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Football loves new ideas. Novel tactical trends, unusual players, and changes in coaching approach.
But what are the ideas going out of fashion? Which tactics are heading for extinction?
Duncan Alexander and Nick Miller write. Craig Silcock illustrates.
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#Football #Tactics #PremierLeague
The decrease of dribbly wingers and long shot takers are arguably the saddest meta-changes in football 😢
I stopped watching football after Robben retired and nobody does long elegant passes like Pirlo did. Game has changed yes, but it’s not as good as it used to be
but there are just as many if not more GOALS from long shots so that's a good thing. I'd rather see less missed long shots tbh
There’s Mitoma for u😉
@@SimoNemo7 KDB has some long passes like Pirlo though
I’m saddened how when a ball is headed out and lands with someone on the edge of the box, the default setting is now to recycle possession and rebuild rather than leather it and go for glory.
The one that hurts me badly is the lack of long shots. It's sad
probably has to do with how the game is now is quicker and with the defender now press higher and more aggressive leave no room to shoot freely i watched Scholes goals video by United and Premeir league a week ago, he is famous for his long shoot goal, and most of that video, defender looks clueless and not attempting to block it at all
Remember when Scholes or Gerrard got the ball outside the box and hammered it, you dont see that anymore.
Valverde long shots
Blame Pep, his football has almost spoilt the fun of football
@@JamJamIUyeap
Leicester won the league with a 442 in 2016 which was pretty incredible. They did have kante though who might as well be 3 midfielders
Don't forget the 12th man official all season too
fake statement@@Maniacility
😭😂😂💀😭 Facts Kante energy is unmatched
@@Maniacilitylet’s not act like ateletico Madrid needed the ref’s help to beat a recently promoted premier league team
@@Maniacility can't say I recall the refs loving Leicester that season
My primary school in the 80s used to play a 2-3-5. We had a right back, left back, left mid, centre mid, right mid, left wing, right wing, centre forward, inside right and inside left. No central defenders. Needless to say, we scored loads and only lost one game in three years, when that team realised we had no centre backs.
Care to tell in what country or city this occurred, so we don't always assume it's usually a South American thing?
This is Jose mourinho if he was not a PUSSIO
We used to play 0-0-11
@@Savagekonthe only way😂😂😂
@@olamidesuleiman7423 fr
Tifo: This tactic is dying Also Tifo: This is why this same tactic is not dying
Wow. All four tactics are primarily used by Real Madrid this season. Ancelotti plays the 4 4 2 formation, with most of the direct corners goals scored from long corners, with a lot of long shots from Valverde, Rudiger, Tchouameni, and Kroos, and long out balls from the Keepers.
He's that football manager player who tries to win with the dumbest tactics possible
Well, if it works for his players, it's not that dumb.
@@andrekim9597 yep
I noticed that too.Carlo Ancelotti is a legend, rules don't apply to the golden boy😅
@@kono5933and how many champions leagues has he won? 🤫
My mind: "time to revive these on Football Manager!"
This drives home why that 2009-12 Barcelona team was so revolutionary. They were maybe most responsible for killing all of these tactics. Short corners, fewer long shots trying to always pass their way into a better shot, ball-playing keeper refusing to kick it upfield and played to their CBs, focus on holding possession even as a defensive tactic, focus on technical play over athleticism, pressing upfield out of possession were all ideas that I remember people thought were a little bit insane at the time but are all conventional wisdom down to the bottom clubs now
Thank Pep Guardiola for this!
Yeah, Barcelona were a great team with great players. It confuses me when bottom half premier league teams, and even championship and league 1 teams try constantly playing out from the back and to take short corners though.
For corner kicks, in French, we sometimes call the short corners "corner à la rémoise". It refers to the Stade de Reims from the 50's which didn't have tall players. So, it was useless to try direct corner kicks and did short ones. Which shows that tactics are a cycle and maybe in 40 years, the 4-4-2 or WM might return.
