Como manager Cesc Fàbregas likes structure because then “everyone will better understand what to do,” and he believes that unlike before, in today’s game “every single player needs to be told what to do,” or they will be lost on the pitch.

His full answer when asked by Gary Lineker on The Rest Is Football podcast, “What kind of coach are you? Are you more Wenger, or more Guardiola, or even Mourinho?”:

I will try to be a bit of both. I always talk about timing, about spaces, about the right moments when to appear and when to go. It depends if, let’s say, the fullback goes a little bit more inside, the winger goes a little bit more outside, to give width. At least one player to give the width on the pitch, etc. etc.

But I like structure at the same time because I think that if the team is well structured and set on the pitch, then everyone will better understand what to do at each time of the game.

I try to be as flexible as possible because nowadays football is changing, and I feel that […] before, players didn’t need to be told that much what to do. I feel that now, every single player needs to be told what to do, or either way, they are lost on the pitch. That’s my feeling.

I think that’s an issue worth solving at the youth level. It comes from the culture they grow up in. It should be fixed for future generations because the margins, for a team or individual to differentiate themselves from the rest are getting smaller and smaller.

Players will always need some instructions or help in certain phases of play, but I don’t think players should need to be told what to do.

Cesc Fàbregas himself probably wouldn’t have reached his full potential as a player if he was told what to do as he was developing. The next Cesc Fàbregas is getting limited right now.