There are victories that announce a team’s arrival, and others that make Europe’s established powers look over their shoulders. Como’s 9–1 demolition of Lens belonged to the second category. A club making its Champions League debut had equalled the competition’s largest winning margin and climbed to fourth halfway through the league phase. The newcomers were beginning to disturb the seating arrangements.
The temptation is to let the scoreline explain everything. Nine goals possess their own persuasive force. Yet the more interesting story concerns the thinking behind them: how Cesc Fàbregas is constructing a team that combines meticulous preparation with room for individual imagination.
As a midfielder, Fàbregas specialised in seeing possibilities before others recognised them. As a coach, he must teach an entire side to share that vision without making every decision on its behalf.
Como have become the testing ground for that delicate ambition.
A Formation in Constant Motion
A formation captures where players begin. At Como, it says rather less about where they will end up.
The familiar 4–2–3–1 repeatedly changes shape in possession. A midfielder retreats towards the centre-backs, a full-back advances, and a winger moves inside. The positions exchange occupants as Como search for a route through pressure.
These movements have a practical purpose: to make defenders choose.
Follow the dropping midfielder, and space appears behind. Hold position, and Como gain another passing option near the ball. Track the winger inside, and the advancing full-back may become available outside.
The advantage emerges in the interval between the question and the answer. Fàbregas wants his players to recognise that interval and exploit it.
His own coaching masterclass emphasises progression through midfield and the importance of looking forward. The circulation of possession serves that ambition; the pass backwards can prepare the next opportunity to advance.
Such fluidity requires discipline. If everyone moves towards the ball, the pitch shrinks. Someone must preserve width, someone must threaten depth, and someone must remain available behind the attack. What looks spontaneous depends upon players understanding their obligations to one another.
The Invitation to Press
Como’s buildup often begins with an invitation.
The goalkeeper waits. A midfielder drops close. The centre-backs spread out. Opponents see a chance to press and step forward, committing players to the pursuit.
That commitment creates the opening Como seek.
A short pass into pressure can draw a defender towards the receiver, whose layoff releases a third player facing upfield. The ball travels through a crowded area, then suddenly emerges beyond it. The opponent’s forward movement has helped create the space into which Como accelerate.
The distinction between patience and hesitation becomes crucial. Fàbregas’s players must hold possession long enough to attract pressure, then release it before the invitation becomes a trap.
They must also recognise when the shorter route has closed. A direct pass towards the striker can bypass the press, with supporting runners gathering around the anticipated layoff or second ball.
The intelligence lies in choosing. A team that insists upon the same solution regardless of the problem eventually becomes predictable, however elegant its passing.
The Hunt After Possession
Como’s attacking organisation also prepares their response to losing the ball.
Players positioned close enough to combine are often close enough to press together. The nearest challenges the ball carrier; others obstruct passing lanes; the defensive line advances to reduce the space available.
Opta’s analysis of Fàbregas’s developing side identified this combination of fluid possession and aggressive pressing as central to Como’s identity.
The counterpress offers an attacking opportunity of its own. An opponent who has just recovered possession may already be spreading out, preparing to move forward. Win the ball back at that instant, and Como can attack a defence caught between two intentions.
But the method carries a cost. When the first wave is beaten, the space behind it becomes accessible. A full-back who has advanced cannot instantly return; a midfielder drawn towards the ball may leave a runner unattended.
Aggression therefore depends on judgement. The press succeeds when players recognise the same moment to act. Enthusiasm alone merely sends them running in different directions.
Nico Paz and the Freedom to Create
Nico Paz gives this collective organisation its most expressive voice.
He searches for the places where an additional player can change the balance: between the lines, beside an overloaded flank, or underneath a forward receiving with his back to goal.
His movement asks teammates to interpret the game alongside him. When he drifts wide, another player must occupy the interior. When he drops towards possession, someone must threaten the space ahead.
Freedom becomes productive through those relationships.
This is also the central challenge of Fàbregas’s coaching. Rehearsal can sharpen a player’s awareness, helping him recognise opportunities sooner. Excessive instruction can narrow that awareness until he sees only the movement he has been told to make.
Paz’s importance extends beyond his individual contributions. His role tests whether Como’s structure can accommodate the unexpected—the dribble, the pause, the pass that no training pattern could fully anticipate.
A coach who once thrived on such decisions should understand their value. Allowing others to make them, with all the accompanying uncertainty, is a different responsibility.
Beyond the Romance
Como’s setting makes the fairy tale easy to write. There is the lake, the emerging club and the celebrated former midfielder building a managerial reputation.
There is also substantial wealth behind the project. Ambitious ownership has helped create the conditions in which Fàbregas can work. Any serious assessment must account for those resources alongside his coaching.
Money provides opportunity; turning it into a coherent team remains a demanding task. Fàbregas’s position as both coach and shareholder adds another layer of responsibility to that undertaking.
It is premature to declare him revolutionary. His methods have recognisable precedents, and spectacular results cannot settle larger questions about durability. The stronger claim is that he has shown considerable skill in combining ideas, communicating them and adapting them to his players.
Lens supplied the extraordinary scoreline. The lasting fascination lies in the football beneath it: the movement that unsettles a marker, the pass that escapes pressure, the gifted player trusted to recognise something his coach could not foresee.
Fàbregas once made his living seeing the opening first. At Como, his future depends on how many others he can teach to see it.
Thank You
Faisal Caesar
