Kevin Danso and Sunderland: Why Pragmatism Can Be Progressive

Terminology in football always tends to change. Closing-down became pressing, direct play evolved to vertical football, and having to defend is now referred to as suffering. When the elements of the game we all know are constantly redefined, you could be forgiven for forgetting that a knock-down from a long throw-in counts the same as a tap-in from 2 yards.

There is one particular adjective that is bandied around and continues to confuse me, because I don't know what a progressive manager is. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the word means "happening by degrees or favouring modern, forward-thinking reform". Guardiola, Bielsa and Brighton's Fabian Hürzeler have all had the term attached to them. But why?