​SEVILLA, SPAIN – OCTOBER 13: Coach Jose Mourinho of AS Romacoach Manuel Pellegrini of Real Betis during the UEFA Europa League match between Real Betis Sevilla v AS Roma at the Estadio Benito Villamarin on October 13, 2022 in Sevilla Spain (Photo by David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images) | Getty Images Welcome to The Daily Merengue — a place where you can feel free to discuss all things football. Do not be alarmed by the overt RMCF bias. It’s in the name!Shoutout to the Mods who do a fantastic job, Valyrian Steel, Ezek XI, KungFuZizou, NeRObutBlanco, Felipejack, and Juninho.Writer’s Prelude. The Jose Juninho Era will continue. Jose Juninho — Betis Match Edition“It has to be a great Real Madrid, otherwise, we won’t win. Betis, as you say, is a very good team. To win, you have to be at your very best level. There is no other way.” — Jose MourinhoView LinkAt First A Reply. Yesterday, I perused through the comments (which haven’t been as active in years past — may be a discussion for a different day) and noticed a rec’ed comment from OutofEyeDiaz that said the following re my take on obsession over positioning rather than responsibilities:Juninho: I think we often obsess with positions when we should be focusing on responsibilities.OutofEyeDiaz: Which was what Carlo did especially well no?I mean, the “no tactics” jokes aside, the main reason people said that because his tactics weren’t particularly intensive for talented players, and weren’t overly positional. Of course with it’s bonuses and flaws, but point stands.Xabi was supposed to be the one with more intensive positional training.Jose Juninho — Too Early Thoughts Pt.3 : 3 Sep. 2026I only really feel a small need to reply to this quote in order to provide some clarity. “Responsibilities” does not infer a lack of “intensive tactics.” Earnestly, I’d argue it actually is very much on the other spectrum where playing a rather fluid system involves much more than an instinctual ability to figure out movement. Players need to completely comprehend their role in their favored position. They then need to fully understand their teammates roles and how they should correspond if they find themselves in those positions. Players also need to fully comprehend each other’s movements so that for example when Kylian makes a darting run towards the left channel, Vini then knows to make an underlapping run towards the middle but to also be effective from the central position in case transitionary play breaks down. This is a much harder process imo than simply telling a young player to play on the LW or RW or RCM. Ultimately, a manager who requires this type of fluidity in function and responsibilities, is asking a player to understand the entirety of the game from various perspectives. Positional Rigidity v Fluidity are certainly different spectrums of positioning but they are not inherently more tactical or less tactical in approach.Ironically, Luis Enrique act