Olympique Marseille club president Pablo Longoria has chosen Igor Tudor as the team’s new manager.
The Croatian, who was the head coach of Hellas Verona last season has signed a two-year contract with Les Olympiens and has taken over from Jorge Sampaoli after the Argentine’s shock exit at the start of the month.
His coaching journey began at Hajduk Split, where he won the Croatian Cup in the 2012/13 season.
He then joined Greek club PAOK and Turkish sides Karabükspor and Galatasaray.
However, he never stayed more than a season before having two stints with Udinese.
Tudor became Andrea Pirlo’s assistant at Juventus in the summer of 2020.
Juventus won the Coppa Italia that season.
Following Pirlo’s departure, Tudor was soon appointed as coach of Hellas Verona.
Given the club’s predicament at the time, Tudor was expected to struggle.
However, Verona only lost one league match in his first ten league fixtures.
With Tudor in charge, Verona finished the campaign in 9th place and gained more points than they achieved under Ivan Juric the season before.
They scored sixty-five league goals, which was the sixth highest in Serie A and only four less than league winners AC Milan.
This tactical analysis will feature data analysis that shows tactical trends instilled by Igor Tudor coaching style at Verona.
We will examine the tactics of Tudor’s attacking approach and the principles of Verona’s defensive phase as they sought to defend on the front foot.
Why Igor Tudor?
Given the number of jobs he has held in his short career, Igor Tudor is still considered to be a journeyman coach.
Someone who hasn’t had time to implement a preferred tactical approach.
That’s why his appointment as Jorge Sampaoli’s replacement has raised a few eyebrows.
Sampaoli is seen as a disciple of Marcelo Bielsa, a manager whose tactical approach is built around intense pressing and quick vertical attacking play.
When you compare how Tudors Verona side fared in that department, you can see why Marseille sees Tudor as the coach whose approach is ideal for building on what Sampaoli has started.
The data visual below measures the challenge intensity against the PPDA in Serie A last season.
PPDA is the number of passes per defensive action a team allows their opponents to make on average before they proceed to win the ball.
The challenge intensity measures how many duels, tackles, and interceptions a team makes per minute of their opponent’s possession.
Verona finished the Serie A campaign in first place for both challenge intensity and PPDA last season.
The teams they faced were only allowed to make an average of 8.28 passes before Verona looked to win the ball.
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