Originally Posted by
ensco
About once a year I do a post which says: nothing is more overrated than formation talk in soccer.
I am deeply influenced by Cruyff and total football on this. The Barcelona media were constantly trying to pigeon hole him on system, and called it the "liquid diamond". Which he thought was hilarious, because they had no idea how to call it when guys were moving around so much. He laughed and said:
- Football is triangles, movement, vision
- Formation doesn’t matter. You put your best XI out there. Knowing what to do out there is not about zones or staying in an area. Responsibilities are determined by game situation and change second to second.
- Never play a square ball.
That's it.
(Canada do an awful lot of this, when they are on, btw. Davies, Buchanan, Hoilett, Laryea, they can pop up all over the place, and do.)