Pep has literally used WM
WM is back.
the WM has already returned
Last season the WM returned
I've often thought keepers smashing the ball upfield was crazy, it essentially becomes a 50-50 ball. The short throws and kicks to a nearby teammate is refreshing. Its nice to see teams actually trying to keep the ball when they are given a chance to play with it.... it's mine, you can't have it!
I think if you are the underdogs that 50% chance of the ball dropping and resulting in a good chance is probably better than the play it out possession build up and lose the ball type. The chances of the ball being in your half and losing possession resulting in a great chance have to be higher if you are the underdogs. I think direct football can work ax long as you don't go 80s long ball. If you look back at Wimbledon they only used long ball and it worked. I watched my team the villa try to play out the back when we were poor in the Premier league and the ball literally goes nowhere before they panic and just get rid up field , if I was a manager of Burnley I would still keep a strong structured 4-4-2 , it helps defensively and some direct passing gets the ball in the opponents half , and that's where you want it. I'd love to see the stats though and be proved wrong , it would be interesting to know if my theory is drastically wrong 🤷♂️🤷♂️
There's a lot you aren't taking into consideration
The issue with playing the ball out is that if you lose it doing so you'll likely give away a very good chance for scoring as the other team is already close to your box and your players are out of their defensive position. I don't advocate for smashing the ball long, but I am all for playing the ball forward to your midfielders fast in order to not only have possesion, but also keep it a bit further away from your own goal. And of course at the same time, this means you're also closer the the opponents goal which means you can create chances for yourself.
There are ways to use a longer kick out with the right players, and it makes for more entertaining football than watching a team going dink-dink-dink-dink-dink in some perverse zombie preservation of "shiti-crappa" for ten minutes. XD
This current season is the 23-24 season btw, not 22-23 as stated several times in this video.
yeah, that really bugged me
No I think he did that because this season hasn’t ended so u can’t make stat off it But I get he should have just said last season
i would say that depending on what you define a formation as, you could even argue that the 442 is still the most used "formation" in football. most top clubs still press and defend in a 442 shape (City, Arsenal, Barca, Bayern etc). and football is too dynamic and fluid to objectively define what a formation represents offensively. maybe 442 isnt as common in its classical form (long ball, defensive, relying on counter attacking), but its still here and its a very important shape
how teams set up to defend is definitely how formations should be defined as it's only the past few years where a select number of teams have had significant amounts of possession, that anything else has been considered. this recent fad makes no sense as it never accounts for full back or wingers advancing, or forwards dropping deep, only obsessing about when defenders step into midfield
Four tactics that are slightly less popular than a decade ago
Lol, the 4-4-2 is not "slightly less popular", now that Atletico play differently it's basically dead, atleast in international club football. 😂
@@StillAwesome21 Well, it's more accurate than saying that no one uses long corners when 80% of corners are long
@@StillAwesome21It is still a very good formation out of possession, just not used as much going forward.
about the 442 I think Mourinho played a big role when he was appointed in 2004 as he found ways of exploiting it.
The 2009 Barcelona team's success with the 4-3-3 also played a huge role in making the 4-4-2 obsolete. Actually come to think of it, taking short corners, keepers passing it out instead of playing it long, and reducing long shots to try find a better shot through ball movement are all also trends popularized by that team
He used 4-3-3 and exploited it to make it in attack a 3-2-5. He was Van Gaal's assistant and he used 3-4-3 diamond during his Ajax days in 1995.
