a DoF only works when the club has an understanding of the direction it is going, the club picks a style of football (not a format just the style) then every manager it picks and player ill fit the style ( not saying that each player will suit the new manager) like Swansea used to do,
Levy is not doing that, we got rid of Poch & got in Jose (totally different football), so now we need players that suit/will work in Jose's style, when jose goes do we go for an front foot manager ? (then maybe 6-8 players don't fit with the new manager)
Mourinho and Poch's fundamental approach is really not all that different.
Both of them focus on lightning-quick transitions - it's at the heart of their styles. Get into the opponent's box within 5 passes after winning the ball back - no unnecessary possession, try the killer ball, go direct, draw the opponent in and use quick balls into spaces behind them to break up the opponent's defensive organization.
Where they do differ is where on the pitch they would like transitions to occur. For Poch, he wanted to enact transitions as high up the pitch as possible - for Mourinho, he wants to enact transitions in a lower block, so there's more space to run into when the quick out-ball is played after winning it back.
That entails differences in where you press - high up, or further back. But note - it doesn't mean *not* pressing. In Mourinho' s case, it's less pressing higher up, which means a higher PPDA (Passes Per Defensive Action) score, but intense pressing still occurs in key zones (the flanks, mostly).
If you think of the great transition in football over the last ten years, it's been the passing of the crown from possession-oriented styles to pressing-oriented styles. Those are the two paradigms which still define football tactics - possession versus pressing, or more accurately, indirect versus direct approaches to chance creation.
Both Poch and Mourinho are on 'direct' end of the scale. Yes, differences exist in terms of fitness levels of their teams (a Poch team will be fitter than any side in the league, just about) and overall mentalities (a Mourinho team will have a disproportionately high percentage of experienced players with 'grinta', the ability to win a game with willpower alone, versus Poch who tended to like young players more).
But I think the transition is not so great, and more thought went into the Poch-Mourinho swap than at first glance.
Our next coach will be an interesting one to watch - I can think of basically no manager out there now who actually subscribes to the possession-oriented philosophy, not even Guardiola. Pressing has massacred passing to that degree. So the question really becomes about fitness levels - our next boss will likely have to fall somewhere on the pectrum between Mourinho and Poch in terms of managing fitness, if we want to keep the similarity and overall philosophy going.
Marcelo Gallardo, perhaps.
