DBasia.news – Andrea Pirlo’s early coaching career didn’t go well at Juventus, though it was a good lesson for the former Italian midfield maestro. Pirlo’s football philosophy did not change because of it.
The 42-year-old coach managed Il Bianconeri in 2020-2021 replacing Maurizio Sarri. Pirlo coached the first team after previously being appointed to coach the Juventus U-23 team.
At first, Pirlo received a score of 107 out of 110 regarding the 30 papers he had written with the title “The Football I Want”. The AC Milan and Juventus legend was inspired by Johan Cruyff’s Barcelona and Pep Guardiola and also Louis van Gaal at Ajax Amsterdam.
However, football is not as smooth as the theory it has. Despite winning the Coppa Italia and Italian Super Cup titles, Pirlo was dismissed at the end of the season and replaced by Massimiliano Allegri.
Pirlo lost his job because he was unable to bring Juventus to a consistent appearance in Serie A, then being eliminated early in the Champions League, and finally failed to win the Scudetto for the 10th time in a row.
Despite gaining valuable experience from his time at Juventus, Pirlo did not change his philosophy of offensive football. He even thinks it’s better to lose a match than playing defensively and relying on counter-attacks.
“You have a young coach who wants to do something different,” Pirlo explained. “For me, football is headed in that direction. Guardiola has shown that over the last few years.”
“If you don’t control the game, it’s hard to think you’ll win it. Of course, there may be times when you have 90% of the ball and let the only shot on target your opponent, but I’d rather lose that way than spend the whole game defending my own penalty area, trying to score on the counter-attack. “
Learning from experience
Pirlo shared his experience of coaching Juventus last season, in a difficult season with a busy schedule and the fact that the team played without the support of fans in the stadium due to the corona virus pandemic.
“I wouldn’t change it (the philosophy of play) because some of the results were not good. That’s what I think about the game, playing from the back, trying to keep the ball, regain possession as quickly as possible.”
“A lot depends on the players you have for you and what they allow you to do. Players are much more important than coaches. The coach has to adapt.”
“I learned a lot. It was my first experience as a coach, but it was very intense because we started the season with only one friendly game.”
“Everything is going very fast. We play every three days, without fans, without being able to recover and without being able to train and prepare for the next game. It’s hard to try something new. Recovery is more important,” explained the 2006 World Cup winner.