Bornemouth coach Elaura spent some time with NFL Chicago Bears staff while also drawing inspiration from studying the NBA.
At the end of his career, he spent some time at MLS New York City Football Club, where he followed the NFL's New York Giants, but became a Minnesota Timberwolves fan due to admiration for power forward Kevin Garnett. During that time, he explored the United States from the East Coast to the West Coast, spent a summer in the Rockies, and headed to Vancouver, Canada.
Ilaura: "I took a cruise to Alaska. There is only one road there! In the NFL, we can learn a lot from their methodology, especially in set pieces. They have this tactical manual, which has 200 to 300 tactics. They organize everything in an orderly manner, keeping 50 players in a consistent pace. They make adjustments every week and no one forgets what they should do."
In football, Ilaura says that different players have different abilities to accept commands: "Some players know not only what they want to do when they set pieces, but also what they do. What does he have to do with 10 players. Usually the first two or three set pieces are easier to remember, but when things get complicated and players start to feel tired, they don’t always do as directed. We have to be more simplified than the NFL. We don’t have that many opportunities for pauses. If we set a pause in the game, football loses something essential. Football is unique and irreplaceable because it can’t make too many corrections in real time. It’s a dynamic sport. “
As a coach, are you scared when you make a lot of preparation but lose a lot of control in the game? "You have to accept and trust the players, and there are some players on your team that can correct others in the game. Usually midfielders or center backs, they have a wider vision and can correct the way we press or the space we occupy. For us, players like Ryan Christie, Lewis Cook, Taylor Adams and Marco Senesi are such roles, they are in the midfield position, experienced and able to fully understand the game."
Ilaura still watches the NBA, looking for skills that can be applied to their team: "In basketball, you can shoot, but be a player What are the other players doing when shooting? How many people do you send to attack and how many people stay in the backcourt to defend? And then there is the role of an observer, not just the ones holding the ball, but also the other players. What are they doing? Why not fight for rebounds? Why do they use two people to open up space? Basketball is also about creating misalignment. They try to get your strongest players against their weakest players. If your strongest players are inside players, you need to shoot threes, but they may block the inside so you can score from the outside. You need to have a variety of threats."