This weekend, Atlanta United revealed that Frank de Boer would be Tata Martino’s successor. Martino’s departure was confirmed before their MLS Cup triumph. This created a lot of speculation over his replacement.
However, with the speculation finally over, in this tactical analysis, I will take a look at what Atlanta fans can expect from de Boer.
Frank de Boer’s managerial career
Often times, people remember failures over success. This may be the case with de Boer as his last two managerial roles last less than 20 combined league games at Crystal Palace and Inter Milan.
Before that, however, he was very successful. Rising through the coaching ranks at Ajax, de Boer took charge of the first team in 2010. Following this, he won four successive Eredivisie titles before resigning in 2016.
Style of play
Coming from the Ajax school of thought, de Boer very much favours possession based, total football. In their announcement, it was clear that this was a big reason why Atlanta appointed him. Carlos Bocanegra told Atlanta United’s website:
“Frank’s style of play was very important to us. His tactics feature an attacking, high-intensity style that mirrors our approach to the game.”
Although many become fixated on formations, this is something I’ve found de Boer is very flexible with. In his time at Palace, I was able to talk to the Dutchman on his football philosophies and here’s the insight he gave:
“Everybody always says 3-4-3 can be very adventurous and exciting but you can also say we’re playing with five defenders so it’s how you look at it.
“If you have a lot of the ball then it’s very offensive if you don’t then it’s very defensive.
“Louis Van Gaal used it at the 2014 World Cup, he played 3-4-3/5-3-2 but they mostly let opponents have the ball and had a lot of transition especially with the quality of Arjen Robben at that time.”
Total football
When talking about Ajax, a man that is always mentioned is Johan Cruyff. A student of the Dutch great, de Boer is no stranger to the ‘total football’ ideology having come through at Ajax and played under Cruyff at Barcelona.
This possession-based ideology has been seen throughout his career as a manager. For example, in his time at Palace, 81% of the team’s passes were short passes.
However, as aforementioned, total football also offers flexibility. This can be seen as de Boer has used a traditional 4-3-3 as well as three-man defences. However, it was at Ajax where he mostly used a 4-3-3. This can be seen the images below from a 2-0 over Heerenveen in de Boer’s last season in charge.
In the game, Ajax played a 4-3-3. The defensive, midfield and attacking groups are connected.
Here we see the fluidity that de Boer’s sides can attack with. Although his Palace side failed to score, this was something that was also on show there.
As aforementioned, at Palace, he played with a three-man defence for the most part. With this, he was aiming to make them a more possession-based side that could cover more spaces than the opposition to always have passing options. This can be seen in the sequence below from his first game in charge.