4-3-3 was actually in Serie A in the 90's via Zedek Zeman, and Cruyff used 3-4-3 at Barcelona with Romario and Stoichkov in attack.@@za5528
yes the rise of 4-2-3-1 and cr7, messi trend, after that every winger want to be inside winger, no more beckham
Growing up seeing a winger beat the full back to cross to the strikers head was the default way to score. The best example was Keith Gillespie against Barcelona when he tore Sergi a new one
Gillespie was incredible
4:51 I'm willing to bet less goals were scored from outside the box in that season because fans weren't around to shout "SHOOT" every time a player got close to the box! 😅
Long shots aren't more effective because of an increase in the quality of the shots, they're more effective because goalkeepers are no longer simply "shot stoppers". They tend to be well-rounded when compared to previous decades for build up play, and so the De Gea's of the world are being signed less due to the trend of playing out from the back. Its similar to how Target Men are a thing again, not because of some ingenuous new use of them, but because defenders tend to be shorter, faster and less strong than they used to be, after 20 years of every team playing a false 9 and to counter the increase in wide goal threats, which itself was a response to there being extra space out wide due to the increase in fullbacks being used primarily in offense. Everything is a reaction, and none of it is improvement. The only thing thats improved is fitness levels, and thats more down to chemical improvements than anything else.
this deserves more likes.
W take
It keeps the game fresh to think that there is no perfect way of doing it and you need to trial new and even to bring back long forgotten ideas.
No one whould have thought the amount of different formations like 3-4-2-1 and 3-4-1-2 being used even in League Two and One 30 years ago. The game has changed a lot and I agree it keeps things fresh, that's why Pep has changed once again to a 4-2-5 using Ederson as a sweeper keeper, and won everything with a 3-2-4-1 last year, which is a 3-6-1 or 3-4-3 box midfield, inspired by Cryuff from Barcelona during the time Pep was playing for him. Van Gaal also used 3-4-3 in 95, and Venables during Euro 96, a 3-4-2-1 system. Hoddle was a 3-5-2 man.
@@RocketRentonI heard Pep’s 3-2-4-1 was styled after an old school 2-3-5
I'm so glad this video was uploaded. I saw the article sent to my email, but I was sadly blocked by a paywall.
The 4-4-2 became very popular in Spain after Atlético's success with it, and it is probably the most effective defensive formation out of possession. The difference between 4-2-3-1 and 4-4-2 is really not that big, and there's also been teams that have played hybrid 3-5-2/4-4-2 or 4-3-3/4-4-2 systems depending on the phase of play. With how fluid formations are nowadays I think it is a massive stretch to say that the 4-4-2 is dying out.
I miss the tactic where teams just didn't have a set goalie and just have the gloves in the box, whatever player grabbed and wore them got to handball without a penalty.
I liked the analysis of the shots outside the box in comparison with goals outside the box. I think they eye test supports this as well. Attacking players are marksmen outside the box more than ever before. They are so precise and can get the shot off one step ahead of the defender. its really efficient and shows how much the game has evolved.
Harry Kane trying to spark the long shot from outside the box revival. From outside the country. From outside the half.
Euro 2016 flashbacks😂
So that's what he was trying to do during the World Cup quarter final!
From outside the silverware
Watching City - Liverpool today I was in awe of the amount of city players that rotate in and out of the wide spaces. Can you please make a video on how City creates width without using traditional 'wide players' in defence?
4-4-2 certainly isn't dead, both Guardiola and Arteta played 4-4-2 when out of possession last season.
Dunno where Opta get their stats, but Luton use a 523 or 343 this season. We've only used 442 as a tactical change after substitutions part way through one game, that I can recall. A quick look at the team sheets for the fixtures so far confirms this.
In terms of goalkeepers going long. Newcastle were effective doing that last season. Kick it long and if you lose the ball, win it back straight away, regaining possession in a advantageous area.
I can never imagine the majority of amateur teams moving away from 4-4-2. So simple for those of us who just turn up on the weekend
Long shots are being curtailed because of how rigid defences are. Odds are your shot will bounce from the defence and just end up as a loss. Also, an awkward rebound could give your opponent a free ball to transition into a counter attack which is very dangerous. Reckless shots against solid defences can create a defencive problem so teams avoid it more
I recently watched some highlights from the 1970s and the ball was kept in the air much more than today every pass the ball would leave the ground same with most of the goals, obviously disadvantage is slower but the advantage is that interception from feet is harder. I do feel like a team that brought it back would probably do quite well for a bit as it would be so unexpected
Am i tripping or this is 2023-24 season? The video says this season but displays 2022-23 season.
