When Vitor Matos took charge of Swansea in November 2025, concerns around a potential relegation were on people's lips. Yet almost one year on, the Swans sit top of the Championship 10 games into the season. In retrospect, the hire appears to have been a masterstroke considering the fact that Matos had only managed 12 senior games before moving to Swansea — those coming in the Portuguese second division. Behind those 12 games, however, lives a coaching journey spanning 23 years across many continents and a variety of roles. Prior to his spell in charge of Maritimo, the 38-year-old spent five years working under Jurgen Klopp as an elite development coach at Liverpool, before joining Red Bull Salzburg as Pep Lijnders' number two.
"Liverpool influenced me a lot in terms of counter-pressing, pressing, intensity, and what makes you grow as a team," he said. "The most important thing is how much you believe in your idea and this style is how I see football. That's why I wanted this to be the foundation for our team."
Although the influence is clear, it would be unfair to paint Vitor with a Klopp-shaped brush entirely. "I started at a really young age wanting to be a coach and was influenced by many different styles," he added. Evidence of these many influences are clear to see in Swansea's game-model this season, with Vitor pulling together ideas from his time at FC Porto, Shandong Taishan and Liverpool. Matos detailed his list of priorities when he replaced Alan Sheehan at Swansea. "The most important thing was to make the team feel confident again, to make the players fall in love with playing with each other," he explained. "For that, we wanted to take steps first on making the team much more aggressive without the ball."
Giving them that boost of confidence by demanding a more aggressive game, creating a good feeling after a high regain or a wonderful tackle — it creates a better mood inside the group. He also opted to play a back four. "Before I arrived there was also some change between a back four and a back five. I thought the squad was built for a back four at that time and to give consistency to the players, sticking with that was another priority."
So, in our 4-3-3, we had a clear idea — to become a pressing and counter-pressing team, brave enough to take that risk. But then it's about, trying to find out the ways to be more aggressive. In that sentence, Matos subtly revealed a key thread to his managerial approach and one that came up time and time again throughout our conversation. He spoke about his many fixed footballing principles but believes the route to accomplishing those ideas must be shaped by the players at his disposal. As a result, he takes a holistic approach to each player, seeking to understand them deeply, as footballers and human beings. Only then does he know how best they can work within his system.
"How we solve problems depends on if we play against a man-marking team or a complete zonal team," said Matos. "When you play against a complete zonal team, the most important thing is that you understand that you need to move them. By moving the opposition, you create spaces, you create a free player."
Much of the historic success of positional play has been underpinned by that same idea — finding the free player. Against zonal defences, an attacker can occupy a gap between opponents and become a free, unmarked player. If a defender comes across to mark him, they risk leaving another attacker unmarked elsewhere. But the rise in man-to-man pressure in recent years presents a different challenge. With defenders following individual opponents, the free player can cease to exist altogether. To solve this problem, Matos has drawn on his time in China for answers.
Source: BBC Sport Football · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing