Since joining Philadelphia Union as the club's second Sporting Director, Ernst Tanner has not been shy about sharing his vision. The focus has always been clear: Win by creating advantages through a compact and aggressive style of play on the pitch paired with intelligent scouting and innovative work behind the scenes. It is an ambitious proposal: To earn points by playing with such a high level of coordination as a team that the opponent cannot build attacks and, instead, turns the ball over high up the pitch. But the German's lengthy list of scouting success stories -- including Roberto Firmino of Liverpool -- and his years of work with Red Bull Salzburg, a club that overwhelms with buzzing, energetic movements, have given weight to Tanner's claims that the Union can compete with anyone in MLS.
Ever since his first press conference, Tanner has struck the same notes: Teamwork and a strong team culture can produce a winning side. This consistency in message has been supported by changes in the team formation and a search for undervalued, high-upside assets such as Sergio Santos and stabilizing veterans like Aurelien Collin. As Tanner said early in his tenure, "“Our experience is that it’s not always our best talents that make it, but the best personalities.”
Santos also provides an example of more slight but significant changes that have been taking place under Tanner. As many MLS teams have pivoted toward South America as a source of young talent, the prices for those players has risen significantly. And while some, such as Miguel Almiron, have thrived, players like Ezequiel Barco and Josue Colman have had bumpier landings in the United States. In Santos, the Union followed their philosophical guideposts to a talented young player who has shown steep improvement every year since breaking into a starting lineup in Chile. "He’s different from all our strikers we have. Not only the fact that he is left-footed — that makes a difference — but the way he is playing which you should have seen from the clips we offered to you on the website and that shows a lot," Tanner said when Santos was signed.
“I think he really is the one that we were looking for and that’s why we were trying hard to get him.”
Beyond the acquisition of Santos, Collin, and goalkeeper Carlos Miguel Coronel, Tanner also made some key decisions about who to retain. "“Jim is sitting next to me,” Tanner said at the start of his end of season presser, “And that is for a reason.” Further explicating his logic, the former Red Bull Salzburg academy director argued that Curtin's ability to connect with players and build a culture of commitment within a team was extremely valuable to the Union's project going forward.
Now, with preseason underway and the Union back at their training base in St. Pete-Clearwater, FL, Tanner and Head Coach Jim Curtin continue to hint that new signings will arrive as the team ramps up for another run at the playoffs. They also keep pushing the club's tactics in new direction, starting with a very aggressive 4-4-2 shape to open preseason against New York Red Bulls. After knocking off their rivals in that January 30th scrimmage, Curtin echoed Tanner's end-of-season press conference statements when he said that the 4-4-2 would not be the only tactical tweak ahead of the 2019 season.
Back in November, Tanner said: "One of the top items I have in mind for the future is… to provide a Plan B and Plan C if Plan A in terms of our possession game is not working out.” A hyper-aggressive, narrow shape is certainly not the expansive possession-oriented shape Philly used much of last season.
In the end, both Tanner and the Union will be judged -- as they should -- by how they perform on the pitch, and the Sporting Director welcomes that. “In professional football the only thing that counts is winning,” he said. “Our measure is not developing players, it’s achieving a ranking in the table, winning titles, doing the best we can.”
And Ernst Tanner has a plan for how to build that winning culture. It's not foolproof, but it's one that has a history of success both within Red Bull and at many other clubs around the world.
“If you want to be successful in modern soccer,” Tanner has argued since he arrived, “You need to build a good team. The way I stand for and the philosophy is absolutely ‘team play’. The whole team is working together in every phase of the game."
