A Priori

“ Without evolution football will die but as long as humans are there , there will be evolution “ – Arrigo Sacchi

       There will always be evolution – there will also be an counter-play to every development  – without an anti-thesis there will be no further development .There is no right or wrong way to play the game , its better to find a solution rather than arguing over moral / ethical values involved . Both Jimmy Hogan and Herbert Chapman came from the English school of football but their way of interpretation of the game forms two ends of the footballing spectrum .

Matthias Sindelar

       When Hugo Meisl shrugged of his pessimism to play Matthias Sindelar as a striker , the footballing world was about to experience something new . With his slight stature , peripheral vision and dancing feet – Sindelar was not any ordinary striker whom the opposition centre halves have faced in the past . It is safe to say Sindelar wouldnt have got into any English club sides as a striker in that era . When the Austrian side faced England , Sindelar constantly took John Barker out of position . But for all their artistic play they lacked the punch infront of goal . It was only a matter of time before teams could adapt and device a counterplay .

 “  If I succeeded in cutting off the head with which the eleven adversaries thought , the whole system would collapse “  - Vittorio Pozzo

         Pozzo was one of the earliest exponents of man-marking . He was a football fundamentalist , when teams started following WM model he still persisted with centro mediano . In Luisito Monti – one of the earliest oriundi to represent Italy , he found the right player to execute his vision . When Austria faced Italy in the 1934 World cup , Monti successfully man-marked Sindelar out of the game and Austria failed to have a shot on goal for the first 40 minutes . Italy won by a a solitary goal from Enrique Guaita . It has to be noted that by the time Austrian side faced Italy they were past their peak . It took another two decades for someone to take a cue and make an similar change - not surprisingly that also came from central Europe . Dominance of Zonal-marking sow the seed for that change .

Everything changed after Ajax/Dutch took the game to the next level in the late 60’s and early 70’s .Constant interchanging of positions , possession based play and pressing were integral part of their game . All three concepts existed in football - Schalke of 1930's played a possession based game with interchanging of positions - Victor Maslov "father of pressing" implemented it with Dynamo Kyiv , Ajax were a combination of all these with addition of aggresive off-side trap . It became a game of “spaces” and how you control them . By making the playing field larger when in possession and reducing it when they werent made people realize the importance of spaces and the need to control them . The space Mane Garrincha constantly had in 1958 / 1962 World cups to take on a  defender went out of the game . Imagine giving the same amount of space to a Cristiano Ronaldo or a Lionel Messi in modern game . I'm not trying to say Garrincha wouldnt have went on to become all time great of the game if he played in the modern era  – but football was played differently back then.. Which is the sole reason why it is idiotic to compare players from different era . 

After Sachhi’s Milan a team that captured everyone’s imagination was Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona . Sacchi himself pointed it out in an interview , also went onto say that Pep’s Barcelona is right up there with the best sides he has witnessed ( incl. Honved , Brasil 1970 , Ajax ) . Pep’s Barcelona worked well at many levels – 6 second ball retention , controlling the game with possession , using ball as bait against high pressing sides , but his masterstroke was to play Lionel Messi as a striker . That is not the first time something of that sort happened in football .

        Nandor Hidegkuti  

When Marton Bukovi had to sell his star striker Norbert Hofling instead of buying/promoting a similar striker - Bukovi played Peter Palotas (  midfielder ) in that position . Later the same concept was used by Gustov Sebes in his Hungarian side – where he fielded Nandor Hidegkuti as a withdrawn forward . After the game against Hungary where England lost 6-3  , England’s centre half that game Harry Johnston said  “ the tragedy was being helpless , If I followed him I left a hole between full-backs , if I sat off him he was able to dictate the play unchallenged “  which was similar to what Metzelder had to say after the game against Barcelona where Real Madrid lost 6-2  “ we were clueless , if we tracked him we left space behind “ . It was just history repeating itself . Anti-thesis to that Wunderteam  unfortunately was fascism - Puskas went onto join Real Madrid and Hidegkuti remained at Honved . 

