Maybe we don’t need a forward anyway
Alright, we do, but still. Kevin McCarra in the Guardian says:
The competition, on the whole, was sterile territory for strikers. It now seems midfielders, in one guise or another, are expected to excel.
Jonathan Wilson says something similar in this piece.
Five years ago, at the coaching conference he hosts in Rio de Janeiro, Carlos Alberto Parreira made a prediction that left the room stunned. Discussing how tactics might evolve, the coach who had led Brazil to victory in the 1994 World Cup, suggested that the formation of the future might be 4-6-0.
True, wingers had once seemed sacrosanct, only to be refined out of existence and then reinvented. Yes, playmakers were undergoing a similar process of redevelopment. But centre-forwards? Could football really function with no centre-forward – without a recognised forward line at all? The answer came in this season’s Champions League final: yes, it could. Manchester United won the world’s premier football tournament with a team that featured no out-and-out striker.
Wilson’s book, “Inverting the pyramid: A history of football tactics” is very, very good. Amazon says it’s not available, but I got mine through The Book Depository so… not sure. Anyway, have a read. Interesting stuff.
So anyway, this all kind of gels with what we were seeing from Fulham at the end of last year. Yes, we had forwards, but the Telegraph Heat Maps showed that in reality Jimmy Bullard was right up there with McBride and Healy/Kamara, that Dempsey and Davies were very attacking, and that Murphy was hardly an anchor man. I’d still like a good forward, but with Zoltan Gera, Dempsey, Bullard, Davies, Murphy, and probably others I can’t remember, we’re well set to move with the times, if this is indeed where the times are moving.
Other things: Spain top the latest ELO Ratings.
Football Shirt Culture has some belters at the moment. Ajax, Lens, Saint Etienne, crackers all.
At times, I wondered if Roy would be able to find playing time for all of our strikers (assuming we would be buying one or two more). The injury forces our hand a little bit, and the larger bench helps, but if we do play a lot of 4-2-3-1, that doesn’t leave a whole lot of opportunity.
Of course, we could put 3 strikers on the bench and switch to a 4-2-4 late if we get behind (like Sanchez did a few times, with some success).
Both Lens shirts are awesome. Saint-Étienne away looks like a mid-90s MLS shirt, but the home looks good.
Yakin on a free? : )
http://sport.setanta.com/en/Sport/News/Football/2008/07/01/Prem-Young-Boys-on-Yakin/
Wouldn’t that be something. Hakan Yakin would be huge.
Good stuff Rich. We’ve seen football evolve over the years, but it seems it’s changing more rapidly, just like the world we live in. The internationalization of football, as well as the increased athleticism in players through better health and specialized training, has and is revolutionizing the sport. Oh, and to add to your discussion from above, even the defensive midfielder that was created in the late 90’s early 2000’s, roll has changed. There are not too many Makelele’s any more. Even the holding midfielder needs to have the skills to play at both ends of the field and is expected to cover as much territory.
Now if I could get my hands on a copy of that book.
Id take Yakin, although based on what I saw of him in Euro 2008, hes not a world class striker. I see him as similar to Nevland in that although neither are the fastest or strongest of strikers, both play smart, thus allowing them to get into good positions on the pitch. Nevland seems to be a better finisher though.
Assuming that we get Yakin, what pairings would everyone like to see?
Yakin / Healy?
Yakin / Johnson?
no point assuming we get Yakin! Also, I don’t think you can judge Yakin on the euros, or Nevland on a couple of games as sub…
Sounds like a great read, I’ll definitely order it.
It’s really interesting to see how tactics have evolved through the years. Where we used to see sweepers being used behind your defense, that role eventually changed to become a shield in front of the back four and the Makelele model emerged. It seems more and more that both teams are willing to wage their battle over midfield and hope that with lots of movement there, they can capitalize on the other side’s poor positioning.
Defensive schemes have become so much more difficult to break down. One example that I can remember from the past season was Rangers’ UEFA Cup run. Their back four were so organized that they eventually just frustrated teams to no end. Safe to say, their performance vs. Fiorentina in Florence was just about flawless. It wasn’t until they came up against a dynamic side like Zenit who played with a sole striker and tons of movement that they were able to be broken down.
It’s almost like you’re too predicable in your approach if you play with two front men. Many teams are pulling that second striker back into midfield either as an advanced attacking mid or as a 2nd holding player. We probably will see more teams take the approach of Roma and stack their midfield with different attacking options to see if they can wreck havoc with the other side’s defense. With a more congested midfield, defensive tactics will have to adjust in order to better defend the greater areas of open space outside of midfield.