The RB Philosophy: Zdrila-Ball in a nutshell
It’s a new era for the Perth Glory. New owners, new players and a new coach, with former Socceroo David Zdrilic recently confirmed as the head coach for the West Australian outfit. While it’s certainly an intriguing and exciting appointment, there’s a sense of anticipation as to the style of play Zdrilic will be implementing heading into next season.
The Red Bull football philosophy, orchestrated by revolutionary manager Ralf Rangnick, renowned for its dynamic and high-octane style, has left an indelible mark on many of today’s top managers, including Thomas Tuchel, Ralph Hasenhüttl and Julian Nagelsmann.
New Glory owner Ross Pelligra is optimistic that this innovative approach will thrive under Zdrilic’s guidance, as this has been undoubtedly a statement appointment in Pelligra’s short stint so far as the club’s owner. Pelligra and the fans alike will be eager to see if Zdrilic can replicate the successes seen in Europe, where the Red Bull philosophy has transformed teams into formidable competitors.
The Glory have a rich history of playing an exciting brand of football, particularly during the old NSL days. Under the leadership of the charismatic Bernd Stange, the team became synonymous with relentless attacking play, making them a fan favourite and a magnet for talented players.
In his first press conference as the new manager, Zdrilic emphasised his commitment to a style of football that aligns with the club’s historical identity. He described his approach as attacking and high-intensity, designed to captivate and energise both members and fans.
A few weeks ago, I briefly touched on David Zdrilic’s football philosophy. In this article, we’ll look to explore this philosophy in greater detail. We’ll also consider how the current performances of Germany and Austria in the Euro 2024 tournament might offer a preview of what Perth Glory fans can expect next season. Both nations have integrated elements of the Red Bull philosophy into their play, showcasing its effectiveness on the international stage.
To truly understand the Red Bull football philosophy, it’s essential to delve into the mind of the mastermind behind it. Few figures in world football have been as revolutionary over the past two decades as Ralf Rangnick. The architect of gegenpressing (counter-pressing), Rangnick’s philosophy is the cornerstone of the Red Bull model that has been implemented across their clubs worldwide.
Rangnick’s philosophy is rooted in control, both in and out of possession. The secret behind his success with this style is through a few factors.
His teams are renowned for their aggressive, high-intensity pressing aimed at quickly winning back the ball and launching counter-attacks. He favours a fast-paced, vertical style of play that emphasises overloads and rapid transitions from defence to attack, rather than prolonged periods of possession.
The speed and intensity of Rangnick’s teams, when they have the ball and when they don’t, set them apart from others. As Rangnick himself noted when appointed interim manager of Manchester United, “My football is definitely not a slow waltz.” It’s heavy metal, a term Jürgen Klopp has also used to describe his own brand of football.
One notable aspect of Rangnick’s approach is his flexibility with formations. Over his career, he has experimented with various systems, including 4–3–3, 4–2–3–1, and 4–2–2–2, and more recently, he has explored back-three systems. This adaptability reflects his ongoing quest to evolve his teams and find new solutions.
Rangnick predominantly favours variations of the 4–4–2 system, such as 4–2–2–2 or 4–2–3–1 (the latter featuring prominently with Austria in the current Euros). This preference, particularly in possession, is to maintain control in the middle of the pitch.
His teams focus on vertical play, emphasising forward, penetrative passes rather than lateral or backward passes. During a presentation at Coaches’ Voice, he explained, “We hate square passes, back passes. Just having the ball ourselves doesn’t make sense.”
Vertical play also encourages combination play, a key feature of Rangnick’s teams. For instance, Austria’s strong performance in the Euros exemplifies this. In their 3–1 win against Poland, the forward players played narrowly, with the wide players tucking in to occupy positions in the half-spaces between the centre-back and full-back, as illustrated below.
This approach allowed Austria to open passing lanes for their striker, Marko Arnautović, facilitating close combination play. For Perth Glory next season, a similar system could be highly effective, especially with Adam Taggart’s intelligence and movement as a striker. Taggart would thrive in a setup that promotes extensive link-up play in these areas.
Playing narrowly also offers the advantage of smaller distances for counter-pressing. Last season, Glory’s attempts at counter-pressing were often ineffective due to several factors.
