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The evolution of team formations


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I am fascinated (I know very sad) how clubs spend millions of pounds literally on players to fit a particular formation favoured by a manager, which got me thinking about how formations can win or lose clubs famous trophies, championships and make or break managers. 

How did formations evolve over time? I began reading some stuff online which just made my head spin as I couldn't understand a lot of it. I remember as a young lad many years ago that every team always had two strikers and was rare to see this change until the modern area.

We discuss how x and y players don't fit into a certain formation preferred by Robinson or that he has completely changed the formation that resulted in a negative run of form (like pre christmas last season) and how not getting the formation right, with the right players can cause huge financial implications for clubs. It could literally mean the club being relegated or worse go out of business. For me it seems that this is a huge factor in football when we talk about how we can finance the club moving forward never mind attracting a quality manager and players. However finance also reflects which way a manager chooses a particular formation as they may not have the money to play his preferred formation. I think maybe this is something that causes issues for Robinson.

Not being a coach or manager I would guess the evolution of formations would be a massive subject for guys studying to be coaches and managers and how they approach their chosen profession.

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Stephen Robinson is on record as saying that his preferred formation is dependent on the type and quality of player we have.   The long ball game is preferred by teams on a limited budget.  Thats about the limit of my tactical knowledge.  I remember Derek Adams telling us at Perth  one evening that its sometimes very difficult and complex for managers to work out what is going on tactically in games.  So we're not alone. 

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For any football geeks (like me) who want to read about this, I can highly recommend Jonathan Wilson's book - "Inverting the Pyramid: The History of Football Tactics"

Quote

In INVERTING THE PYRAMID, Jonathan Wilson pulls apart the finer details of the world's game, tracing the global history of tactics, from modern pioneers right back to the beginning when chaos reigned. Along the way, he looks at the lives of great players and thinkers who shaped the sport and probes why the English, in particular, have 'proved themselves unwilling to grapple with the abstract'.

This fifth-anniversary edition of a football modern classic has been fully updated to include an investigation of the modern-day Barcelona and how their style of play developed from Total Football, which itself was an evolution of the Scottish passing game invented by Queens Park and taken on by Tottenham in the 1930s. It also analyses different styles in the early British game and the changing mentality of South American football in the 1970s, as well as looking at the birth of the 3-5-2 system so prevalent today.

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Please dont EVER play 3-5-2 again Motherwell. I still have nightmares with Elliot Frear on the left of the 5 man midfield...... with no left back behind him and the midfield that congested the ball was punted over them.

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4 hours ago, DEWELL said:

Please dont EVER play 3-5-2 again Motherwell. I still have nightmares with Elliot Frear on the left of the 5 man midfield...... with no left back behind him and the midfield that congested the ball was punted over them.

I haven't anything positive to contribute to this thread......

.....but I couldn't help but notice that Dewell is arguing against 3-5-2 whilst his vote count is -352, how spooky is that:O

 

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