They have full data for last season compared to only a third of this seadon
obviously, but he still said 22-23 is "this season" @@gibsonhooper1157
If you are tripping, take the day off and enjoy yourself...
@@gibsonhooper1157 yeah but why do they call 2022-23 the current season when it's last season
I’d love to see stats on the % of ineffective corner kicks…with ineffective being a kick that a) doesn’t clear the first defender 2) goes of play or 3) goes way over the pack. And then which teams or players are the worst or best at taking corner kicks
Each of the statistics are referencing different periods. This makes it difficult to observe a trend. When comparing the change in percentages basis points might consideration.
Where do you get your stats from if you don't mind me asking? I find all this stuff very interesting!
Curious to see GK's pass completion numbers for this season AFTER the winter months.
There's a set piece tactic from corners (not totally sure what it is) where the end result is the cross doesn't get past the first man, I wish teams would stop using it.
It’s simply a case of possession soccer. In that, keeping the ball on your teams feet as long as you can until you get as close to the goal as possible to shoot. 1. 4-4-2 lacks three midfield players and loses midfield battle. Todays game is won or lost in the midfield. 2. Corners have become less effective as crosses in general have been slowly abandoned. Also, a cross no longer maintains possession, rather a 50/50 ball. 3. Long shots take away the chance of possession, especially if, your goal is to get as close as possible to shoot to create greater chances at goal. 4. Keepers passing long is much like the idea of corners in that once the ball leaves your feet, especially in a long distance pass, the ball becomes 50/50. Instead, teams like City choose to keep possession and work out of the back. Or for instance, replace Joe Hart for Ederson for Hart’s inability to play the diagonal ball to the outside back on the touch line (which mind you is the most difficult ball to play in soccer). The game has changed and evolved and until teams, like City, no longer find success in possession, the game and those in it will find more and more ways to keep the ball on their feet.
one of my fav football tactic channel
Hats off to anybody that dedicated their time to take a note of every single statistics of a game, instead of enjoy the game. Even if it's a job, that's still marvelous.
Man this is well researched
With long shots, what are the stats for getting penalties or dangerous free kicks from handballs, or goals from balls blocked or reflected to a player nearer the goal. Which all are goals or goal opportunities directly caused by the long shot taken.
I knew my short corners playing fifa 07 was visionary
They should return to the goalkeepers wearing tracksuit bottoms.
What about moustaches?
"Four Tactics No-One Uses Anymore" proceeds to list four tactics that are still in wide use
Great insights! I am a nerd for data!
Hope one team implement all of this and win their continent competition
What tool do you use to make your videos?
1) Less use of 4-4-2 (except Ancelotti's diamond formation, which works properly) 2a) Decrease of traditional corners, where a long cross attempts to reach a target man. It's logical because defenders are much better clearing headers 2b) Fewer dribble attempts. Instead wingers and no 10s like Mount & Griezmann focus on pressing and annoying defenders trying to pass put from the back 3) Fewer long range shots. Logical to pass the ball into better xG scoring positions, but damn I miss watching Scholes, Gerrard, Lampard, Toure or Juninho going for glory from 30 yards. 4) Fewer long balls from GKs. It's logical to make the goalie more precise with his passing. Onana, on the contrary, dawdles too much on the ball and frustrates his team-mates. De Gea was arguably more effective in that his colleagues knew what to expect rather than guess
The best tifo video❤❤❤❤
Where do you get such data from??
