I turned back to the screen and clicked through to the formation diagram. "But before I go through each position, I want to talk about something that is just as important as the system itself." I clicked to a new slide. Two words: TACTICAL ADAPTATION.
"The gegenpress is our identity," I said.
"It is our default. It is what we will drill every single day in pre-season until it is instinct. But football is not a fixed problem. It is a living, breathing contest between two teams, and the opposition will adapt. They will find ways to hurt us. They will find ways to bypass the press. And when they do, we need to be able to adapt in return." I looked around the room. "A team that can only play one way is a team that can be solved. We are not going to be a team that can be solved."
