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As a manager of Football Manager, the majority of the job used to be about making sure the right players were on the team. But as the franchise continues to expand deeper into what the role of a manager is, slowly the other staff at the club have become a more and more significant part of the game.
Defensively-minded coaches can be hard to come by in a game where fans want attacking formations and goals, and that pressure makes it hard to sit back and wait even when this is the right decision. There are a number of coaches available in Football Manager 2023 that can hugely help a team become a defensive force that can hold clean sheets and counterattack on the break.
6 Giuseppe Baresi
One of the absolute best possible options for a defensive coach, Giuseppe Baresi has had a long career at Inter in many different roles. As such a prominent member of such a prestigious club, it can be difficult to lure him away and as always in the footballing world, huge prices are the best way to bring him over to your side.
His current wage is 3.5k per week, but players should expect this to go up steeply in order to get him away from his lifelong club. While on the older side, Baresi has huge experience and is incredible on the defensive training side of things. His strongest training aspect will be the tactical part of defending, which can be hugely helpful in particular for a club that has players with game sense and can learn to work more tactically with the ball.
5 Frank De Boer
A well-known name, Frank De Boer most recently had the position of the Netherlands national team manager, and he has managed many other successful sides. He is currently unemployed at the beginning of Football Manager 2023 and can be signed as a defensive coach, for one of the higher prices players could be willing to fork out for such a role.
Having said this, getting De Boer in such a position can be hugely worthwhile, as he will provide the kind of tactical defensive training and excellent technical training along the way with ease. These aspects can help bring a team with great ball control to another level, and it is likely that they’d see huge fresh success at keeping clean sheets and holding up the ball in defense when needed.
4 Miguel Quaresma
Quaresma has been all around Portugal with Jorge Jesus, and while he is often more of a head of youth development, he is also an excellent choice for a coach that can provide huge statistics for a defensively-minded team at a high level.
Having worked with the likes of Benfica and Sporting is a huge bonus for Quaresma, and another one is his current availability, not having a club when Football Manager 2023 begins. His expected salary is about 5k per week, steep enough for a coach but manageable for a large team that seeks to take advantage of his massive stats in possession and tactical defending training.
3 Miguel D’Agostino
D’Agostino is currently employed at PSG and is making a tidy sum of over 6k per week, which makes him one of the most expensive options on this list, as players will need to offer him even more than that to lure him away from the comforts of his current home. However, with the huge coaching stats he provides, it could be an excellent move.
D’Agostino is another coach that specializes in tactical defensive training, and he has some of the very best stats in the game for training players at positioning and thinking smarter about how to get the ball back from attackers, as well as how to slow attackers down and outthink them in every situation. The kinds of skills D’Agostino can provide a team with are the things that are far too often overlooked in the game.
2 Mike Phelan
One of the long-time Manchester United coaches that worked under Sir Alex Ferguson for years, Phelan has the experience and strategy sense to help any team win trophies. He is one of the great defensive minds in the game, and despite having a cozy position at Manchester United with a wage of 10k per week, he is worth stealing.
Phelan is 59 and can bring huge experience value to any youthful side. He is another excellent technical mind that can help teams learn how to defend, rather than trying to micromanage them with certain situations he will surprise players and teach them things that they didn’t know they needed to learn. The skills Phelan can bring to a side have had massive successes and helped win Premier League and Champions League glory before.
1 Minervino Pietra
This Benfica coach has a great reputation for his tactical mind and training, and while he is another expensive option, currently making an estimated 4.5k per week at the Portuguese outfit, he can provide a huge boost to a squad struggling defensively.
Luring him away is difficult but worth the struggle because Pietra has managed clubs in the past that have gone on to huge success. Keeping clean sheets and finding ways to lure attackers into defensive traps is a great strength of Pietra, and he will likely be able to help any side with a few good runners in defense utilize them to get forwards swiftly on the break.