An inside look at Tata Martino’s coaching style, and how he turned Inter Miami around

Jeff Larentowicz vividly recalls Tata Martino’s first few team meetings as coach of Atlanta United in early 2017 and says he knew right away the players were in capable hands.

“I was 34 years old, had been around a long time, thought I knew the players around the league well, and then Tata comes into one of his first meetings, hadn’t coached an MLS game yet, and was describing players better than I could, guys I had played against for years,” said Larentowicz, the retired former Atlanta United captain.

“He had done all his research, was so prepared, and immediately got my attention because he was nailing it and had just gotten there.”

A year after joining the league as an expansion team, Atlanta United won the 2018 MLS Cup.

Larentowicz said he is “not surprised at all” that Martino has transformed Inter Miami from a last place team to a league force in the span of 10 weeks. Heading into the road game against Orlando City on Sunday (7:30 p.m., Apple TV, FS1, Fox Deportes), Miami has lost just one of its past 14 games, won the Leagues Cup tournament and advanced to Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup final.

Yes, Martino is blessed to have Lionel Messi, one of the greatest players of all time, on his roster, along with Messi’s former FC Barcelona teammates Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, all of whom joined the team with Martino in July.

But those who have played for Martino or coached against him stress that his leadership, experience, attention to detail and tactical decisions have been hugely responsible for the team’s newfound success. Martino, the 60-year-old native of Argentina, is personable yet authoritative, and has an air of gravitas that commands the locker room.

“Sometimes people forget, he was the first piece,” Philadelphia Union coach Jim Curtin said of Martino, who replaced Phil Neville. “I think Messi comes because Tata’s there. Busquets comes because Tata’s there. And Alba, as well. He was the first move in this whole thing that really transformed the club.

“He’s the leader, an incredible coach, an incredible person. When you think of Tata, you can see how his players respond and react to him almost like a father figure who is an incredible soccer mind, as well.”

Martino is legendary for his video scouting reports. Ask any Inter Miami player about the length of his video meetings, and they smile.

“We don’t go into any game unprepared; we have very long, long, long meetings with Tata where he leaves no stone unturned,” said defender Kamal Miller. “He makes sure everyone knows exactly what to do in every situation.”

“His videos are a little bit long but they’re all worth it because he gives us all the information we need to hear, and we go into every game prepared and confident,” said midfielder Victor Ulloa.

Larentowicz said the day of the opposition video analysis with Martino was his favorite day of the week. The meetings often lasted as long as two hours, including Spanish-to-English translations, but he never got bored.

“You always went into games fully prepared and so often the things he would tell us in those meetings would happen in the game, down to this player likes to do this and if we don’t cover this, he will score and it would happen,” Larentowicz said.

“Incredible detail, contingency planning, and that’s how you win a locker room. That’s how you command respect. That’s how you can have a 2-hour video session and people don’t lose interest. His increase in detail, strangely, simplifies things for guys because he distills it down to what’s necessary at each position for each guy.”

Martino is also known for his calm business-like demeanor at training, in meetings, and in the locker room on game days.

“He doesn’t waste time making jokes,” Larentowicz said. “He has a job he’s very laser focused on.”

Martino’s pre-game locker room talks are 90 percent tactical, 10 percent motivational, according to past and current players. He lets players do the rah-rah speeches. At halftime, he typically waits a while before entering the locker room, allowing players to calm down and get things off their chest among themselves. Then, he goes in and explains tactical adjustments for the second half.

After the game, he rarely talks.

“The motivation from Tata is the clarity of the information, he doesn’t have to tell you to run through a brick wall,” Larentowicz said.

Inter Miami right back DeAndre Yedlin agreed.

“He’s very calm, and that energy transmits to the whole team, having that relaxed demeanor no matter what the situation is,” Yedlin said. “He’s personable, very truthful, clear cut, doesn’t try to sugarcoat anything. He’s one of my favorite coaches I have ever had.”

Martino’s attacking style of offense has also suited Inter Miami well. The team has scored 39 goals over 14 games, nearly three goals per game, after being one of the league’s lowest scoring teams the past few years.

“When you think of his teams in Atlanta and now his team in Miami, the way they can manipulate a defense, the way they run at you for 90 minutes and be relentless with their attacking movements, that’s something that’s pretty clear to Tata’s teams,” Curtin said. “You know when you’re playing against a Tata Martino team you better be on your game defensively for 90 minutes because they are relentless from the opening whistle until the final whistle. And after the game he smiles and shakes your hand. He’s a gentleman.”

Curtin added that it is “terrifying” to prepare for Martino’s teams because they attack but also counter press and defend well. “He’s a very smart defensive coach and sometimes that gets lost because they score so many goals and are fun to watch,” Curtin said.

Yedlin said: “I like that he wants to take risks. He wants to go forward. I love getting into the attack, so it fits me well.”

Another strength of Martino’s is his eye for young talent. He brought young Paraguayan midfielder Miguel Almiron to Atlanta and two years later Almiron was sold to English Premier League club Newcastle United for an MLS-high $25 million transfer fee.

Martino’s latest finds are 21-year-old Argentine midfielder Facundo Farias, 19-year-old Argentine center back Tomas Aviles and 20-year-old Paraguayan midfielder Diego Gomez. All joined Inter Miami this summer and have made an immediate impact.

“I only played for Tata for two years, but I feel in those two years, even as a 34-, 35-year-old, I learned the most I learned my entire soccer career,” Larentowicz said. “Imagine if you’re 22 and you can spend three, four, five years with him potentially, how accelerated that development will be for those young players. They’re lucky to have him.”