Rene Maric has had a break from football since leaving his role with Leeds United in February. Not that it sounds like it from speaking to him. The former Borussia Dortmund assistant coach remains a football obsessive, consumed by the game's details.
One hundred games a month was once his routine. He would take a session on a Friday evening and then watch the late game in LaLiga. Saturday lunch would be a Premier League game before switching his attention to the Bundesliga and back to LaLiga.
Sunday would mean coaching a game before and after watching more games. "At the start of the following week, I would then go on the WhoScored website and see which were the most interesting games from the weekend and rewatch them. It was 13 or 14 in three days. I am more selective now."
His contacts direct him towards the tactically interesting these days. "That helps. I do not have to watch 50 teams to find six that I like. I get 10 recommendations and like eight of them." Manchester United's progress under Erik ten Hag has intrigued him, for example.
"You can literally follow their season by watching six games. How they changed with the build-up from David De Gea, how they changed the rotations, how they reacted to problems faced with the high press. You could see Ten Hag's work, which is interesting."
Maric's reputation as a tactical aficionado stems from his work as one of the founders of the seminal German football website Spielverlagerung. His insights there brought both a cult following and mainstream attention, even changing the language of the game.
But the story of the blogger turned coach was never quite right. Maric, 30, was coaching by the age of 17. "I could try things you would not be brave enough to try so it would always stay as an idea. I could just do it." The writing was only on the side but it was the catalyst.
He was invited to share his ideas with Thomas Tuchel, later making fast progress through the ranks at Red Bull Salzburg, before assisting Marco Rose at Borussia Monchengladbach and Dortmund. Jesse Marsch took him to the Premier League with Leeds.
Given that Marsch has coached three Red Bull owned teams, the association is strong but Maric does not talk like a typical 'Red Bull coach' - with all the connotations that brings. The high-intensity pressing game appeals but it does not define him, he insists.
"I agree with the idea to put on early pressure and to control the rhythm even when the opponent has the ball because that is how you force mistakes. But my ideas about possession are very different to what you would call old school Red Bull."
He recalls his earliest influences and inspirations. "I am a big fan of Barcelona and Ajax and that style of football." He remembers too how the teams he coached at amateur level would have 70 to 80 per cent of the ball in competitions where kick-and-rush was the norm.
"Players love to play with the ball, that's why we start playing football as children and fall in love with it," he says. "That conviction has stayed with me and is very clearly different to Red Bull. I want my teams to have possession of the ball. I want width. I want patience. I want to control the rhythm of the game. That is dominance."
Ideas have been refined by working with the best. At Dortmund, there was Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham. "It is unbelievable how self-driven their development is, how professional they were from a young age and how quickly they learn," he explains.
"With Erling, the quickness with which he transfers it from the training to the game is really impressive because you can see he is always eager to learn. You have a feeling with these guys that they always have the 11 against 11 in the back of their mind.
"No matter what drill you do, no matter if it is just a talk, a video session or some individual work on the pitch, you always have a feeling that in the back of their head there is that connection to the game on Saturday, especially the big crowd and the big opponents.
"They have this natural inclination to learn a bit quicker than others. Over the years, over the sessions, that gives them an advantage. It is the biggest difference, this ability to improve, this level of professionalism and ambition that was there from a young age."
He rates Bellingham as the complete player already. "Frightening when you think how young he is." Haaland has just about everything too but has worked to improve on his weaknesses, taking him to another level. "That is what Erling is doing at Manchester City. The consistency and intelligence in which he participates in all phases of the game is growing and that's very impressive."
From his base in Berlin, Maric has been following both men during his time off but his interests are eclectic. Although he has enjoyed the time with his family, he has still been busy watching teams and training sessions. Asked to list the teams intriguing him right now, the list is long.
Ever the obsessive.
Maric rates Newcastle as "the most intense team in football" but his interest in the English game extend deeper. He admires Swansea's rotations and the different rhythms in Ipswich's game. He name-checks four second-tier sides in Germany too.
Beyond Europe, he is following the tactical debate "between relationism and positionism" - pointing to the "extreme overloads" used by Fluminense in Brazil and Mamelodi Sundowns in South Africa. "They try to keep the ball but are less focused on space and more focused on time if we are talking about these as two sides of the same coin."
From Malmo to River Plate, from Napoli to Feyenoord, that fascination with the game's details remains evident. But perhaps it is the example of Benfica coach Roger Schmidt, a one-time Red Bull disciple, that feels most pertinent. "He has changed a lot."
Maric would like the opportunity to show what he can do as a head coach now. His UEFA Pro Licence completed, he has turned down a number of offers while he waits for the right project. "If I find it, I would walk there," he insists. "I am eager but I have to be smart."
It will be a smart club that bets on Maric.
"If you have a different idea and you are convinced your idea is the best, which is always a sign of that specific confidence that you need, that is when you are able to make the step up and be successful. I think I have been ready since my second year at Gladbach.
"I always strive to find a competitive advantage. Obviously, a lot of clubs are not in a position where they can look for innovation as it always mean risk. As a club, you are in a position where you take responsibility for people within and outside of that club. Taking risks and going on adventures is not a comfortable situation then.
"You are judged every day and narratives are built around every decision, no matter what the process and how the decision was made. When someone else does something successfully, it is proven to the inside and the outside which makes it easier. From there it becomes a copycat league.
"But as an individual, your relationship with risk and innovation is different. There is a joy in doing it first but that is also the tricky part.
"Ideally, a club will see that too but if a club gambles and loses, people kill you. If a club does what everyone else is doing and loses, people say it is understandable. It is different for a young coach. It is good to be different. And I would love to see my ideas developed and executed."