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Total football and other tactical formations from history
Not meant to hint that you go off and make the tactics but this is just some information I dug out..perhaps we could make this a thread where people can just add on what they think were the classic football. I have shamelessly pillaged threads and will look across the net... There's a link at the bottom that leads to some basic information on other formations...feel free to add on so this becomes a repository.
Classic club formations can also be mentioned.
Total Football
In football , *Total Football* is
a system where a player who moves out of his position is replaced by another from his team, thus retaining their
intended organizationalstructure. In this fluid system no footballer is fixed in his or her intended outfield role; anyone can be successively an attacker ,a midfielder and a defender.
Total Footbal depends largely on the adaptability of each footballer within the team to succeed. It consists of
footballers being extremely tactically aware, allowing them to change positions at high speed—in its
simplest terms, every player is comfortable in any other position. It also puts high technical and physical
demands on the players.
Space and the creation of it were vital for the tactic of Total Football to be played into fruition, Ajax defender Barry Hulshoff explained how the team that won the European Cupin 1971, 1972 and 1973 worked it to their advantage. 'We discussed space the whole time. Johan Cruyff alwaystalked about where people should run and where they should stand, and when they should not move.'
The constant switching of positions that became known as Total Football only came about because of this spatial
awareness. 'It was about making space, coming into space, and organising space-like architecture on the
football pitch,' said Hulshoff. The system developed organically and collaboratively: it was not down to coach
Rinus Michels, his successor Stefan Kovacs or Cruyff alone. Cruyff summed up his (Total Football)
philosophy: 'Simple football is the most beautiful. But playing simple football is the hardest thing.'Source
Wikipedia.
Players
Starting Formation 4-2-4
Cruyff Blankenburg
Keizer G.Mühren
Haan Neeskens
Hulshoff Suurbier
Krol Blankenburg
Stuy
Head Coach
Michels -72
Kovacs 72-
Subs
GK Gert Bals
DF Vasovic
MD Rijnders
AT Van Dijk
Forward line
Dutch genius, Johan Cruyff (Cruijff), was Ajax's main offensive weapon. Regardless of his frail physique, Cruyff
had tremendous speed on the ball and was not shy about finding the net. Cruyff's success with Ajax (and as a Dutch international) even earned him the prestigious Top Footballer of Europe Award three times (in 1971, 1973 and 1974.)
Midfield
Ajax's midfield line was the backbone of the team. It is important to note that the team played very loosly in
term of positions. Ajax worked the ball around the entire pitch and all of their players were involved in the
midfield to some extent. Keizer and G.Mühren were attacking wingers, running across large areas on the flanks.
That did not restrict them from occasionally heading to goal. Centrally positioned Haan and Neeskens worked the
ball from one sideline to the other. Even Cruyff and Blankenburg frequently dropped back in to help with the
distribution of the ball.
Defense
Uncharacteristically for possession-oriented teams, Ajax had a talented group of defenders. Not only were they
solid in closing down the opposition, but they also got involved in the offense. This gave Ajax even more options for maintaining possession, while depriving the opposition from initiating an attack. Yugoslavian international Velibor Vasovic is the best example of the versatile Ajax defense. Vasovic played using a wide array of skills, varying from tackling to passing and shooting.
Goalkeeper
During 1971, Ajax's goalkeeper, Heinz Stuy, set a shutout record by playing 1082 minutes without allowing a single goal.
Coaches
Coach Rinus Michels was a disciplinarian obsessed with physical conditioning. His presence at Ajax coincided with one of the greatest squads of soccer players ever assembled. Under Michel's stern eye, Ajax raised their game to an unprecedented level in history. Michels is considered as one of the founding fathers of what later became known as Total Football. It is important to emphasize that Michel was not the first to employ Total Football, but was first to reap a big trophy thanks to it. Interestingly enough, after Michels moves to Barcelona in 1972, most experts agree that Ajax became even stronger. Michels' coaching role was given over to the far less anal Romanian, Stefán Kovács. Kovács's assertive attitude helped him incorporate both discipline and creativity in Ajax's game
From Corned Beef and Cabbage oh where has he gone?
Classical Football Formations
In the football matches of the 19th century, defensive football was not played, with the line-ups reflecting the all-attacking nature of these games.
At the time of the first international game, Scotland - England in 1872-11-30, there was really no team formation. All players chased the ball all over the pitch, in what can be considered a 0-0-10 formation.
But even then there were some initial signs of team organization as Scotland surprised England by actually passing the ball among its players, instead of always trying to run forward with it. Paradoxically this game ended with a 0-0 draw.
The fast growing number of teams led to fast tactical evolution. Progressively some forwards were positioned either as defenders or midfielders. In 1880, Bolton Wanderers F.C. (England) used a 1-1-8 formation. In 1884, Aston Villa F.C. (England) started using a second midfielder, in a 1-2-7 formation.
