The false nine, Inverted wingers and three at the back – 2010/2011 season’s prominent tactics (Part 1)
After an extraordinarily dull FIFA 2010 World Cup in South Africa last summer, club football started with UEFA Europa League and UEFA Champions League qualifiers in the month of July. Club football which is always seen traditionally
as more interesting and fast paced that than international version of the game, became prominent in its tactics which were anything but cautionary.
In the 2009-2010 season when http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Inter-c39567 Milan dominated the European theatre of football with their UEFA Champions League, Scudetto and Coppa Italia triumph, Jose Mourinho’s tactics were being touted up as the next big thing. Hitting
the teams on the counter attack whilst defending resolutely at the back, these tactics which resembled the Catennacio style of play which dominated Italian football throughout the early 80s. However Inter’s triumph at Santiago Bernabéu just before the FIFA
World Cup kicked off did not influence the tournament as a whole.
Teams set out in their own manner but by the time the knockout stages approached, it appeared that it would once again be a battle against the Barcelona style of tiki-taka football which was being successfully utilized by the Spanish
national team. In the final match of the competition in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Spain-c3011. The Dutch side under Bert Van Marwijk’s guidance moulded the Jose Mourinho style of play against the mighty Spanish. Some might say that they were forced
to do so but in the end, Spain scored a late extra time winner through Andres Iniesta to win their first ever FIFA World Cup trophy.
In club football, Barcelona dominated Spain whilst Manchester United were triumphant in England once again. In http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Italy-c2926 A.C Milan won their first
Scudetto title in seven years. In http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Portugal-c2984, Andre Villas Boas’ Porto overshadowed the likes of Braga and Benfica to claim yet another Portuguese Superliga title. In Holland, Ajax on the Eredivisie title. All of these teams used a different mix of tactics and
strategies to achieve success in their respective leagues.
In the UEFA Champions League final, Manchester United met http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38604 in a replay of the 2008 UEFA Champions League final and Barcelona won in the end by three goals to one at the Wembley stadium in London. In the Europa League,
Porto cemented their spot as the best of the rest in Europe’s secondary club cup competition when they defeated Braga in the final following their win against Villarreal in the semi-finals.
The most prominent feature in all of these matches was a use of a four man defence. Whilst three man defences were seen at some stages of the season in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/England-c749 as well. In general the traditional trend of retaining a four man defence
with two central defenders and two full backs remained the norm in club football. In Italy, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Defence-c38904 to a good effect. In European competitions, Schalke demolished Inter Milan in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League with
the use of rampaging wing backs, which was once again a prominent feature of the 2010-2011 season.
To be continued in part 2...
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