Legendary Football Manager Profile: Arrigo Sacchi
Arrigo Sacchi, born in the Italian city of Fusignano, is one of the most famous football managers of all time. Because of being one of the few football managers who never played the game itself at the highest level of club or international football, Sacchi has always suffered from a credibility crisis.
Footballers and football fans usually think that someone who has not played the game at the highest level cannot possibly understand the game in its entirety thus that person is not fit enough to manage a top club side or a national side. This is a very untrue statement though and Sacchi went on to prove it. Sacchi, grew up carefully observing the likes of Real Madrid and the Brazilian national team. Thus he deviated from the normal Italian style of football during the 1980s and adopted a much more attacking strategy for his club sides. This shift away from the conventional Italian defensive style of football made Sacchi quite famous but also resulted in people doubting his ability from time to time.
Sacchi was twenty six years old when he first started to manage club football. His first job was at Baracca Lugo, a lowly rated Italian club from Sacchi’s home town. Sacchi first tried to play football for Baracca Lugo but eventually had to face reality and realized that he wasn’t good enough to play football, so he decided to become the manager.
Most of the players in the squad at Baracca Lugo didn’t trust Sacchi’s ability as a manager and because of his young age they thought of him as an immature youngster who thought a lot of himself. Sacchi’s next managerial job was at Cesena, which was a club in Serie B (2nd division of Italian football). Sacchi worked extensively with the youth setup there.
Sacchi’s first big appointment as a manager came with Parma who were in Serie C1 (3rd division of Italian football). Sacchi was then promoted with his team to Serie B in their first season and in the very next season they finished second in Serie B by just three points. This was enough for A.C Milan’s president Silvio Berlusconi to take notice of his extra-ordinary abilities and he at once recruited him as the manager.
Sacchi again came under a scathing media attack following his appointment as the manager of one of Italy’s biggest clubs. As a response to all the criticism that was flowing his way because his lack of playing experience he stated that “I never realized that in order to become a jockey you have to have been a horse first”.
Sacchi converted A.C Milan into one of the most fearsome sides in European football. He became one of the few managers to win back to back European championships with their teams. Sacchi built his team around star players such as Ruud Gullit, Marco Van Basten, Frank Rijkard, Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini and Roberto Donadoni.
Sacchi’s attacking philosophy and obsession with off the ball movement (which would later come to define how modern football was to be played) was essential to his success at Milan. A.C Milan legend Paolo Maldini remarks that “‘Before Sacchi came to Milan, the clash between two opposing players was always the key, but with him it was all about movement off the ball, and that’s where we won our matches”.
Sacchi was also diligent about organizing his defense. Some of his players began to doubt his work methods, so he devised a simple test to prove them wrong. Sacchi would take five players from the squad, all of them defenders like Maldini, Baresi, and Costacurta etc. He would give his attacking players such as Van Basten, Rijkard and Gullit and ten other attacking players. Then he would tell them to attack the organized defensive group of 5 players in any way they pleased.
The only rule that applied was that once the defenders won possession, the attacking unit would have to restart from 10 meters inside their own half. The test went on for fifteen minutes and the offensive “disorganized” unit was not be able to score against Sacchi’s organized defensive five. This proved to players that Sacchi’s ideology of organizational defense was one of the best in football. This test is now widely implemented in football training methods and is usually used to check ones defense organization capabilities. After parting ways with A.C Milan in 1991, Sacchi took over the Italian national football team and led them to the final of the FIFA World Cup of 1994 where they only lost in the final to Brazil on penalties.
A lot of Sacchi’s players have gone on to become famous managers as well, such as Fabio Capello, Carlo Ancelotti, Marco Van Basten, Frank Rijkard, Ruud Gullit and Roberto Donadoni as well. Their managerial success is also a testament to the values that Sacchi instilled in them during their foot-balling careers under him at Milan.
Italian football and modern football should thank Sacchi for his contributions to the beautiful game. Sacchi’s methods are still used today after almost two decades of their introduction. Sacchi ended his career as a manager in 2005, after completing a one year stint with Real Madrid as a ‘director of football’ at the club.
Tags: