Marcelo Bielsa - Coaching Build Up Play Against High Pressing Teams

Athanasios Terzis is a UEFA 'A' Licence Coach and has produced extensive analysis of Marcelo Bielsa in 9 different tactical situations, supported with 9 full training sessions (35 practices). Athanasios is the author of some of the best-selling Football Coaching books, most notably 'Jurgen Klopp's Attacking and Defending Tactics', 'Coaching the Juventus 3-5-2' and 'FC Barcelona Training Sessions', which won the Italian FA Award for “Best Coaching Book” in 2014.

The book includes Marcelo Bielsa's tactics (and playing philosophy) for building up play from the back against high pressing teams with a full analysis of his 4-2-3-1, 3-3-3-1 and 3-4-3 formations. Marcelo Bielsa's attacking philosophy includes a mix of short and long passing, moving the ball to the free player through 'link players', creating numerical advantages, dragging opposition players out of position and exploiting the gaps created.

Marcelo Bielsa is a highly respected coach and is famous for his innovative playing style, tactics and formations. He has had a massive influence on football across the world and on other top coaches, such as Pep Guardiola, Mauricio Pochettino, Jorge Sampaoli and Gerardo Martino. The aim of the book is to use the innovative tactics of Marcelo Bielsa to provide a complete guide of how to build up play effectively against high pressing teams.

To successfully build up from the back, the team in possession has to follow four steps:

Step 1: Provide a free passing option for the goalkeeper

Step 2: Move the ball to the target or free player

Step 3: Create a numerical advantage in specific areas of the pitch

Step 4: Take advantage (exploit) the numerical advantage

Each chapter has extensive analysis for a tactical situation based on Marcelo Bielsa's tactics and is then followed by a full session to help all coaches adapt the tactics into training sessions for their team.

Chapter 1: Building Up Play from the Back Against 2 Forwards
Chapter 2: Moving the Ball to the Target Player on the Weak Side
Chapter 3: Building Up Play from the Back Against 1 Forward
Chapter 4: Creating and Exploiting 3 v 2 Situations Near the Sideline
Chapter 5: Attacking Solutions with a 3 v 3 Situation Near the Sideline
Chapter 6: Creating and Exploiting Space in a 4 v 3 (or 4 v 4) Situation Around the Ball Area
Chapter 7: Building Up Play Against Ultra-Offensive Pressing

Pep Guardiola

“My admiration for Marcelo Bielsa is huge because he makes the players much, much better.”

“That is why, for me, he is the best coach in the world. I am looking forward to seeing him in Lille next season. I am pretty sure his influence on their team, their club and their players will be huge – amazing.”

Mauricio Pochettino

“He is one of the best managers in the world.”