This just prove how more careful and meticulous teams play nowadays, we rarely saw wingers goes dancing on the flanks now, they just back pass to the fullback recycle to the midfield goes to the other side and so on
4231 really is just a modified 442, with the 10 being seen as an attacking midfielder instead of a striker but still doing the same job essentially
The 4-4-2 never got out of fashion. 1.) because the just mentioned 4-2-3-1 is nothing but a 4-4-2 with the deeplying forward just starting from a slightly deeper position instead of dropping back to midfield from a higher position. Teams are using this method to get a striker free between the lines since the modern era of football and it became very popular when Arsene Wenger used the clear 4-2-3-1 at Arsenal with Bergkamp as an offensive #10 instead of a dropping forward. 2.) many teams attack in a 4-4-2 shape starting from a different formation. Eintracht Frankfurt und Dino Toppmöller builds up from a 3-5-2 formation with 3-box-x buildup but switches to a 4-4-2 in attack and during transition after losing the ball. Also mostly defending in a 4-4-2 when the opponent has the ball until the ball reaches the final third and Frankfurt switches to a 5-4-1 defensive formation. In attack the right wingback behaves like a traditional attacking wing in a 4-4-2 and the right centreback covers his back (think about the Beckham/Neville relationship).
it's not that long-range shooting is ineffective, it's that it's mostly done by the wrong people, especially after corners, some CB blasts the ball into the stand. If it's de Bruyne, that long-range shot is desirable.
Long range shooting is ineffective. Ask KDB if he took 1000 shots from the 6 yard box, and 1000 shots from 40 yards out, how many would resulted into a goal?
The lack of goals from corners has really surprised me , corners are always seen as the chance to get it in the box to score , it actually shows the either the keeper coming to collect or defenders clearing the ball is more successful than the attacking situation provided. I thought it would be 1 in 5 corners, but then when you think about it they are kind of rarer than you think. It's always interesting to see stats. The 4-4-2 obviously has more of a defensive style to it , which is interesting that the 90s and 2000s it was being used , I cant really remember the first manager to come in an be the one to not use it , im sure even Venger used a 4-4-2 but not being an arsenal fan I'm not 100% was it mourinho?? Or was it even earlier , like a Gullit at Chelsea or Vialli
This has been written before on The Athletic a few years ago, not really new as it has been known within the professional world for some time now. What I really cannot fathom are fans who still insist on winger simply whipping crosses in, I'd like to see stats on this but I'm very sure goals resulting directly from crosses or immediately from cleared crosses are almost as low as corners.
Football tactics will continue to evolve, shift and go in circles. And at no point in time will I ever believe that short corners are better ha
Short corner is way better
@@thierryhenry674Not inherently, it's only really good as one option of a few from a corner. You need the threat of a corner whipped into the box in order for a short corner to be as effective as it is.
@@edwardking9359 You want to be a great team, great team have more technical players, technical players are usually short. Long corner is less than 50/50 if you have short players. Even if you have big players, it’s still only just 50/50. Short corner is 100% possession, which you can create chances from it.
Real Madrid has been using the 4-4-2 (or a variation of it) often this year, and it seems to be working.
More than 13% goals scored are from outside of the box Tifo football: No one uses longshot anymore
I can listen to this lad explain all day 😂
Martin O'niel played 3-5-2 alot at Celtic, and scored ALOT of goals from corners and set pieces. 2 'go at it' fast wingers, into 2 strikers. There's not much at all of this (or other) types of attacking setups now. Brazils attacking formation of old, used up until maybe 2002, was a joy to watch. 2-3-5 effectively, with the 2 full backs being the line wingers, and goals aplenty 🤌 Football is generally alot more cautious, and less enjoyable to watch these days, I'd say. Its become more towards the classic italian stifling method, and less classic Brazilian, 'if you score 3, well score 5' style.
This is only for EPL. You should do something for Serie A and Bundesliga
WAs the last point cut short by the editor?
Am I wrong to have expected this to be a video about the 2-3-5 or the 4-2-4? Or the traditional sweeper keeper who pops up in the box occasionally? This was a fine video, but not really what I was expecting
the title doesn;t correspond with the video itself, although i liked it a lot. just thought it's gonna be about "W" and other tactics from the past (50s-70s). There were A LOT of forgotten ideas
However, long-range shooters are always welcome. Being a threat outside the box can draw more attention and pressure from your opponents, giving your teammates more space.
I will always use 4-4-2 in FM.
