The Fraudulence of Soccer Formations

[Karl]

let me hasten to add that formation is over rated (in the strictest sense) because teams have to interchange and adjust to situations (because football is a dynamic game).

The above and the below do not go together!

At the same time if a team adopts a 4-2-4 against that of 4-4-2 the former will lose to the latter.

You said it all in your first paragraph as follows

teams have to interchange and adjust to situations (because football is a dynamic game).

and that equals

formations do not matter

.

[Jawge]

It doesn't matter in the over all scheme but shape one cannot strictly play wing and leave the middle of the field open to the other team. The game has evolved to a quasi total football state; where players asked to play more than one role.

[Assasin]

doesn't matter if he was stupid Karl. The coach and the team suppose to use what is effective.

By the way you have a lot of stupid pros out there too.

[Assasin]

Paul I can't totally agree with you because there are some threats which is hard to neutralize and unlike Chess all the plays can be accouted for. The beauty about soccer is the "flinch", "fake" "bruk" "slips" can't be recorded and plan for.

If you notice the first Italian Goal against Germany, there is no way Pirlo should have come out of that corner. A play like that can pull your total defensive shape because you either have to put one more player on him, foul him or grab him and that is why I think formation is totally depenedent on the strenght of the other team.

[Stonigut]

Karl this point you have mentioned in that second old article I believe is the fundamental difference between the world class football teams and the rest and what I see as the widening gap o play between say Spain and say England. That point is speed of response, developing a system where this is a critical dimension is giving a massive advantage to some teams and at the end of the day everything is about ekeing out process improvements to gain an advantage, the most incredible place to do that is the receipt and release of the bll especially in the attacking third, the faster this is done is the greater the. Advantage derived by the attack and a distinct disadvantage to the defense who cannot respond or catch up.


Fast response time chops that cycle time significantly and the bottom line speed of that players brain And translating to action is really where the advantage is. I believe this concept is critical as I believe many of our players aren't good in this area so when we face good teams or pressure gets tight bad decisions are made as the cycle time for execution gets tighter and tighter. Also I believe this was my main flaw as a player, had speed, had size, had some skill, but was a slow decision maker and needed more time to make the pass I needed thus the need to overuse strength and speed to prolong the play to make the pass. This is what Spain has fully worked into their program and you see it when they play; of the top 12 passers in the eurocup tournament eight of them are from Spain which is an amazing stat.

[TheDread]

Brethren, in the modern game you need players that understand how to defend, attack, and adjust depending on what the other team does.

[Paul Marin]

Brethren, in the modern game you need players that understand how to defend, attack, and adjust depending on what the other team does.

Agreed - but within a structure, which is what a formation is. I am saying that structure is more necessary defensively than in attack where you want to create chaos. And would you pick Messi as a defender? Puyol or Casillas as strikers? Certain players are better in certain roles but they have to have an ability to be multi-functional while specialising.

[Karl]

...not on the 'you a player' part!

Good chat, sah!

[TheDread]

Agreed - but within a structure, which is what a formation is. I am saying that structure is more necessary defensively than in attack where you want to create chaos. And would you pick Messi as a defender? Puyol or Casillas as strikers? Certain players are better in certain roles but they have to have an ability to be multi-functional while specialising.

Yes I agree with you on a defensive structure.