Tag Archives for " Porto "

3 The Tactics That Made Mourinho Great

By Stevie Grieve

Jose Mourinho’s Porto won the UEFA Cup in 2003 then the UEFA Champions League in 2004. They did this on the basis of having a very strong defence, very organised in midfield with fast attacking transitions.

When I organised possession, they would play direct and often lose possession but look to recover the second ball while the opponent were unorganised and exploit space that they leave to press.

This week, I will look at the counter attacking phase and how Deco was the main attacking outlet in short pass counter attacks with plenty of support running at pace ahead of the ball, knowing Deco was good enough to find most passes in even the tightest of areas.

Deco initiates the counter attack

Here, Costinha wins the ball and passes to Maniche, who splits the midfield with a 1st time pass to Deco who is

1 Mourinho’s tactics from Porto 2004

By Stevie Grieve

Since I was young, I have always had an interest in tactics, specifically successful coaches, or coaches who have seemingly come from nowhere. When Jose Mourinho’s FC Porto won the UEFA Cup in 2003 against Celtic, I enjoyed the direct style of play much more than I enjoyed watching Celtic’s direct style of play, mainly because it had some unpredictability, fluidity of movement and the talents of Deco as a number 10 in a midfield diamond.

Costinha’s role was an interesting one; a common thing in all of Mourinho’s teams has been the utilisation of a defensive midfielder who sticks to his position and protects the defence – Costinha, Claude Makelele, Esteban Cambiasso, Thiago Motta, Xabi Alonso, Nemanja Matic – but for me it was interesting because it was a ‘new’ position as I had grown up in Scotland with a 4-4-2 and no set defensive or attacking midfielder, and certainly not within a diamond midfield which is common in Switzerland and Italy.

Mourinho’s Porto were a strong defensive team with pace and efficiency in attack, with a good supporting cast in midfield in the form of Thiago, Nuno Maniche and super-sub Dmitri Alenichev.

Porto’s defensive solidity - Establish a block width, depth and compensation system

Wide area turnover; Porto drop off and form a flat back 4

As the ball is lost on the side instantly the back 4 drop off and get

1 Porto’s Midfield Protection Tactics

By Stevie Grieve

One of the main benefits of playing with a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 is that you can have a high level of flexibility using the 5 players in the midfield. We regularly see teams who like to press playing almost a man-man marking system, particularly in central midfield, where most attacks are constructed.

Another advantage is that defences are best protected via defensive triangulation between defence and midfield when close to goal, which covers most angles and forced 1v1 dribbles to make penetration opportunities.

Porto Midfield man-marking system

Here, Porto play 1v1 all over the field, meaning that 1 player is free from each team, so when Napoli are in possession, it is