Firstly, having too many players (six) in the front line made it difficult to quickly regain a compact shape. Additionally, the wide formation hindered the team’s ability to set up an effective rest-defence. Further, the imbalance in profile in the midfield, saw the Glory struggle to defend against transitions at high speed.
By maintaining shorter distances between players when in possession, the team can immediately swarm the opposition upon losing the ball and swiftly launch counter-attacks once they regain possession.
As Jürgen Klopp described when he joined Liverpool in 2015, counter-pressing is arguably the best playmaker, because in an ideal world you’ll win the ball back closer to the goal and from there, a team should be able to capitalise on the opposition’s defensive disorganisation, so long as they’re ruthless and quick with their approach.
Another of Rangnick’s protégés, Julian Nagelsmann, has also had a successful Euros tournament thus far.
Nagelsmann, who spent extensive time with Rangnick at Leipzig and likely crossed paths with Zdrilic, has also implemented elements of the Red Bull philosophy, emphasising narrow combination play and shorter distances between players. This approach is currently being seen with Germany and has proven effective.
For example, as illustrated by the image above, Germany has condensed the distances between their midfield and front lines. This creates space for players like Toni Kroos, who has an exceptional ability to play penetrative passes to teammates like İlkay Gündoğan. Gündoğan can then receive the ball on the half-turn, positioning himself to play facing forward and drive the attack.
With these principles in mind, what should we be looking out for next season with David Zdrilic as the Glory’s new head coach? Observing the effectiveness of Red Bull philosophy elements in the A-League, especially in how Sydney FC has played this season, suggests that if Zdrilic can successfully implement his philosophy, Glory will be a highly competitive team.
The key point to note is that while Glory may not be playing an exact replica of how either Austria or Germany have played in the current Euros, as Zdrilic himself stated, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to implementing this philosophy. However, what we should see is a clear shift in approach from the Glory next season, compared to the last few.
One advantage for Zdrilic, as he formulates his game model at Perth Glory, is that the team was very good in terms of offensive transitions last season. This strength will be crucial to how Glory will play next season, especially given how Sydney FC were in this facet in the previous campaign.
A key example from last season highlighted the potential impact of this approach. In Round 4 against Adelaide, Sydney FC under new boss Ufuk Talay, demonstrated their potency and speed.
Joe Lolley’s first goal stemmed from a simple throw-in, but the Sky Blues turned this opportunity into what’s known as an artificial transition — a counter-attack situation created while in possession. This is illustrated below.
Perth Glory also showed their effectiveness in transition moments last season, whether through artificial transitions or genuine counter-attacks. Notable examples include David Williams’ winner against Macarthur and Stefan Colakovski’s goal against the Central Coast Mariners. The critical element in both goals was the speed of the attacks.
Heading into next season, there are key areas David Zdrilic needs to address to enhance Perth Glory’s performance. Firstly, our comfort on the ball was often lacking. We struggled to maintain effective possession and penetrate static opposition blocks, making it difficult to control the game and create scoring opportunities.
Our defensive organisation was another glaring issue.
Last season, our defensive structure was clearly inadequate, resulting in an average of 2.6 goals conceded per game. This is unacceptable for any team with aspirations of finals football. Zdrilic, who was scathing of Croatia’s defensive efforts during the Euros, is unlikely to tolerate the kind of defensive lapses that plagued us last season.
The hope is that a few experienced players will join Glory in the coming month. Currently, the squad is quite young, as I analysed in a recent piece highlighting what the younger players will offer next season. However, if we can bring in some seasoned signings who can complement the team and the system well, there is hope for Glory fans to believe in a return to finals football for the first time since the 2019/20 season.
I mentioned in my piece a few weeks ago highlighting what David Zdrilic will bring to the table that, despite this being his first opportunity as a head coach, there are few Australian coaches with his level of education and exposure to a significant football system like the Red Bull model.
Zdrilic has had the privilege of learning from some of the best in the business, including Ralf Rangnick and Julian Nagelsmann — both of whom are performing admirably in the current Euros. Moreover, his exposure to various footballing cultures and systems will undoubtedly serve him well moving forward. With elements of the Red Bull philosophy already proving effective in the A-League last season, exciting times could lie ahead for Perth Glory.
