The ‘Mazzarri Way’
Often the only time baseball gets mentioned in the same sentence as football there is almost inevitably a ‘Moneyball’ reference that follows. Whether it is Arsenal, Liverpool or the current state of finances within the game (under scrutiny due to UEFA’s financial fair play) the football world is obsessed with connecting Billy Beane’s work at the Oakland Athletics to virtually all aspects of the beautiful game. My inspiration for this article however comes from Chicago not the West Coast and it doesn’t involve sabermetrics or terms like ‘Adapt or die’. Watching Walter Mazzarri’s opening spell at Inter in many ways has reminded me of the work Theo Epstein undertook with the Chicago Cubs a little under two years ago. When Epstein arrived in the Windy City he was very cautious not to make sweeping statements or brash promises that he might be held accountable for. Instead he talked about a change of culture within the organisation. Stating that if things were done correctly throughout each department, then little by little performance could be improved out on the field.
Epstein coined the term ‘The Cubs Way’. He referred to this having a trickle down effect throughout the ball club. From player development to the office staff, employees were going to be held accountable to a new standard. Figuratively speaking there would be a set of rules which if followed by all members of the organisation could help the Cubs move forward and lead the team towards sporting success. Although the work that has been done by Epstein and his colleagues has not yet matured at the Major League level, the building blocks are in place. Commercially the Cubs are in a far more robust position due to a renovation project for Wrigley Field. The Minor League system has been replenished whilst the player development facilities in Mesa and the Dominican Republic are now world class. The Chicago Cubs in short have been set up to succeed.
How does this relate to Walter Mazzarri and Inter? That is a fairly simple question to answer. Although Mazzarri has had little to do with the proposed investment by Erick Thohir, the former Napoli tactician has set about quietly rejuvenating a battered and broken Inter squad. Just like Theo Epstein there haven’t been brash statements regarding sporting success. Mazzarri has chosen to work behind the scenes on the issues that Inter as a team suffered from throughout last season. Not once has he complained about the players at his disposal, instead he has built up fitness, worked on the defence and structure of the side. He has worked intelligently and astutely on all the things that he can control. His planning and delivery has been methodical, he has brought calm to a club that many believed were in crisis. From the outset he talked about the Primavera playing in a similar fashion to the first team. He gave important minutes to the likes of Patrick Olsen and Alessandro Capello in the U.S. tour. Mazzarri was a man with a plan. Is everything perfect? No. Could he do with at least two more players for the wide positions? Probably. However with what he has available Mazzarri is making the best of it. In the pre match press conference for Catania he had this to say:
“We had to figure out what this team needed, which I think was to leave the past behind. The players need to feel able to attack, whilst avoiding leaving gaps at the back. This side needed to feel it could play its own game, and I hope that our progress continues tomorrow in what is a tough place to go. A coach needs to put across his ideas as quickly as possible, and our team has already shown a great deal. After we scored the first goal against Genoa, we saw lively football, with players making the right runs at the right times, the moves we’ve worked on that I want to see in action”.
There will be plenty of setbacks, rough periods along the way but the early indications however are positive for Inter’s new tactician. Most importantly he is sticking to his ideas and thoughts, he is going to do this job the ‘Mazzarri Way’.
