David Zdrilic’s appointment at Perth Glory represents an exciting new era for the Isuzu UTE A-League club.
This is a fresh start for a club steeped in history after the arrival of new owners the Pelligra Group and the departure of Alen Stajcic just one season into a three-year deal following a wooden-spoon finish in 2023-24.
Socceroos great Zdrilic brings a wealth of experience to HBF Park, even if it is his first senior head coaching role at A-Leagues level.
‘EXCITING NEW ERA’: Perth Glory announce David Zdrilic as new head coach
The 50-year-old is a former Sydney FC assistant who helped implement the Sky Blues’ high-octane brand of football and relentless pressing style alongside Ufuk Talay through his experience with Red Bull at German Bundesliga outfit RB Leipzig, working with the likes of Austria head coach Ralf Rangnick and current Germany boss Julian Nagelsmann.
It all comes down to his experiences with the godfather of gegenpressing – Rangnick – both as a player in Germany and a coach at RB Leipzig, as well as highly-rated coaches Nagelsmann and Ralph Hasenhuttl.
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Zdrilic was part of the Red Bull family for three years, working across Leipzig’s Under-17 and Under-19 teams.
It was a priceless education for the ex-Genoa assistant, who was exposed to the transformative philosophy in an environment that demanded excellence 24/7. Even the academy system had to operate and perform at a first-team level.
“Like (Ralph) Hasenhuttl and Nagelsmann, they obviously have different ways of implementing the philosophy. It’s not a one-size-fits-all. So to learn from all three of them, watching their sessions was very beneficial,” Zdrilic told aleagues.com.au in March.
“When we were with the U19s, that was the second team. A lot of our players were used to train and often play. The connection between the U19s and first team was very close.
“We had to be aligned with them. The mentors and the way they spent so much time with us… it was very important.”
Rangnick, who recently turned down the chance to coach Bayern Munich, is seen as an innovator who is known for his high-pressing philosophy and influence on some of German football’s brightest minds, including Thomas Tuchel.
Zdrilic knows him better than most – the pair’s relationship dates back to 1998. Before linking up at RB Leipzig, the Aussie was signed by Rangnick during his time as head coach of 2.Bundesliga outfit SSV Ulm – who had just stepped up from the third tier of German football.
Ulm’s only ever Bundesliga season was in 1999-2000 after Rangnick and Zdrilic teamed up in the second division.
“One story of Ralf Rangnick. We had a youth league game against Zenit, he was just sitting there in the dressing room at half-time, unannounced,” Zdrilic recalled from his time as an assistant youth coach at Leipzig.
“You could feel that pressure of his presence being there on us to deliver the half-time talk.
“That kind of pressure was great because it helped you develop. I really enjoyed that side of it. You think you’re in the academy, but you’re expected to get results, develop players and you’re expected to develop a philosophy. All of that is being monitored 24/7 by Ralf and everyone at the club.
“Then the fruits of it now can be seen by me being able to implement that myself, and be able to drive it and hopefully replicate some of that in what we’re seeing now.”
The Red Bull philosophy is firmly ingrained in Zdrilic. It’s part of his DNA.
He identified with the type of football as a player and it’s how he sees football through the lens of a coach.
“The actual philosophy has incredible detail to it. When I first went there, I saw that they were pressing and I go okay, I want to learn everything about this,” he said.
“One of the mentors when he was there, he was explaining it to me. We spent a whole day going through the philosophy, the different training methods and tactical methods. I was just blown away.
“One of the comments he said to me was ‘you’ll need to take a few weeks to go through all of this for it to really sink in’. I was like a few weeks? I couldn’t fathom that at that time, that it would take me so long. But then when I left and really went through it, it was a lot longer than a few weeks.
“This philosophy is so different to normal philosophy where the focus is build up. Everything is in reverse and it almost goes against the grain.
“The first year was just really absorbing as much as I could. I knew I wasn’t understanding everything and I wasn’t able to process everything. The second year I was able to really understand and start processing in a way where I was able to really provide more input.
“The third year was where I was able to make it my own and add my thoughts on it. It became part of it.
“There is a German word, which translates to like it’s part of your DNA. Once it becomes that, it’s so easy for you to produce that.”
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He continued: “Since going there and seeing the way it works and the way it can work in many different environments, the reason is because when you think about the four phases of the game – ball possession, when you don’t have the ball and the two transition moments.
“Three of those moments, in terms of when the opponent has the ball (pressing part) and the two transition moments are almost perfected with this philosophy. It’s very difficult to imagine that you could be more intense in terms of applying it if you apply it with a constant 90-minute press. That’s why I liked it because I think it’s very difficult to do more than that. At the very least, you’re getting the highest quality education in the very least three parts of the game.
“Now Leipzig have evolved more into the build up possession part of it, the whole complete package. Yes you can play many different ways, but you can do many things with this philosophy. It suits me and it’s part of my DNA.”
That DNA has showed in Zdrilic’s work, which has seen him work across Europe and the United States, and Australia.
From Chicago Fire in MLS, to Serie A with Genoa. Last season, Zdrilic returned to his former club Sydney as an assistant to Sky Blues legend Steve Corica before he departed in November.
Ufuk Talay arrived and with Zdrilic in his corner implementing a high-pressing style, Sydney were a team transformed.
Zdrilic earned a lot of plaudits for his work behind at the scenes in the Harbour City, especially after Sydney FC’s derby mauling of Western Sydney Wanderers in Round 19.
Former Wanderers boss Marko Rudan credited Zdrilic’s work, telling reporters: “This is a lot of his doing. This is the Red Bull system and how they press.”
Talay added: “The knowledge he has brought from working at Red Bull has definitely helped us in that sense. I don’t want to say it’s just my work. It’s been a great collaboration with Davey as well to get the boys to that level.”
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“The first thing is that the training methodology produces (is) moments which then show the players the reward out of playing this way,” Zdrilic explained to aleagues.com.au.
“As you’ve seen, when you’re pressing, especially high pressing, you win the ball and it’s one pass to a clear chance on goal if it’s done correctly. You’ve seen with some of the chances we’ve created. Those kind of moments are created from this pressing.
“Obviously the training methodology, it’s a different type of training. Often training they’re not used to. But it is quite enjoyable because, yes it is pressing, but it is a lot of winning the ball and scoring goals in intense training.
“Once the players see the results and that often happens very quickly, especially in training sessions, they get the belief from that. When it happens in games and you can see the fruits of it, the player buy-in is there.
“But it’s very important that you don’t waver from your belief and philosophy. If you have that from your coach, assistant coach, team and the whole club essentially, then the buy-in is there. If you don’t buy-in, you won’t be part of the journey. I guess that’s the same with any philosophy.
“But you’re right, everyone has to be part of it. If a player isn’t joining in, then they are going to leave gaps and they are gaps the opposition can exploit and that’s what we don’t allow.”
Zdrilic continued: “It’s a collective effort. Obviously the guys up front (are) the first trigger point, but it’s a whole mechanism and the mechanism is everyone is synchronised and working together.
“There’s different pressing structures. We’re pressing high more often than not. But when you look at Leipzig teams, Ralf Rangnick teams and even Liverpool, they’re not always pressing the first ball up high. They’re waiting for a trigger. There’s different mechanisms and heights.
“For us, yes the strikers are the first ones leading the press but everybody is coming up behind that.”