Teams prepare games to minimize the effect of the opponents biggest threat  i.e striker(s) . but when Messi started scoring for fun from the wings – teams reacted to it by shunting him wide and double marking / triple marking him . Pep started experimenting by interchanging Messi and Eto’s positions midgames ( to some effect ) . the first time change paid immense dividend was during that El classico  at Santiago Bernabau . After going down 1-0 early to Madrid Pep decided to move messi as centre forward . For a players of such quality a yard of space can be lethal – playing between the lines gave him abundance of space  .

    

Real Madrid vs Barcelona , 2009 

    

Bela Guttmann apart from his coaching expertise and antics is remembered for two things “ Gutmann curse “ and “ Three year  rule” . “Gutmann curse” has got nothing to do with anyone in football apart from Benfica , but his “three year rule” was very much the anti-thesis to Ajax's dominance  . Only very few sides in the history of football have evaded the rule ( considering top league competitions ) Guttman never coached a side for more than three years , he claimed third year as  fatal . There are two main reasons behind it 

• Players start to get complacent/bored of the same routines 
•  counter strategies . 

Cruyff after losing his captaincy to Piet Keiser - where his own teammates picked Keiser for captaincy during voting left for Barcelona . Neeskens followed him a year later . Keiser fell out with the manager and refused to play football ever again . Likewise Adrien Haan , Blankenberg left too . Johnny Rep who was the right winger in that side said " The biggest problem was everything was so easy . The players needed another challenge , another club , another team , because it gets stale , a little boring " . 

        One team in the recent era to evade the rule is Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United – he kept a core group of players and constantly brought new faces in . Demanded discipline and anyone who lacked the intensity was cut loose for new imports . So it is not to say every side will disintegrate after a three year period - you can sustain longer period of dominance by Sir Alex Ferguson model . The other way to ensure sustained dominance is the Real Madrid way - Real Madrid side that won five consecutive European cups had only four players who played in the 1956 final went onto play in the 1960 final . They also had 6 managerial changes in that time - which is to say they were under constant evolution .

Pep Guardiola and Lionel Messi 

 Guardiola was well aware of this aspect of management . He insisted on signing one-year extensions even when the management were more than happy offering him a longer deal . He brought in new faces regularly and did experiment with 3-4-3 in his final season knowing his side is becoming  predictable . It is to be seen how he manages to do his work at Bayern Munich .

 Barcelona are on the brink of losing their supremacy ( many might argue they already have lost it )  - but leaving aside that argument . A change in manager doesnt always mean an end to dominance . Ajax after Rinus Michels departure , AC Milan after Arrigo sacchi have went on to succeed more . But  teams have devised counter-tactics that has worked to good effect against Barcelona  . Mourinho’s Real Madrid in the last season , Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid at the start of this season were well prepared to negate Lionel Messi’s False 9 threat . One game that really showed “its time” for withdrawn forward tactic was the second leg against AC Milan .One significant difference from the 1^st leg and 2^nd leg was David Villa’s positioning . Villa was used as a striker and when they were in need of controlling the game drifted wide to be a winger in the 2^nd leg . It just showed no matter how much you stretch the play horizontally , you need a striker to give you the edge to  make use of it .  

Robert Lewandowski

The champions league final of 2012 involved two typical old school strikers - Didier Drogba and Mario Gomez , where in the last concluded Final - Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund - two sides specialized in "counter pressing "  had two strikers who epitomize the evolution in game - Mario Mandzukic / Robert Lewandowski .The shift from Mario Gomez to Mario Mandzukic at Bayern really gives the whole picture of where the modern game is heading towards . Victor Maslov predicted a strikerless formation in football , and we saw Spain and Barcelona do that with huge success - but evolution doesnt stop there . Roma tried their luck with withdrawn forward , Manchester united did it for some games - Barcelona made full use of it . It takes a very special player to materialize an attempt such as "withdrawn forward" by the manager - but it has to be seen whether the Lionel Messi can pull through all the short comings of the system or the persisting trend of  "gengen pressing " with a dynamic centre-forward will continue . It might take another evolutionary cycle for players of Pippo Inzaghi’s persona to be considered vital at the highest level or he might be the last of his kind . .

Sources : " Inverting the Pyramid" , "Brilliant Orange" "calcio" .