What Will Marc Dos Santos’ Whitecaps Look Like? | Part 1: Tactics

It is now confirmed that Marc Dos Santos will be the next manager of the Vancouver Whitecaps. We know he’s been successful at lower level clubs but what will a team coached by Marc Dos Santos actually look like on the field? Well in a 2015 interview with Carlos Verde, Dos Santos touched on some of his tactical philosophies. The managers he discussed are Jupp Heynckes, Pep Guardiola, and Marcelo Bielsa. Dos Santos said he has often been forced to resort to the more pragmatic style of Heynckes due to the financial realities of playing in a lower division. He said of Guardiola that his style was extremely effective but it was also unique and very difficult to emulate. Lastly he said that if there were no restrictions placed on him he’d choose to have his team play like the Chile of Bielsa. So, while all three of these managers have played various formations there are a few common elements that we can expect to see. All three of these employ pressing. Dos Santos mentions in the interview that the 2014 Ottawa Fury had a “3 second rule” where if they lost the ball they’d try to win it back in 3 seconds and if they didn’t they’d regroup. Dos Santos explains that the Ottawa team of 2014, which was composed mostly of players brought in on free transfers, had a number of slow players and thus he had to limit the team to 3 seconds to avoid being exposed. However he also said he felt with two or three more additions he could get the team pressing for up to 8 seconds. Thus, with Dos Santos basically needing to bring in a whole new team, i’d expect a lot of quick midfielders to be signed. All three of those managers also try and maintain possession to varying degrees.

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