Cesar Ferrando, the 59-year-old former Atletico Madrid coach has been instrumental in inspiring teams to give their best since his early years of coaching, serving as manager for Albacete Balompié in 2002 and promoting them to La Liga (Premier Division) in his first season itself, and surviving relegation the subsequent season. Although his later spell with Atletico Madrid was not so impressive, glances of his tactical supremacy were seen in their win against La Liga giants FC Barcelona where “El-Nino” scored the double.
Ferrando’s Tactical Analysis:
Defence: The Spaniard goes with a very basic defensive approach, where the back four hold the defensive line firmly, with the two defensive midfielders as well as free midfielders can cover their tracks to provide an extra cover. The best part of such a defence is its ability to stop set pieces with a firm line.
Another x-factor of Ferrando’s defence is its inexplicable discipline, which has been visible in almost all the clubs he has managed, not about the type of fouls, but about the disciplined positioning of defenders at the right time at the right place. Uruguay showed the power of such positioning in Russia against Portugal and Jamshedpur might try to emulate more or less the same. However, a strict back four sometimes has a certain vulnerability where the flanks are often not taken care of, exposing the final third for runs from fullbacks, which, we hope, Ferrando will look into.
Offence: Cesar Ferrando usually uses a very special approach to attack, where, when the game is end-to-end, the two midfielders make forward runs making a pentagon of attack.
However, most of the time, he goes with a 4-point (quadrilateral) attack, where one of the two players in the middle of the park goes for attack, while the other makes a defensive pentagon to shield the final 3rd. In his Atletico Madrid days, he used Torres as the anchor of the attack, whereas, in Jamshedpur, it will be Cahill, when he is available.
Why will Jamshedpur FC perform better this season under Ferrando?
Coppell has always been a great coach, but his style of play has been wandering around the middle of the park and skilful defending, but what missed in both his stints at Kerala and Jamshedpur was the attacking prowess. Cesar Ferrando, on the other hand, has followed a mix-and-match strategy to play offence and defence as and when required.
If the same magic works for Jamshedpur FC this season, the “Men of Steel” might lift their maiden championship this year.
