Pep Guardiola revealed the full extent of full-back Joao Cancelo’s role last night, during his post-match press conference after progressing to the Champions League quarter-finals. In the interview, Guardiola gave an extremely detailed breakdown of the role Cancelo plays as a fullback and why it is he utilises the Portuguese starlet in that way – harking back to his days at Bayern Munich and making a surprising comparison to Fabian Delph.
Cancelo was absent from Guardiola’s side for most of last season following his move from Juventus, and many fans questioned the purchase as he seems unable to deliver on his promise. But that has all changed this season and Cancelo now seems to be one of the most important players in Pep’s XI, drifting into midfield from right-back in a role some have termed as an “inverted full-back”.
When questioned by Gary Linker on BT Sport on the subject last night, Pep explained to pundits that he asks Cancelo to move into midfield to provide protection against counter-attacks, to link the play to the central midfielders, and to defend while in possession.
Pep said this is a tactic that “comes from Germany. When they lose the ball they kill you on the counter-attack when our full-backs were wider. The main reason is to have more people in the middle to pass the ball, this is the main reason. We have control maybe when you lose the ball, but the main reason is to have more players, four, five six players, to make the short passes and have more control – this is the only reason why.”
The danger that Guardiola reveals that Cancelo guards against is having the middle of the pitch overran by the opponent. If he has fewer people in the middle of the park, they are more able to be swamped by the other teams’ press and lose the ball – but with more players in the centre of the park, midfielders have more passing options and the team, therefore, has more control. That is where Cancelo, drifting in from the right, is at his most influential.
Pep also said that he “did this with Fabian Delph in the year with 100 points, it was incredible.” While Delph is not a player that many of us might have fully appreciated at the time, he is now someone for Joao Cancelo to look up to. Pep pointed out that Cancelo was special because “he has the qualities to do it. Of course, not all fullbacks can play in this position.”
This all contributes to Pep’s philosophy, which he calls “defending with the ball.” He explained that this means his side has to “have the ball as much as possible and be incredibly aggressive when we don’t have it – and with the ball, a lot of passes and passes and passes…the chances come after this process. When we are looking to make chances immediately that is not good. That is why we have many players in the middle: to create these situations.”
This final, detailed explanation of his philosophy gives us the final insight as to why Cancelo is so crucial to Pep’s system. He gives Guardiola more passes and it seems, for the Spaniard, the more passes they can make, the better his team will play.
