India’s next manager | Under the Scanner – Igor Stimac

Claim to Fame

Following his national stint, Stimac took charge of the Croatian side NK Zadar, Iranian club Sepahan, and the Bahrain national side with his average point per game not even crossing 1.  

Preferred Formation

Playing as a centre-half throughout his career, Stimac has understandably focused more on securing his goalkeeper, over-playing the style that is loved by the masses. And his stint with Croatia was a testament to it especially in the matches they struggled. A closer look at his preferred setups are 4-3-3 defending, 5-3-2, 5-4-1, 4-4-2 double 6, 4-4-2 diamond, 4-3-1-2, 4-3-3 defending, 3-4-2-1, and similar others. His affinity to commit fewer people up front did see Croatia score more from set-pieces and opponents’ defensive errors, but the trial and error method was never going to make the cut.

Defence has been an area the Blue Tigers have struggled of late, which was evident in the AFC Asian Cup earlier this year. Indian’s experience at the back pretty much ends with Gurpeet Singh Sandhu and Sandesh Jhingan. The emerging players like Rahul Bheke, Pritam Kotal, Nishu Kumar and others are more attack-minded with flexible positional adaptability and would struggle to adhere to Stimac’s purist defensive playing style. 

While Sam Allardyce also has a similar style of football, his attacking outlets are way more than Stimac and India aren’t an attacking side that could take two of the two chances that would get in a match. Another problem with his preferred formations on the Indian setup could be the amount of attacking talent India has. The vibrant youth pool that ISL has generated over the last few years would be a waste if India adapt a style that is predominantly defensive. Defence is of course more important than attack in football, but we would be needing a coach who would work best with what he has and not have to dig deeper for under-par players every now and then.

While it hardly worked in any of the sides he managed throughout his managerial career, India’s case looks bleaker. India could be the lowest ranked side Stimac would be managing and they can easily be clubbed amongst the lesser technically superior and physically supreme side. The AFC Asian Cup was a clear indicator of that where India, despite playing competitively against UAE and Bahrain, looked the dominated side for their sheer lack of physicality. 

Hence, India’s only hope in the future would be to play to their strengths and given the current scenario, it is their agile wide forwards. To exact their counter-attacks, India need to be sharper and tactically Stimac hasn’t been known to be that. Hence, he might be the quickest to adapt to the Asian scenario amongst the available candidates, his efficacy remains a doubt.