Inverting The Pyramid: The History of Soccer Tactics

by Jonathan Wilson

Soccer is not about players—or at least not just about players; it is about shape and about space, about the intelligent deployment of players and their movement within that deployment.

Globalization is blurring national styles, but tradition, perpetuated by coaches, players, pundits, and fans, is strong enough that the styles remain distinguishable.

Brazilian soccer is all about flair and improvisation, but it looks yearningly at the defensive organization of the Italians. Italian soccer is about cynicism and tactical intelligence, but it admires and fears the physical courage of the English. English soccer is about tenacity and energy, but it believes it ought to mimic the technique of the Brazilians. The history of tactics, it seems, is the history of two interlinked tensions: aesthetics versus results on the one side and technique versus physique on the other.

This is a fundamental: it could be said that the whole history of tactics describes the struggle to achieve the best possible balance of defensive solidity with attacking fluidity.