The following article will discuss a number of the means in which football tactics and approaches can vary so much.
When football was first played, it was not such a strategic sport; however, over time, players and coaches actually have transformed the way they tackle the complicated game. As soccer is such a fluid and fast moving sport, there is a place for variation and personilisation to techniques and style. The only inflexible thing about soccer are that you actually have eleven players on the pitch, with one goalkeeper. Football tactics in the early days were very attack inclined, with formations lining up with just 2 defenders and the rest up front or sitting in midfield. The footballers back in the nineteenth century also seldom passed the ball, they would basically just try and dribble around the opposition, with teammates backing up in case the ball was lost. At some point in the nineteenth century, players started to warm to the concept of passing the ball to team mates and noticed how efficient it is at cutting open theopposition's defences. The AC Milan owner would expect to see a passing game from the team, as applying the old style of the game would definitely not be successful. The variations to the way people played in the 19th century meant that soccer defense approaches had to be even more specific and well drilled.
Countless teams now play with 4 defenders, it has practically come to be the standard formation, which is one thing the Liverpool owner would notice in the teams' set up. However, the formation was actually very infrequently used in the early part of the 20th century. Four footballers across the backline was developed by a popular Hungarian national side, which used positional tactics incredibly well to confuse and out-manoeuvre the opponent. Clubs adopted this soccer formation after the Hungarian team’s success, and teams continue to adopt this formation nearly 100 years after. The benefit of the method is it gives width the defensive but also a platform from which to strike.
During the 1970’s, there was one country that helped to develop one of the most visually pleasing styles of football. The Netherlands helped to establish a soccer style known as total soccer, and the relatively hyperbolic sounding name is actually rather accurate. The footballers would all move between each other’s positions effortlessly; each player was expected to take on different functions and be able to fit into all sorts of positions. Soccer positions were commonly seen as structurally rigid, but this was changed by the well-known Dutch club and national team during the 1970’s. The Sheffield United owner’s team is essentially a team that takes some ideas from total football, and some pundits and fans actually have pointed out that their club plays in a fluid fashion. It is unexpected for a newly promoted team to take on a style so difficult to master.