Investing the pyramid the history of soccer tactics formations

The tactic is inherently attacking. It involves a high defensive line, intense pressing high up the pitch and the stretching of the game to utilise as much space as possible. The first set of three consists of three centre backs, whose purpose it is to defend and block attacks from the opposition. The second set of three consists of two wing backs and a defensive midfielder. The defensive midfielder sits in front of the back three, giving protection, breaking up attacks and recycling possession.

The two wing backs are predominantly there to attack. Their defensive duties do not need to be particularly brilliant as their primary job is to support attacking moves, surging up and down the wings and attempting to create 2 v 1 opportunities against the opposition full back. The 1 in the can either be a centre midfielder who acts as a playmaker, spraying balls forward and making through balls for the attackers to run on to, or it could be an attacking midfielder positioned higher up the pitch that is given the freedom to roam and drift in between the midfield and defensive lines of the opposition.

The third, and final, set of three consists of one striker and two wingers. The two wingers drive at the opposition, dribbling and jinking their way around defenders, as well as running beyond the defensive line, looking to latch on to any throw ball played in behind.

The striker performs the usual duties that come with such a position though he is required to hunt down opposing defenders in possession of the ball, and intensely pressing and harassing anyone with the ball in their own half. Below I have included an image of how the ideal would look on the pitch. Thanks to footballuser. Securing their place at the World Cup in South Africa. Athletic Bilbao took a liking to Bielsa after seeing what he had achieved with Chile and in July , they hired him.

Bielsa came to Spain and brought with him his wide repertoire of tactics, including the formation. Athletic Bilbao played a variety of different styles and formations whilst Bielsa was in charge, among them was this formation. The run to the Europa League final was particularly impressive as they finished top of their group and defeated Manchester United home, and away, en route to the final. Unfortunately they did not win any silverware that season but this was undoubtedly a major achievement for the club and the new manager.

Though Bielsa lost his job a year later, he had made his mark upon Spanish and European football. It is here that we leave Marcelo Bielsa and turn our attention towards who I believe is genuinely the best manager in world football, and that is Pep Guardiola.

It is clear that Guardiola has huge respect and admiration for Bielsa and it would be naiive to think that he was not influenced by him. I believe that whilst Bielsa was honing the system with Chile, Guardiola was adopting aspects of it with Barcelona, and when Bielsa came to Spain to manage Athletic, Guardiola was perfecting the system which Bielsa had helped to create.

As mentioned earlier, Guardiola and Barcelona conquered the planet with the system but as Matt Whitehouse correctly asks in his blog , did Barcelona ever really play with a back four? The answer to that, is probably no.

Though it is recognised as a when defending and a when attacking, the reality is that Dani Alves at right back was never really in the back four. Whenever Barcelona had possession or were attacking, and this was the large majority of the time, you would see Dani Alves raiding up and down the right hand touchline, supporting attacks and linking up with Messi near the opposition penalty area. Thus, Dani Alves was more a wing back than he was a full back. As Whitehouse explains, at their peak Barcelona would basically have a back three.

Abidal would tuck in at left back, and Puyol and Pique would shuffle across slightly to cover the attacks of Dani Alves. It resulted in a fairly lopsided formation but its clear that it was heading the way of the What was key to both Bielsa and Guardiola was fluidity. The ability to rotate and switch, move and roam from your position without a hole, or gap appearing. This requires players being comfortable in a variety of positions and this comfort then allows players to cover one another when they see a player is attacking or roaming from position.

The back three would shuffle across when Dani Alves went forward, Busquets would drop between the two central defenders at times and Pedro and Villa were required to track back, following the runs of opposition full backs. At Atheltic Bilbao, Bielsa regularly had Javi Martinez drop into the back, becoming the third centre back, a ball playing centre back, and this was not lost on Guardiola.

Busquets drop into the back has coincided, or perhaps occurred because of the use of a more attacking left back. Initially Adriano, and currently Jordi Alba. Once Adriano and Alexis Sanchez are included in the team the formation evolves once more. I had always thought of a full back as the least important position on the pitch but as I gain more understanding, and as the game continues to evolve, its becoming clear that this thought is wrong.

Before we look at the growing importance and evolution of the full back we have to look further up the pitch and look at who plays in front of them. The wingers. In the last decade or so we have seen a dramatic change in how wingers have been utilised. The choice to invert the wingers, playing a right footer on the left wing, and a left footer on the right wing, has created an abundance of advantages and opportunities. This inversion of the wingers allowed them to cut inside from the touchline and run at the defenders in more central locations.

They could slip a ball through to an attacker or unleash a shot, with their favoured foot, across the goal. This attacking change inevitably led to a defensive one to try to counteract it. Previously defenders were encouraged to force wingers inside, they did not want them getting to the byline and whipping in a cross. Part study, part analysis into which countries shaped our Sport including a stark take on the English game.

Buy this book at Amazon. The complete guide to implementing and coaching a from player roles, to principles and preparing for the opposition. A fascinating insight for any tactical buff or FM fan trying to implement the system in game. From the total Football of Holland to tiki-taka in Spain and strategic prowess of Italy, there is much to be learnt from the history of Football Tactics.

If nothing else, Zonal Marking is a nostalgia fuelled trip down memory lane. Its final destination the game we have grown to know and love. This book makes for pure Football Manager inspiration because it features every defining system of the Premier League era.

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Even Hungary and Russia contributed something to the sport we know today. It brings dozens of texts and all the experts together in one place. It truly is a definitive, yet easy to follow, resource for football tactics. Players, coaches, historians, and fans can all find something to take away from this incredible read.

All of this is just in time for the World Cup in Brazil. In later life Jack and Bobby didn't get on and barely spoke but the lives of these very different brothers from the coalfield tell the story of late twentieth-century English football: the tensions between flair and industry, between individuality and the collective, between right and left, between middle- and working-classes, between exile and home.

Jack was open, charismatic, selfish and pig-headed; Bobby was guarded, shy, polite and reserved to the point of reclusiveness. They were very different footballers: Jack a gangling central defender who developed a profound tactical intelligence; Bobby an athletic attacking midfielder who disdained systems. They played for clubs who embodied two very different approaches, the familial closeness and tactical cohesion of Leeds on the one hand and the individualistic flair and clashing egos of Manchester United on the other.

Both enjoyed great success as players: Jack won a league, a Cup and two Fairs Cups with Leeds; Bobby won a league title, survived the terrible disaster of the plane crash in Munich, and then at enormous emotional cost, won a Cup and two more league titles before capping it off with the European Cup.

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Some names like Rinus Michels are easily identified by fans, but the likes Herbert Chapman, Boris Arkadiev, Martim Francisco, and Viktor Maslov are reserved for only those hardcore supporters. That is until the reader finishes this book as these names will become very familiar and commonplace. Tactical influences came from just about everywhere, from Scotland to Brazil to Uruguay to Argentina and everything in between.

Even Hungary and Russia contributed something to the sport we know today.