and Badiasheller were both injured, so I said that the club knew what I thought."

Is Amorin wasting Menu?

From the most basic perspective, a coach who has introduced 20 first-team players during his coaching period (a total of about £483 million, according to Transfermarkt data) but still publicly stated that his lineup is debatable.

But this actually reflects a common phenomenon. As Tim Spears pointed out, there are currently many coaches in the Premier League publicly complaining that the club's transfer is too slow. Some of them have their own difficulties: for example, Fulham has only signed a substitute goalkeeper so far; Nottingham Forest has introduced Rennes forward Kalimundor, but more rotation depth is still needed to deal with the intensive European schedule.

But for other coaches, this kind of complaint seems untenable. For example, Ruben Amorin - the tactical system he created was so special that Manchester United had to rebuild the entire offensive line, and even spent £25 million in the winter window to quickly sign wingback Patrick Dorkulai to adapt to his system.

Now, he is in a big way for midfield signings, while Kobe Menu is on the bench in the whole game against Arsenal and has not won a minute of play.

This makes people ask: Since there are potential new stars available, why do you still have to be obsessed with "buy, buy, buy"?

Look at how Guardiola and Slot did it

Maybe this sounds a bit simplistic, but the most direct answer to many coaches' anxiety about transfer issues may be: "Have you really tried your best to coach?"

Outsiders are easy to say, but now some coaches seem to be more and more like ordinary fans - treating the transfer market as a real battlefield, believing that the solution to all problems is to spend money, rather than digging into existing resources.

If you look at the best among your peers, such as Guardiola and Slott, you will find another possibility.

Guardiola is known for its flexibility and flexibility: the full-back plays as a midfielder, the central defender plays a guest appearance on the wing, the No. 10 position changes to the winger, and the midfielder retreats to the organization. His team never relies on “perfect puzzles” but instead reshapes players’ roles through tactics.

Liverpool's championship last season was not due to heavy signings, but to the successful transformation of existing players: Gravenberg transformed from a marginal man to a core midfielder, Garkepo grew from a substitute to an offensive fulcrum, and Louis Dias was completely activated.

It is worth mentioning that Amorin himself was also a "master of transformation". During his coaching Portugal Sports, he successfully transformed winger Heowani Kenda into a wingback, and the player is now preparing to transfer to Chelsea. But now when he arrives at Manchester United, he has become increasingly rigid and seems to have to rely on signings to solve the problem.

Are new players really the master key?

Let's look at another counterexample: Among the 11 starting players of Aston Villa against Newcastle last weekend, seven are veterans who Unai Emery had been in the team when he took over the team in 2022. If main goalkeeper Martinez is not suspended, this number will even reach eight.

What does this mean?

First, Emery is extremely good at stimulating players' potential and building an originally mediocre lineup into a competitive whole; second, this also reflects Villa's limited recruitment results in recent years.

Since Emery took office, Villa has signed 22 first-team players, but only four people have actually entered the main lineup: goalkeeper Bizzot (Martinez's substitute), Tillermans, Onana and Morgan Rogers. Most of the remaining signings failed to meet expectations.

This just shows that new players are not a magic pill. Emery still relies on the old team because most new players failed to meet expectations. The "rigidity" of coaches is the crux of the problem? Part of the problem

also lies in the coach's own flexibility.

If Maresca is more willing to try to adjust the formation or tactical role, maybe he can rebuild the defense without the "Corville-style" central defender; if Amorin is willing to fine-tune the system, maybe he can better activate existing players such as Menu, Bruno Fernandez and even Casemiro.

If a tactical system is so fragile that one person is missing, it must be filled. The problem may not lie in the players, but in the system itself, and even in the coach's coaching philosophy.

This also reflects a deeper problem in today's football world: the squandering of the transfer market has been seriously abused.

Clubs are constantly raising ticket prices on the grounds of "improving competitiveness", which gives fans an illusion - "If you don't support spending more money, you won't support the team." As a result, ticket prices have risen year by year, but transfer investment may not necessarily lead to an improvement in performance.

In fact, there is no direct relationship between fare prices and transfer expenses. But as long as the club continues to create this "correlation" and the coach always regards transfers as the only way out, fans can only silently pay for this "inflexibility".

In addition, this also implies a (possibly unconscious) self-protection mechanism for coaches: introducing a "plug and play" mature player is much easier than cultivating existing players. In a high-pressure environment where the head coach is in a position of stagnant, choosing a "combat power" is obviously safer than betting on "potential stocks".

Once the performance is not good, you can still blame the lineup: "Just this configuration, what do you want me to do?"

This article does not deny the importance of the transfer market, nor does it deny that coaches should strive for reasonable reinforcement when necessary. But we must be clear that transfers are not the ultimate solution to all problems.

Before pressing the red button "recruitment", perhaps more coaches should ask themselves: Have I really tried to use the cards in my hand?