Mario Mandzukic: The warrior stands between two lines of tactics

Mario Mandzukic is a warrior who stands in the middle of two lines of tactical control of the ball and defenses of Croatian aggression.
Mario Mandzukic: The warrior stands between two lines of tactics
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Tactics in contemporary football are like a pendulum. It vibrates permanently in a vacuum. Two points with the maximum amplitude range are two opposing philosophies. The philosophy of ball control and the defense philosophy of concentration. The two leaders representing the two opposing schools are Pep Guardiola and Diego Simeone.

Mario Mandzukic is a rare player who has the charm of both of these leading strategists (Bayern Munich 2013/14 and Atletico Madrid 2014/15). But ironically, that experience is bad. The Croatian striker was both disgraced and disgraced by both Guardiola and Simeone after only a year in office.

The reason for this bitterness is that Mandzukic does not fit both the opposing philosophies of Pep and El Cholo. He was like the one who stood between the lines of two tactical philosophies, not necessarily belonging to one side and living in his own way.

In Pep's play, the first requirement is that the players are good at handling the ball in narrow spaces, especially those in the middle. Mandzukic does not meet this requirement. In the play of El Cholo, the striker must work quite far from the opponent, so he preferred the speed shot rich to make the counter-attack lightning. Mandzukic does not have that.

Mandzukic is not suitable for both Simeone and Guariola
Mandzukic is not suitable for both Simeone and Guariola

In fact, there are a lot of Mandzukic skills lacking in excellence. From speed, ball handling, dragging to coordinating. So, he lost between the tactical areas of Simeone and Guardiola. Of course, not every team or coach is as philosophical as Simeone and Guardiola. It ranges from Pep's philosophy to El Cholo. So Mandzukic still find its own place.

In particular, he built a striker image in Juventus. Theoretically, Mandzukic is still the striker, but the task of scoring is not weighed on the Croatian player. The evidence is that all three Mandzukic seasons have never scored more than 15 goals on every front. Instead of scoring, Mandzukic joined the defense and attracted the attention of the opposing players.

When the opponent has the ball, Mandzukic is the first defensive player, and defense here not only meant to put pressure on the defender. In fact, Mandzukic moves very wide, from the center-back to the back defender or back to the home field, even the area to dispute, clear the ball and catch the ball. When the team has the ball, Mandzukic will be like the navigator attract the attention of the opponent.

Mandzukic always knows how to score irregular goals
Mandzukic always knows how to score irregular goals

Croatia's focus is on Mandzukic's role as a finite resource. At Juve, the issue was solved simply by Paulo Dybala, Gonzalo Higuian or former Alvaro Morata. But Zlatko Dalic has more money in terms of class, but in the striker, Mandzukic is the only credible, although he is not good at scoring.

In Croatia, the goal was scored by the players behind Mandzukic on the bench. They are Ivan Perisic, Ivan Rakitic or Luka Modric. And Mandzukic, he moved to stretch the opponent, rarely the goal of the team's passes. The most specific evidence is the match against England. Croatia made 22 points and Mandzukic only contributed 3.

Of course, do not think Mandzukic does not know the score. Standing in the midst of two tactical tactics, the goals of the striker are usually done in an irregular fashion, ie suddenly not broken. The knockout of the Champions League final in 2016/17 or the scoring of 2-1 in the World Cup semi-final is a typical example.

Mandzukic represents the quality of the Croatian militant
Mandzukic represents the quality of the Croatian militant

On the attacking front is, in the defense, he is actually striker punch. That is clear through the statistics. On average, Mandzukic had 1.6 fouls, 2.4 clearances and 2.2 fouls, while only 2.2 finished and 0.4 dribbled. Looking at the heat map of Mandzukic the more clearly see the problem. This striker moves extremely wide, sometimes as a left winger.

So, in the face of criticism Mandzukic, coach Dalic has drastically rejected but short: "He is the soul of the team." Of course, the soul is not only in the professional aspect but also in the spiritual aspect. The current Croatian players are not as highly regarded as the Davor Suker in 1998, but Mandzukic is the exception.

Grown in war and chaos, Mandzukic possesses complete quality war for the survival of the Croatians. He spent his time on the field, ready to pour blood to win. "Give me 100,000 Croatians, I will conquer the world," Napoleon said. 100,000 of them, 100,000 warriors like Mandzukic. And tomorrow, Mandzukic will lead the Croatian team Napoleon to conquer the world to conquer the world.