Four Tactics No-One Uses Anymore

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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[gentleken]

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.

[bonuz]

The decrease of dribbly wingers and long shot takers are arguably the saddest meta-changes in football 😢

[nsoper]

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

[CallMeUG]

The one that hurts me badly is the lack of long shots. It's sad

[SUPRFC]

Tifo: This tactic is dying
Also Tifo: This is why this same tactic is not dying

[za]

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

[chiedoziemadukwe]

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.

[DavidTMUFC]

My mind: "time to revive these on Football Manager!"

[stanyamish]

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.

[MuddyRavine]

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!

[david__]

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

[tdyerwestfield]

This current season is the 23-24 season btw, not 22-23 as stated several times in this video.

[YevOnegin]

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.

[ianodonoghue]

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

[Viewer]

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! 😅

[respectedgentleman]

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.

[ZeezyTop]

Four tactics that are slightly less popular than a decade ago

[naughtybynature]

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.

[toraqi]

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.

[uncreative]

I'm so glad this video was uploaded. I saw the article sent to my email, but I was sadly blocked by a paywall.