It is well documented that football goes in cycles especially with regard to the dominance of certain teams. In the English league for example Liverpool were the dominant team throughout the 1970’s and 80’s where they won 11 titles in 18 years. This all changed when Sir Alex Ferguson came south and swore (literally) to knock Liverpool off their perch, the rest as they say is history.
It is slightly less well documented that tactical trends also go in cycles. Guardiola’s Barcelona were a wonderful team and their radical possession-oriented style (positional play not tiki taka) led to vast success, 14 trophies in 4 years to be precise. At a similar time the Spanish national squad were practicing a similarly possession-oriented approach which also led to success (three major international trophies in succession). This certainly influenced the recent era whereby control of possession was sought after across Europe and the world as teams went in search of success. Most of the best sides attempted to control possession in a similar manner to Barcelona and Spain as those sides proved it to be a successful method.
In the last few years however we have witnessed a slight shift as teams with individual brilliance especially direct dribbling ability have experienced success. This has coincided with Barcelona and Spain experiencing an inevitable downturn in fortunes since 2012. Spain were knocked out in the group stages of the 2014 World Cup while Barcelona’s trophy rate reduced considerably to 1 league title in 3 years compared to 3 in a row previously and a 3 year barren run in the Champions League. This shift can be traced back to a number of significant matches such as Bayern Munich’s 7-0 aggregate win over Barcelona in the 2013 Champions League Semi-Final. Real Madrid’s 5-0 Champions League semi-final aggregate win over Bayern Munich or Holland’s 5-1 win over Spain in the group stages of the 2014 World Cup. In all of these matches the winning team had far less possession than their opponents however they sat back very deep soaking pressure with about 8 outfield players mainly responsible for defending while the other 2 were responsible for executing devastating counter attacks with astonishing speed. Robben and Ribery for Bayern, Ronaldo, Bale and Benzema for Madrid and Robben for Holland. These matches demonstrated the impact that direct dribblers who can take the game to their opponents and quick counter attacks can have. This has seemingly influenced recent consensus where possession has at times even been scorned at and teams with a possession-oriented style are criticised as ‘ponderous’ and ‘boring’ when they fail to win.
With the exception of Germany at the 2014 World Cup most recent successful teams have been reliant upon individual dribbling ability and Barcelona’s 2015 Champions League win continues this recent trend. One may point out that the 2015 Barcelona side had high possession statistics also which is true but the main difference lies in the way they go about creating chances. While Guardiola’s Barcelona created chances predominantly through a pass and move approach, Enrique’s Barcelona look to exploit the individual brilliance of Messi, Suarez and Neymar who can all create chances for themselves. Barcelona have thus set the benchmark for other European clubs who wish to experience success in possessing three world class individuals in their front line.
English football has experienced this shift in footballing dominance as the teams have repeatedly failed in European tournaments after a period of success where 3 teams in the Champions League semi-final was normal. It is imperative that English teams make the cycle come back around with the threat of Italian football’s European co-efficient overtaking England which would mean only 3 Champions League spots for English teams. In order to do so it may be a wise move to acquire more attacking individuals of world class ability.
Source: DSG
