Can pragmatism still bring you success in football?

Earlier on in the year, I wrote how Atletico Madrid and Diego Simeone had turned a corner with their more attacking style of play which saw them stray away from the defense-first approach that they had been famed for over the last decade.

However it seems I had jumped the gun because Simeone quickly reverted back to his old ways in basically every big game that Atleti played. This has seen the Madrid side crash out of the Champions League, Copa Del Rey and has left them 7 points off top of the league Barcelona after once being top by 3 points. 

In the last few years of football, we have seen Simeone, Antonio Conte, Max Allegri, Jose Mourinho and other legendary pragmatist managers all struggle to wield the results they were once able to achieve so often. Even going lower down the pecking order, we have seen defensive coaches such as Sean Dyche fail in this same regard and Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal team find it hard to improve after the Spaniard became obsessed with being defensively secure

So it begs the question, are they dinosaurs? Has the football world now moved past coaches who prioritise defence first? Have tactics come too far now to the point where you need to somewhat be able to coach a fluid and dynamic attack whilst just accepting the risks that comes with it - in order to be successful?

The classic phrase ‘defence is the best form of attack’ is slowly becoming outdated. The two best teams in Europe - PSG and Barcelona, are also the two most entertaining and best attacking teams in Europe whilst also being secure defensively. Prioritising your attack doesn’t necessarily mean that defensively you will be left floundering.

It looks like the football landscape might be changing yet again and these risk-averse coaches who value defensive solidity and structure over everything else, might have to jump on the attacking train before it leaves them stranded and incapable of playing winning football.