I grew up watching Marcelo Bielsa. Not just the matches, but the way his teams approached the game. What always fascinated me was that Bielsa never seemed interested in creating a team of specialists who only understood one part of football. His players had to understand everything. The full-back had to think like a midfielder, the striker had to defend like a midfielder, the centre-back had to understand how to build attacks, and every player had to know what was happening around them before the ball arrived. It was never simply about running more. It was about creating a team where every movement had a purpose.
So when I started looking at this squad, I wanted to see whether we could build something that carried those ideas. Not copy Bielsa, because every team has different players and different circumstances, but take the principles and find a version that belongs to us. I read a quote in the local press and it inspired me:
“Tomás Villalba’s football begins with Knoxville’s identity rather than his own. The club’s commitment to a 4-2-2-2, wing play and aggressive pressing provides the framework; Villalba’s task is to make those principles function as a coherent whole. His teams seek to regain possession quickly, progress the ball vertically and attack with coordinated movement rather than prolonged possession. Width is provided by the wingers, while the double pivot controls transitions and protects the defence. Creative freedom is encouraged in the final third, but only after the collective has established territorial control through disciplined pressing and intelligent positioning.”
The shape is indeed a 4-2-2-2, although that description probably does not explain what we are trying to do. The structure is only the starting point. With the ball, we want to become more fluid, creating overloads in central areas while still having enough width and depth to stretch opponents. Without the ball, we want aggression, intensity and clarity. The aim is to create a team that knows exactly where the next action should come from.
The starting eleven would be Burke in goal, Gill at right-back as an inverted wing-back, Fernandez and McRobb in the centre of defence, Williams as an inverted full-back on the left, Kavanagh-Merricks and Murphy in midfield, Conway and Zarokostas operating from the attacking midfield positions, with Goling and Cordova leading the line. Once again – I told the staff that I wanted to play the players here, they told me how they’d play it.
Real Gill is probably the player who makes the idea possible. The inverted wing-back role demands a very specific profile because you are asking a defender to enter midfield, receive under pressure and make decisions in crowded areas, while also having the athletic ability to recover when the ball is lost. Gill is not a traditional full-back who simply wants to overlap and cross. He has the technical qualities to come inside, he has the flair to carry the ball through pressure, and he has the work rate to constantly move between phases of the game. The biggest challenge is the physical side. He is not going to win every battle through strength, but that is not necessarily what we are asking from him. His pace allows him to recover, his intelligence allows him to position himself, and his ability to contribute in possession means he gives us another midfielder when we have the ball. In many ways, the modern full-back is no longer defined by where he starts. It is about where he can help the team.
David Kavanagh-Merricks is another player who interests me because his role can completely change how people see him. There are examples in football of players who appear limited by their original position until a coach finds a different version of them. Joelinton is the obvious example. A striker who became a midfielder because his physical qualities, aggression and ability to cover ground were actually better suited to a different role. Kavanagh-Merricks has some of those qualities. He is aggressive, brave, strong, willing to work for the team and comfortable competing physically. But he is also technically capable enough to contribute in possession and has the ability to arrive in the final third. As a box-to-box midfielder, he could become one of the players who connects the defensive and attacking phases. He can press, recover, carry the ball and attack spaces. In a Bielsa-inspired system, those players are invaluable because they are constantly involved in transitions.
Eli Conway gives us something different on the left. The temptation with attacking midfielders is to think about what they do with the ball, but in this system the spaces they occupy are just as important. Conway has the intelligence and flair to find pockets between the opponent’s midfield and defence. He can start wider to stretch the opposition, but he can also move inside and become another creative player in the half spaces. The movement around him is important. If Gill moves inside, if Williams provides security behind him and if Goling drops away from the defensive line, Conway should have opportunities to receive in areas where he can hurt teams. He does not have to constantly beat players. Sometimes the most dangerous players are those who understand where the next space will appear.
Mikkel Goling is probably the player who changes the way the whole attack functions. The false nine role is not about a striker trying to score less. It is about creating more. He has to understand when to come towards the ball, when to drag defenders away and when to create space for runners around him. Goling works hard, which is essential because the striker is the first defender in this system. He is tall, he can compete physically, and his passing ability allows him to link midfield and attack. The role is not asking him to be the classic number nine who stays between the centre-backs waiting for chances. It asks him to make the team function. If he can bring midfielders into the game and create opportunities for players arriving from deeper positions, his influence will be bigger than his goals alone.
Then there is Steven Cordova, who might be the most fascinating experiment. For a long time, he has been the heartbeat of the midfield. He gives the team energy, aggression and intensity. He is the player who sets the tone when we do not have the ball. The question is whether we can move that influence higher up the pitch. Instead of being the player who wins the ball after the opponent has started their attack, what if he becomes the player who prevents the attack from starting? The first press is incredibly important. The striker sets the direction of the opponent’s build-up. A player like Cordova can make that uncomfortable because he understands pressure, he understands duels and he understands work without the ball. He may not have the natural instincts of a traditional striker, but with Goling, Conway, Zarokostas and the midfield runners around him, we can compensate for that. His value comes from the problems he creates. He becomes the first defender and, potentially, the first attacker.
That is what attracts me to this type of football. People often see Bielsa teams and talk about running, intensity and aggression, but the foundation is not physical. It is intellectual. Every player has to understand why they are moving, what space they are creating and what happens after the next action. This team will not become Bielsa’s Leeds or his Argentina side simply because we use a 4-2-2-2. That is not how football works. But the principles can still guide us. We can ask players to be brave, to take responsibility and to understand more than just their position.
Football should always be about ideas. The risk is that ideas sometimes fail, but the bigger risk is building a team without one.
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