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Formations
Topic Started: Oct 28 2010, 06:02 AM (1,019 Views)
findus
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Jerry Kerr
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Love a good formations read, especially those with historical context:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2010/...reinventing-w-w
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Micky
Gordon Chisholm
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Good read. Even before opening this I knew it would be Jonathan Wilson's work.
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Naebody
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Twat
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Jesus Christ. That reads like a sex manual that's been rewritten by an autistic virgin who has a doctorate in logistics.

The depth of intellectual snobbery required to view football as chess with self-propelling pieces turns my stomach.
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Micky
Gordon Chisholm
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Not a fan? :conf:

Maybe it's the scientific part of me, or maybe it's my (kicked) addiction to FM, but I quite like look at football a different way, sometimes.
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Hamish
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Ian McCall
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Naebody
Oct 28 2010, 11:46 AM
football as chess

4-3-3: Ruy Lopez

4-4-2: Giuoco Piano

4-5-1: French Defence

4-6-0: Levein Enigma
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The Eggman
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Tommy McLean
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Naebody
Oct 28 2010, 12:46 PM
Jesus Christ. That reads like a sex manual that's been rewritten by an autistic virgin who has a doctorate in logistics.

The depth of intellectual snobbery required to view football as chess with self-propelling pieces turns my stomach.

Do you prefer the "it's-just-11-men-against-11-tactics-are-fancy-dan-rubbish-passion-is-what-counts" approach?
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Naebody
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Twat
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The Eggman
Oct 29 2010, 09:14 AM
"it's-just-11-men-against-11-tactics-are-fancy-dan-rubbish-passion-is-what-counts" approach?

No. Not really, because I'm not a fan of inverse snobbery either.

Of course tactics are important, but they're not as important as players. The thing is, players are often extremely thick. They're often so thick it becomes an embarrasment for the broadsheet football writers who've dedicated their careers to analysing their actions.

To counter this, a few football writers like to view managers -- particularly foreign managers -- as deep-thinking tacticians who play the game by constructing gambits for their meat automatons on the pitch. However, it should be pretty obvious to anyone actually watching a game that the manager doesn't have many ways to influence an individual result. Because, much of the time, football management less resembles chess than herding cats.
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The Eggman
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Tommy McLean
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Naebody
Oct 29 2010, 12:32 PM
Of course tactics are important, but they're not as important as players. The thing is, players are often extremely thick. They're often so thick it becomes an embarrasment for the broadsheet football writers who've dedicated their careers to analysing their actions.

To counter this, a few football writers like to view managers -- particularly foreign managers -- as deep-thinking tacticians who play the game by constructing gambits for their meat automatons on the pitch. However, it should be pretty obvious to anyone actually watching a game that the manager doesn't have many ways to influence an individual result. Because, much of the time, football management less resembles chess than herding cats.

The more advanced the tactical system, the more intelligent the players are required.

Look at Jose Mourinho. He drills systems into his players, and plays the percentage game. Generally, he tries to keep in control of every thing, and off-the-cuff individuality (with regards to straying from the system, positioning etc) of players is a no-no. You can see how differently his teams play with the same players that other managers have had. They have his stamp on them. I'd certainly compare some of his tactics to chess - of course, broadly speaking. He thinks about what the opposition will do, and formulates tactics to counter those - just like any good manager.

One of the reasons British football suffers so much (in terms of international competition) is that the level of players' footballing intelligence is lower than that of their foreign counterparts. Look at the best British players, like Gerrard. Technically as good as many foreign players, but a shambles tactically.
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Setenza
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Knitting with only one needle
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Getting players with half a brain, but little skill can make up for a lot at our level. D Robertson's managed to stay around for years based it it it seems.

There must a a difference between general intelligence and football intelligence though. Goodwillie can often make very clever decisions, but doesn't seem the brightest by a long way. So extermely thick players might still get enough football brains to be useful, even with some tactics.

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The Eggman
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Tommy McLean
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Setenza
Oct 29 2010, 03:06 PM
There must a a difference between general intelligence and football intelligence though. Goodwillie can often make very clever decisions, but doesn't seem the brightest by a long way. So extermely thick players might still get enough football brains to be useful, even with some tactics.

Definitely. Apparently Nesta and Totti are proper thickos, but they read the game brilliantly.
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Naebody
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Twat
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Nick Hornby writes about this perfectly in Fever Pitch. Passing Thoughts is the chapter. If you haven't, do.

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The Eggman
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Tommy McLean
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Naebody
Oct 29 2010, 03:33 PM
Nick Hornby writes about this perfectly in Fever Pitch. Passing Thoughts is the chapter. If you haven't, do.

That's a great tool!

I did search for Passing Thoughts, but it only seemed to find passing in the text itself. Do you have a page number?
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Naebody
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Twat
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Sorry - remembered wrong. It's just called "Liam Brady," and begins on page 98 of the Scribd file (though do buy the book).
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Skeletor
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Most likely to be Ann Widdecombe
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The Eggman
Oct 29 2010, 02:11 PM
Setenza
Oct 29 2010, 03:06 PM
There must a a difference between general intelligence and football intelligence though. Goodwillie can often make very clever decisions, but doesn't seem the brightest by a long way. So extermely thick players might still get enough football brains to be useful, even with some tactics.

Definitely. Apparently Nesta and Totti are proper thickos, but they read the game brilliantly.

And it was usually the 'non-academics' (the degenerates) in school that were the most naturally football gifted and skillful, playing Pro Youth etc.
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findus
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Jerry Kerr
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Naebody
Oct 28 2010, 07:46 PM
Jesus Christ. That reads like a sex manual that's been rewritten by an autistic virgin who has a doctorate in logistics.

The depth of intellectual snobbery required to view football as chess with self-propelling pieces turns my stomach.

By god, if I wasn't sunning it on a tropical beach right now with an ex-catalogue model.....

Later suckers! :banshk: :banshk:
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