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Coaching philosophy and style
As a coach, Frank Rijkaard's
essential philosophy is to guide his team
towards playing attack-minded football as a
cohesive unit. In doing this, he believes a team
can achieve the dual objectives of winning games
and ensuring the audience's enjoyment of the
spectacle. This follows in the best coaching
traditions of Rijkaard's countrymen and
forebears Rinus Michels and Johan Cruyff. In
this light, it is notable that Michels coached
both Cruyff and Rijkaard during their respective
participations with the Dutch national team, and
that Cruyff himself went on to coach Rijkaard.
Nonetheless, Rijkaard believes in working within
a contemporary football context and is not out
to imitate the styles and tactics of past
masters. In his own words:
...you gain many
impressions from the past. You still have it in
your mind when you become a coach, and if
something happens you can recall how it was
dealt with. But I strongly believe that you
cannot copy anyone. The decisions that a great
coach made years ago will not necessarily work
today.
Rijkaard has evidently learned
to curb the quick temper of his playing days and
is often a portrait of calm and stability in
training and along the touchline. He rarely
courts controversy in the media and is more apt
now to promote a positive environment and let
his team's play speak for itself when faced with
intense rivalry or criticism.
The tactics used during his
tenure as manager of FC Barcelona best exemplify
Frank Rijkaard's commitment to playing stylish
attacking football. During the team's 2004–05
and 2005–06 campaigns, the coach frequently
fielded a 4-1-2-2-1 formation, a system which
encouraged the creativity of the players in the
front third of the field and created optimal
interplay between the midfielders and forwards
during attacks. Within this system the four
defenders also tended to play in a relatively
high position on the pitch to support the
midfield which frequently advanced to
participate in the attack. The team generally
focuses on maintaining possession in the
opponents' half of the field, applying pressure
in order to force the opposition to make errors
in defense and offensive counter-attacking.
With regards to man-management
and motivation, Rijkaard rejects the notion of a
"star system" and promotes the idea that every
one of his players is a valuable member of the
team. He rarely praises one individual over
another in the squad, although he has been known
to acknowledge the outstanding contributions of
a player within the context of a team
performance. |
