Farioli: “Ajax’s culture is like a religion, Porto’s is almost carnal” | OneFootball

How did your journey as a coach begin? “At 22, the coach told me: ‘you’re too weak a goalkeeper to continue, but you could stay in football in another role.’ It would be nice to blame an injury, as happened with others who started early, like Tuchel and Nagelsmann. But no: I was always in great physical shape. However, the idea of being a coach quickly won me over, and I am good at learning. I learned from every experience; at first, I was a bit radical, but then I freed myself from rigid ideas. Now I seek to be complementary.”

Club identity: “The culture of Ajax is positional football, cold and organized, a religion. I added team spirit and a taste for battle. The culture of FC Porto is almost carnal: sacrifice, tackles, a fiery crowd. I am introducing some set plays to make the spectacle more open and complete. At Nice, I asked for a technical midfielder, a mix between an 8 and a 10, and journalists mocked my hyper-offensive tendency. At Ajax, I proposed a pair of players capable of withstanding clashes, and they said it was typical Italian defense. I work on contrasts, trying to fill the gaps. The best identity is not having an immutable identity.”

Changes happen faster: “Luis Enrique surprised me. In Paris, at a certain moment, during a set piece, I called for a play we had only tried once in a summer friendly, he saw the first movements and jumped off the bench to warn: ‘they’re doing that play I showed you!’ Once, in a friendly, and he already knew it. In the past, you could live half a season with a good tactical idea; now, they neutralize it right away during a hydration break.”

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.