Football has now very much evolved into a rapidly changing environment where tactics are more important than time and managers last less time than hot dinners. In this ever-changing world of fast paced top flight football, we have already seen many tactical changes over the years, and undeniably things will be shaken up even more over the next decade.
It’s crazy to think that football, the game as we know it, has been around for almost 150 years. In that time, things have evolved in all aspects of the game, yet tactically nothing completely radical has really happened. Of course there have been changes in terms of things like formation, but fundamentals have stayed quite similar for the most part. There are things that stay the same over the years like bingo, and though you can now play it online in sites like this one, the strategy remains the same.
However there is certainly more room for movement in terms of football strategy. Look at the likes of North Korea, where they changed their formation to a rare (though not unheard of) 3-3-3-1 throughout their World Cup campaign in 2010, much to the surprise of other national teams. And though it’s difficult to think of it now, in the 60s, the 4-4-2 formation adopted by the likes of Dynamo Kiev and England’s World Cup winning squad was innovative and revolutionary at the time.
Yet it takes more than formation change to create a good tactical strategy. The formation plays a key role but it’s what you ask of the players in those positions that makes for a good overall game tactic. For instance Barcelona’s use of 4-3-3 formation worked well as they had more attacking players coming from deeper positions on the park adding to extra goals, which is all that matters. Another way to approach this is to have centre forward players who actually get more involved in play making, like Messi. His goal scoring record at Barcelona is hard to argue with, and he does a lot to try and refine himself and live up to the reputation of one of the best players of this generation.
This is the kind of thing we can look forward to seeing more of as football adapts and grows. Tactics won’t just be about what the manager can offer, but will also be about players refining and improving themselves, especially centre-forwards, to create a central leading force in the team that’s hard to reckon with.
At the same time, we’ll see a decline in what’s known as ‘goal poachers’, or strikers whose primary function is simply to score, without getting involved too much in any other part of play. Taking chances is great, as is the ability to score goals from nothing, but if the forward is good only for finishes and no other part of play, he could well become redundant in the new tactics. Expect the goal poacher to dwindle or disappear completely in the next decade.
Conversely, tactics are changing at the back, meaning those once considered defenders will be more attacking in play. Some teams have exploited the time and space often afforded to the back two, making them more attacking players, whilst centre halfs then protect them in the middle of the field so it’s then easier for them to take chances. Look at the likes of Pique to see the great tactical players of the future.
Of course as one genius idea is widely adopted, another one will be struck up by one switched on manager or team, and so you can guarantee these aren’t the only changes we can expect to see over the next decade.
