Johan Cruyff: The Origins of Total Football
Most credit for the tactical development of football should probably go to Johan Cruyff. In “Total Football”, the ideal interpretation designed by Cruyff (but first brought to Barcelona by Rinus Michels in the late 80s/early 90s) is one about space and position-switching with forward thrust. Cruyff forever changed what it meant to be Barcelona by instituting the value of the brain over the body at La Masia. Cruyff’s view of tactics gave rise to an age of world-class, elite coaches, which truly changed building from the back and the use of space.
Arsene Wenger and the Renaissance of Modern Football
In 1996, Arsene Wenger arrived at the North London club of Arsenal and fundamentally revolutionised English football from top to bottom. Beyond the stylish and fluid attacking style Wenger demonstrated, he introduced a professionalism of an uncharted magnitude on and off the pitch. Wenger changed the approach to player conditioning, recovery and diet, eradicating the culture of excessive drinking among English clubs. As well as global recruitment, Wenger opened eyes to how talented players could be continuously unearthed across the globe.
Pep Guardiola and Positional Pressing Dominance
Pep Guardiola propelled the tactical landscape of football into a new paradigm of positional authority and aggressive counter-pressing football. His unique adaptations – using full-backs as inverted midfielders and often deploying a false nine, amongst other novel tactical shifts, and the “rest-defence” system to eliminate counters provided unprecedented levels of positional control and superiority in games. His overwhelming control of space and numerical dominance forced coaches to radically alter defensive strategy. Guardiola’s tactics are used by default on modern elite coaching courses.
Source: The Tactical Analyst / Bleacher Report Football
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