I like this format better than seeing a guy or two guys trying to explain it
Liverpool last weekend: what did you say about long shots again?
i think i would attribute the long shot strategy to the decline in midfielders who can accurately shoot from outside and maybe opponents strategy within that range
The classic number 10 is also another position dying out. I think Messi is the only world class number 10 left. Unless you want to count Dybala as world class.
Müller
@@randomperson9732 No, he's not a classic 10, he's a Reumatedeur, someone who makes space, Muller himself has talked about this.
It's funny because there are still 10's being produced very very effectively, just that they are now combined creative 8's for their better overall game
Fernandes 😂
Bellingham or musiala
Four tactics that are genuinely not in use; slingshot into dutch rush press. AC Milan offside trap on the playmaker from a pressing trigger. Libero crashing zone 14. Spalleti playing five midfielders, just one winger (Mancini) and Totti as a CAM; effectively a team with no striker. Haven't seen this done since, i dont believe. If you don't believe this, halftime oranges, orFood poisoning as matchday preparation. 10s evaporating doesnt count, because david silva.
Thank you, this I wanted to see, not tactics that are slightly less used today than 10 years ago
Title fooled me a bit, i expected a video about some antique tactics from the 1900s nobody has heard of
I thought I was listening poorly when they went from 23/24 for the first one then 22/23 for the rest - very confusing!
Great video
The 4-2-3-1 is just a pedantic way to express the 4-3-3, and the 4-3-3 was the main tactic before the 4-4-2. So, it is somewhat cyclical. It is being used again in Brazil. As for short corners, I hate those. They fail even more than traditional corners. A variation of less than 1% is well within that variation range. Long shots are well and alive in Brazil, but some comentators say that teams are taking fewer long shots. As for GKs passing long, glad they're changing that, though I do wish the teams with no great passers at defense would stop trying that.
Very insightful video. Love the data analysis, would love to be apart of it and learn more.
I can say that, when I play football, its only about short corners for me, be it irl or video games
Why does the video keep saying "this season" and then have 2022-23 as the label? It's from November 2023, so "this season" is the 2023-24 season, no?
Is a 4-2-3-1 really that different from a 4-4-2? If you differential the 2 strikers into primary and secondary and put your outside midfielders a little higher up the pitch on the team sheet, you've turned a 4-4-2 into a 4-2-3-1
How did you gain your tactical knowledge tifo?
Nah the one I immediately thought of is the iconic start of 2 strikers standing in the centre, but I guess that’s not dying, but completely dead
I wonder if there’s been an increase in goals since the increase to goalkeepers becoming more accurate passers as their training may become less focused on GK fundamentals.
N trying to do cruff turns 😂😂😂
I don't think the 4-4-2 is dead, but rather much more ineffective in the modern game
I miss players on the posts defending corners
I miss watching two teams playing 4-4-2 against each other
Long shots were a good way to get a corner, but now we don't want corners
Tifo is dropping everyday like Drake but I ain't complaining.
We are leaving a golden generation of football behind. With Messi and Ronaldo leading the charts, it has been arguably one of the most talented generation of football in the last 15 years. When this generation comes to an end the long shots will increase. It already started.
The one that hurts the most is losing 9-0 😢
Typo in the video: Joe says 76% of teams use a 4-2-3-1 and the number that is shown is 38%
There is an error in the Long shots segment. 2020-21 season in particular. Timestamp - 5:00-5:05.
442 still the best formation with crossing wingers
Many high level players can't deliver a good corner.. driving the ball low with sufficient spin and accuracy has been too much to ask for
Sweeper and libero is obsellete. Or no.10 (fantasista) too
The ending of this video was oddly abrupt. Very weird.
Anyone see the Liverpool Fulham game, all 4 goals from outside the box🤯🤯
Pep's impact on the game.
Bro was this written by AI, none of these tactics are dead lmao
I haven't heard any shouts of 'unfair teams' in the Premier League since Man United beat Nottingham Forest 8-1 in 98/99 season. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored four for United before he scored one for Forest after swapping with Dougie Freedman.
I like you mention 23/24 and then later on in the video your calling 22/23 'this season'