2-3-5 (The Pyramid)
Later in 1884, Blackburn Rovers (England) introduced what would become the first long-term successful formation - the 2-3-5; this was originally known as the Pyramid with the numerical formation being referenced retrospectively. By the 1890s it was the standard formation in Britain and had spread all over the world. With some variations it was used by most top level teams up to the 1940s.
For the first time a balance between attacking and defending was reached. When defending, the two defenders (fullbacks) would watch out for the opponent's insides (the second and fourth men in the attacking line); while the midfielders (halfbacks) would watch for the other three forwards.
The center halfback had a key role; he should both help organizing the teams attack and mark the opponent's center forward, supposedly one of their most dangerous players.
Teams that used this formation
* Uruguay, 1930 World Cup winner
Team: Ballestero; Mascheroni and Nasazzi; Andrade, Fernández and Gestido; Dorado, Scarone, Castro, Cea and Iriarte. Coach: Alberto Suppici.
The Danubian School
The Danubian School of football is a modification of the 2-3-5 formation as played by the Austrians, Czechs and Hungarians in the 1920s, and taken to its peak by the Austrians in the 1930s. It relied on short-passing and individual skills, and was a derivation of carpet football which emphasised keeping the ball on the ground.
A team that used this formation
* Austria, 4th at the 1934 World Cup
Team: Platzer; Cisar and Sesta; Wagner, Smistik and Urbanek; Zischek, Bican, Sindelar, Schall and Viertl. Coaches: Hugo Meisl and Franz Hansl.
Metodo
The Metodo was devised by Vittorio Pozzo, coach of the Italian national team in the 1930s. It was a deriviation of the Danubian School. The system was based on the 2-3-5 formation, Pozzo realized that his halfbacks would need some more support in order to be superior to the opponents' midfield, so he pulled 2 of the forwards to just in-front of midfield, creating a 2-3-2-3 formation. This created a stronger defense than previous systems, as well as allowing effective counterattacks. The Italian national team won back-to-back World Cups in 1934 and 1938 using this system.
A team that used this formation
* Italy, 1934 World Cup winner
Team: Combi; Monzeglio and Allemandi; Ferraris IV, Monti and Bertolini; Schiavio and Ferrari; Guaita, Meazza and Orsi. Coach: Vittorio Pozzo.
The WM
The WM system was created in the mid-1920s by Herbert Chapman of Arsenal to counter a change in the offside rule in 1925. The change had reduced the number of opposition players that an attacker needed between himself and the goal-line from three to two.
This led to the introduction of a centre-back to stop the opposing centre-forward, and tried to balance defensive and offensive playing. The formation became so successful that by the late-1930s most English clubs had adopted the WM. Retrospectively the WM has either been described as a 3-2-5 or as a 3-4-3.
The WW
The WW was a development of the WM created by the Hungarian coach Marton Bukovi who turned the 3-2-5 WM "upside down" [2]. The lack of an effective centre-forward in his team necessitated moving this player back to midfield to create a playmaker, with a midfielder instructed to focus on defence.
This created a 3-5-2 (also described as a 3-3-4), and was described by some as an early version of the 4-2-4. This formation was successfully used by fellow countryman Gusztáv Sebes in the Hungarian national team of the early 1950s.
4-2-4
The 4-2-4 formation attempts to combine strong offence with strong defence, and was conceived as a reaction to WM's stiffness. It could also be considered a further development of the WW. The 4-2-4 was the first formation to be described using numbers.
Costa published his ideas, the "diagonal system", in the Brazilian newspaper O Cruzeiro, using schematics as the ones used here and, for the first time ever, the formation description by numbers as used in this article. The "diagonal system" was another precursor of the 4-2-4 and was created to spur improvisation in players.
Guttman himself moved to Brazil later in the 1950s to help develop these tactical ideas using the experience of Hungarian coaches.
The 4-2-4 formation made use of the increasing players skills and fitness, aiming to effectively use 6 defenders and 6 forwards, with the midfielders performing both tasks. The 4th defender increased the number of defensive players but mostly allowed them to be closer together, thus enabling effective cooperation among them, the point being that a stronger defence would allow an even stronger attack.
The relatively empty midfield relied on defenders that should now be able not only to steal the ball, but also hold it, pass it or even run with it and start an attack. So this formation required that all players, including defenders, are somehow skillful and with initiative, making it a perfect fit for the Brazilian players mind. The 4-2-4 needed a high level of tactical awareness as having only 2 midfielders could lead to defensive problems. The system was also fluid enough to allow the formation to change throughout play. It has been said that one of the aims of the formation was to score more goals than were conceded.
Great idea for a thread, especially as the 07 game engine has so many tailorable options. I started a simiar thread many months ago because I wanted to create a Dirty Leeds 72 and an Argentina 78 tactic and wanted to share views on how but I soon realised my grasp of the FM tactical engine made my efforts a bit futile. Thats my fault though, I would like to see wwfans views on such experimentation - he grasps it all so easily it appears.
09-29-2007, 10:56 PM
Total football and other tactical formations from history Post #5
Total football and other tactical formations from history 
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