General Tactics thread

[PopePouri]

Thought I'd start a thread given the recent banter about Nelsen's type of football. Also, because Deadspin had a facinating article today from Bobby Warsaw about football tactics from a player point of view.

http://deadspin.com/why-soccer-tactics-matter-a-player-explains-1566582214

I guess you can call it a place to geek out about formations and that kind of stuff. Maybe get educated too.

I'll start off with Matt Doyle on the Evolution of Formations (also recommend Inverting the Pyramid by Jonathan Wilson)

http://youtu.be/7w-ZA1yxYrw

[brad]

Good thread idea. I like it. Is this intended to be TFC specific, or general tactics? I have a link to a solid article about how Moyes tactics are responsible for United have been so easy to beat this year

[PopePouri]

Good thread idea. I like it. Is this intended to be TFC specific, or general tactics? I have a link to a solid article about how Moyes tactics are responsible for United have been so easy to beat this year

Easy explanation.
http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--DkTbDlLw--/c_fit,w_320/692679746664716433.jpg

You can open any matchday thread for stuff about Nelsen's tactics.

I just wanted a general tactical/formation geek thread.

[Yohan]

UEFA site has a lot of good stuff

http://www.uefa.com/trainingground/coaches/index.html

[brad]

^^hahah. Your Moyes picture is not far off. Here is the article

http://livelifeunited.com/united-squad-can-win-title-set-correctly/

[Richard]

^^hahah. Your Moyes picture is not far off. Here is the article

http://livelifeunited.com/united-squad-can-win-title-set-correctly/


Well that's a refreshing article. Good tactical evaluations.

[brad]

Thought I'd start a thread given the recent banter about Nelsen's type of football. Also, because Deadspin had a facinating article today from Bobby Warsaw about football tactics from a player point of view.

http://deadspin.com/why-soccer-tactics-matter-a-player-explains-1566582214

Very good read. I think this article would give a lot of perspective to folks that are thinking that TFC should have hit the ground playing a much nicer/more coherent brand of football out if the gates.

[PopePouri]

^^hahah. Your Moyes picture is not far off. Here is the article

http://livelifeunited.com/united-squad-can-win-title-set-correctly/

It's fascinating how their attack was so one dimensional when they had some excellent players like Mata and Kagawa that could play in between the lines and occupy that space between the midfielders and defenders.

[PopePouri]

Interesting article on the Reemergence of the 4-4-2. There's a nice bit about how the 4-2-3-1 caused the 4-4-2 to fall out of favour during the 2010 World Cup. Now it's back with Manchester City, Athletico and Real Madrid playing in consistently.

http://footballspectator.wordpress.com/2014/05/14/the-re-emergence-of-the-4-4-2/

[MightyDM]

This is a great thread, pope! You should post that last article in the Nelsen thread. Daily.

[cwell]

Very interesting. States the obvious, really, except for those who would prefer a less defensive system. We arn't ready for 4-3-3. You need 11 highly skilled, disciplined players who have played together for a season or more to make that work. In the meantime, the goal is to win with what you've got, and that means 4 at the back and 4 in the middle.

[Cashcleaner]

Not a bad video. And I remember reading that Deadspin article. Interesting stuff. Thanks Pope!

On a relating rambling: I've always figured the prevalence of 4-4-2 (and its derivatives) has come as a logical result of football seasons increasing in length along with the plethora of multi-round tournaments. To put it bluntly, there is a heck of a lot more soccer being played over a course of a season by professional clubs in recent years. With that in mind, it makes sense for managers to tailor their squads so it can play at least marginally consistently over a longer period of time, reduce wear on individual players, and help spread the "work-load" amongst them to help cut down on mental burn-outs. 4-4-2 seems to be a more forgiving formation when a club is potentially playing over 50 games in a calendar year. At least, that's how I've looked at it.

[trane]

^ The think about the 4-4-2, it has tons of variants...but it is also a very logical way to organize, it fills up the filed, it is easy to keep shape and you have good passing lanes/options. HOWEVER, no one really plays a straight 4-4-2 not in Europe anyway.


The standard 4-4-2 in italy is ;


---------------CF------------------
---------------------------SS----------
-------------------AM------------------
--------CM-------------------CM------

-----------------CDM----------------
LB------------------------------------RB
--------------CB------CB----------------

The only team that plays 4-4-2 most of the time as far as I can see, is Atalanta;

---------------------CF---------------------
---------------------SS--------------------
---------------------------------------------
LM---------CM------------CM-----------RM
LB----------CB-------------CB-----------LB

They really play eight behind the ball, attack on the wings, and it is as standard a 4-4-2 as you see, at least in italy. More and more teams are playing with three at the back. But we need to start winning on the International level (EUFA/CL) for others to start copying our tactics once again. Juve and Napoli play with three at the back, and if they do well in the CL you may see it grow in other parts of Europe.