Arrigo Sacchi: The influence continues

Sarthak Dev

22nd November 2013 | 6:31 PM

All the big, successful teams have one thing in common. They like to control the situation. That’s all good, but the greatest goal should be to let the crowd have fun.

Tactics are funny. The ridiculously good/bad ones leave an impression that last longer than anything else when it comes to football. New fan bases are usually ushered in largely due to a team playing some really good football, read: Barcelona, Dortmund and Bayern, in recent times. If you’ve watched enough football over the last half a decade, chances are that the style exhibited by these teams would stay etched in your memory. Conversely, substituting Defoe for Emile Heskey when 4-1 down against Germany in a World Cup Round of 16 match will have a hard time being forgotten. Alright, I think I’ll stick to the good ones for the sake of sanctity.

Good teams define phases. Great teams define mini-eras. The very greatest of teams, though, define a tactical revelation that transcends generations as influential. Case in point, Rinus Michels’ Netherlands from the early 70s. His Dutch team reached the finals of both the ‘74 and ‘78 World Cups, failing to win either. They achieved something else though. The brand of football they played still influences the tactical-briefings at some of the biggest clubs in the world. We all like our ball-playing centre-halves and through-balling central midfielders, don’t we? With all due respect, Josep Guardiola didn’t devise a footballing style of his own. He simply carried forward the legacy of that one man who changed how the world looked at football, the sport. He sure needed a certain talent called Johann Cruyff to execute it to perfection, but let’s leave players for another article, shall we?

A manager must be like an orchestra conductor, but not only must he direct, he must also be the one who has written the piece.

Today, most are in awe of Borussia Dortmund’s style of play. Their passing, their work-rate, their speed at counter-attacks. Safe to say, it has captivated all and sundry. When tiki-taka was busy engulfing the world in its elegance, a bearded man called Jurgen Klopp was telling his young players to play differently. More direct, more aggressive. And boy, did his team repay him. You could be forgiven for thinking that he came up with the formation and the tactics which turned out to be so very effective. What if, it were to be a clone of exactly what was achieved a decade and a half ago at an Italian club?

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