Heinze in Bielsa sauce, Licha as a finisher: in Atlanta, the hype of the former idols of L1

“An uncompromising and obsessive trainer”

After leaving Velez in March 2020, Heinze gave himself a few months of respite to think about his next challenge. He finally switched to MLS and Atlanta United in December, again after observing and analyzing the team for several weeks. “I appreciated during our meeting his way of being focused on the details. He arrived with an already quite thorough analysis of our first team, but also of our academy.“Carlos Bocanegra, Atlanta United’s sporting director (and other former Ligue 1 player) explained at Gabriel Heinze’s introductory press conference at the end of December.”My recruitment process is several months old. They really gave me time to analyze their proposal“, added the Argentine coach in a very terse question and answer with the American journalists. This first exercise in front of the press will have been cut short, Heinze seeming annoyed by the comparisons between him and Bielsa.”Heinze was already struggling with the press in Argentina. He considers that they are there to argue and that we cannot talk about gambling with them. This is another point in common with Bielsa“, says Nicolas Cougot.

Determined to make a name for himself as a coach outside of Argentina, Heinze will have a hard time shedding the ghost of his bespectacled elder as his playing philosophy seems similar. “We often like to compare some coaches to Bielsa, but none are more like him than Gabriel Heinze, insists Nicolas Cougot. Like Bielsa, he doesn’t like to talk about tactics but rather geometry. He considers that a team cannot be reduced to a 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 game pattern, that the positions of the players are shifting depending on whether they are attacking or defending. The goalkeeper position is also essential for both coaches. They consider him to be their first outfield player, and have developed a definite number of possible stimulus circuits from him. Heinze also has this obsessive and uncompromising side. When he arrived in Argentinos he had changed everything by setting up video analytics, strict diet rules and going so far as to ask to change the height of the lawn.“.

“Licha” always hungry

At Atlanta United, Heinze arrives on conquered ground in a club still nostalgic for two successful 2017 and 2018 seasons under Tata Martino. “He is a coach who fits into our philosophy and what we want to rebuild on the pitch: high pressing, rapid recovery of the ball, and high intensity play forwards,” said Carlos Bocanegra. For his part, Gabriel Heinze said “to join a young team with a lot of desire”, and “to like to focus on the players to make them grow and improve”. He will be helped in this task by another Argentinian recruited at Racing Club at the end of January, Lisandro Lopez.

The former Lyon striker between 2009 and 2013 joined the Argentinian championship in 2015. In five years at Racing Club – one of the country’s five big clubs – he will have scored a whopping 50 goals in 149 matches, winning the title champion of Argentina in 2019 and the individual distinctions of top scorer and best player of the championship. “Licha is a star in the country. He was a magnificent player in Racing, winning the title and wearing the captain’s armband, comments Nicolas Cougot. It was thought he would end his career there, but the end of his adventure went wrong and he lost his status last year“.

Recruited by Atlanta to everyone’s surprise in mid-January, the Argentina international responded to Heinze’s call with his foot. “Gabriel told me about the opportunity to join him. A challenge like this doesn’t come up every day at my age“, he explained at a press conference last month. Gabriel is a very demanding coach who sets up very intense training sessions. I like this“Recruited for his champion mentality,” Licha “will also be able to share his high level experience.”I’m not the type of player who talks a lot in front of the squad, I prefer to set an example in my actions every day in training and matches“, he developed, before promising”healthy competition to other forwards on the team“, as a message sent to the usual holder, the Venezuelan Josef Martinez. Enough to pull a whole group to the top.