Cesc Fabregas' incredible matchday plan revealed by Como president in fascinating podcast clip
Cesc Fabregas's journey to becoming one of the best coaches in world football makes even more sense after his incredible matchday plan was revealed by Como's president.
Fabregas took his first steps into management with Como after a spell as a player, youth coach, assistant manager and interim boss.
Following promotion from Serie B, the second division of Italian football, the World Cup winner was promoted to head coach in July 2024 and signed a four-year deal.
He guided the team to a 10th place finish in Serie A - their best achievement since coming ninth in 1987.
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Fabregas continued his rapid ascension as an elite coach by leading Como to fourth in last season's Serie A - qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in the club's history.
READ MORE: Cesc Fabregas publicly rules out one job amid Como future speculation
They are third in the Italian top flight after four games this season and smashed RB Leipzig 4-1 in their first ever European fixture.
Cesc Fabregas does the same thing 24 hours before every Como game
Fabregas has been tipped for many top jobs in management and Como's president Mirwan Suwarso has shed light on the impressive practices the World Cup winner does before and after every Como game.
In a move that does not appear to be particularly normal in football, Fabregas puts together a file which he sends to the board pre-match so they can understand his tactics and approach to all games.
According to Suwarso, it helps the officials understand decisions made during the game.
"Cesc actually writes a game plan that he submits to the board 24 hours before every game," he told the Business of Sport podcast.
"So the owners would actually be able to watch the game and understand what they were to look for, rather than the owner saying, 'God, that striker doesn't score'.
"His job wasn't to score, his job was to create this decoy or whatever. How are we building up, are we doing two plus three or two plus four? Who's going to drop to open the space? Who is running where? The owners have all that information."
Fabregas also takes the same approach after the game, summarising every match and how it panned out. At the same time, Como's data team provides their own analysis.
Suwarso added: "After the game, Cesc also writes a post-game report on how the game evolved based on the prediction that we started in the beginning.
"At the same time, our data team is creating a prediction of how the match would be - separately and independently of what the coaching teams are doing.
"At the end of the day, we share all the data with each other. For example, when we play against a team that we know is in a low block and it will be very difficult because they have eight defenders, usually their XG will be 0.8 or 0.9. If we were able to get to 1.3 but we tied 0-0, we did better than we were supposed to do."
Ashley Cole explains why Cesc Fabregas is 'ahead of the curve' and destined to manage at the top level
Fabregas is taking his first coaching steps in Italy as opposed to Spain but has already been able to implement a style of play that mirrors the best teams he played in throughout his decorated career.
As per Suwarso, Napoli were among three clubs who expressed interest in Fabregas. He was briefly linked with Chelsea and it has been reported that Barcelona see him as the long-term successor to Hansi Flick.
In June, his former teammate Ashley Cole, who coached in Italy with Cesena last season, admitted that Fabregas is "ahead of the curve" and has all the tools to be one of the best in the game.
“Absolutely," he told SPORTbible when asked if Fabregas will be one of the top coaches in world football.
"There are lots of great coaches out there, but they need support and opportunities. Cesc has been given some top, top players in that league. He’s very astute in the way he sees football.
“He’s adapted tactically, moved away from the Italian style with the back five, he adapts, moves to where the space is and changes things whatever the opposition are doing.
“He’s ahead of the curve, but you need time and you need support. I think there’s so many great young managers but we need to be given time.”
Topics: Cesc Fabregas, Serie A
Josh Lawless