Football, Stratagem | Oleg Braginsky, Alex Brown
It’s a rare privilege to connect with a modern football legend of coaching, especially one who shapes the game’s trends, making such interaction all the more invaluable. With founder of School of Troubleshooter Oleg Braginsky and football expert Vlad Burlaka we make a deep dive inside Professor’s masterclass.
Ralf Rangnick is considered one of the most influential coaches in modern football, with his tactical innovations shaping the game at both club and national levels.
Known for his emphasis on gegenpressing, quick transitions, vertical passing, and defensive compactness, Professor’s philosophy creates a profound impact on football, influencing top managers like Jürgen Klopp, Thomas Tuchel, and Julian Nagelsmann.
A recent Kyiv seminar organized by the Ukrainian Association of Football further exemplified the manager's dedication to share knowledge and methods. The event highlighted his core principles and underscored commitment to football development, especially during the challenging times in Ukraine.
Rangnick began his coaching career in the 1980s and quickly gained a reputation for innovative approaches, especially at Schalke-04, where he led the club to the Champions League semifinals.
Throughout Ralf’s career, he had to balance both coaching and sporting director roles with significant stints as the Global Sports Director for the Red Bull Group. In recent years, he served as interim manager of Manchester United and continued his consultancy role there.
Maestro's football philosophy has been heavily influenced by two legendary figures: Valeriy Lobanovskyi and Arrigo Sacchi. The principles of high-intensity pressing were adopted by the Legend, while Italian master embraced positional organization and defense compactness.
The system based on these foundations, made him a modern-day tactical innovator.
Let’s take a quick look at Ralf Rangnick’s football philosophy core principles:
- Gegenpressing (Counter-Pressing)
It involves immediately applying intense pressure to win the ball back after losing possession. It views the loss of the ball as an opportunity to regain it quickly and initiate a counterattack.
It emphasizes a coordinated, high-press strategy where players aim to outnumber the ball carrier and force the opponent into mistakes. His teams are relentless in their pursuit of regaining possession.
- Quick Transitions
Once possession is regained, he prioritizes quick, direct attacks to let the team aim to beat the opponent’s goal within 8 seconds of winning the ball back. Vertical passes and quick combinations for lightning-fast penetration facilitate this rapid transition.
Teams are trained to exploit the opposition’s disorganization and create scoring opportunities by using a countdown clock during training to instill this urgency.
- Avoiding Negative Play
Refers to slow the game and disrupt the offensive momentum. Discouraging back or square passes and unnecessary fouls that stop the play. Focus on preventing actions that hinder the team’s ability to regain the ball and attack.
Players are instructed to avoid unnecessary fouls. Passing the ball back to the goalkeeper is also discouraged, being believed the keeper should have minimal involvement in the game.
- Emphasis on Speed
A belief that football is a high-speed sport where the pace of play and decision-making are crucial. He rejects slowing down the game, particularly against top teams. Players are encouraged to make quick decisions and execute precise passes under pressure.
- Possession is Not Everything
Prolonged periods of ball possession don’t guarantee success and do not indicate game control. Statement suggested that the longer team holds the ball, the less likely it scores. Instead of possession focus, better to prioritize offensive play, utilize counter-attacks and vertical passes to break down defense quickly.
- Tactical Flexibility
Approach, based on opponent and ball position, is designed to adapt to the situation. The defense is dynamic, and the role of the central bank shifts depending on the direction of the opponent’s attack.
Using a ball-oriented workflow, fluidity allows teams to maintain a numerical advantage in main field areas. The key is to lure the opponent out before attempting to win back possession.
- Vertical Passing
Involves moving the ball forward quickly, bypassing opposition lines, and speeding up transitions. This is a key aspect of focused strategy, it exploits opponent's lack of organization immediately after losing the ball, forward passes that helps the team move towards the goal swiftly, exploiting spaces left.
- Rest Defense
A compact and high positioning of defensive players while the team is attacking. Designed tactics prevents counter-attacks, with defenders positioned near the opponents’ attacking players to suppress any attempts to counter quickly.
- Pressing the Shadow
The tactic involves quickly narrowing the space around the player with the ball, cutting off passing options, and forcing them into mistakes. It encourages players to create pressing triangles around the opponent, limiting ability to play the ball out effectively and forcing the player with the ball into a vulnerable position.
- Time-Based Rules
The use of specific time frames to define successful transition and attack strategies. The 8-second rule (win the ball back within 8 seconds) and the 10-second rule (deliver the ball to the opponent’s goal within 10 seconds) ensure that teams stay focused and maintain a high tempo throughout the match.
Rangnick’s training sessions are designed to push players out of their comfort zones, creating match-like conditions where decisions must be made quickly under the pressure. Videoanalysis is a core element of his approach, allowing to breakdown performances and identify areas for improvement.
Ralf also emphasizes the importance of intensity in training, replicating the high-pressure situations his teams will face in matches. In a significant gesture, he conducted a seminar in the capital of Ukraine to share his football philosophy and how to implement it in practice.
He conducted theoretical and practical sessions, working with a youth team from Shakhtar Donetsk. During the seminar, he discussed the influence of legendary coaches’ approaches on his methods and concepts. He demonstrated concepts like pressing the shadow, explained how principles applied in modern football.
The seminar attracted 103 coaches from various Ukrainian and foreign teams and academies, all eager to learn from Rangnick’s experience and expertise. Ability to communicate his methods and engage with coaches from vast backgrounds reflects his passion for football development.
Ralf Rangnick’s football philosophy combines intense pressing, tactical flexibility, and quick transitions to create a fast-paced, high-intensity brand of football. His influence on the modern game cannot be overstated, with many of today’s top coaches sitting next to him as a key inspiration.
Rangnick’s recent seminar in Kyiv further solidifies his legacy as an innovator in football, demonstrating his commitment to share knowledge and continuing to shape the game’s future.
As football continues to evolve, Rangnick’s emphasis on high-speed play, vertical transitions, and collective defensive pressure will likely remain a blueprint for success at the highest levels.