Understanding football better

So, two nations with clubs that can be called institutions in world football have made it to the last four of Champions League. Messi magic at the Camp Nou and a clinical performance from Bayern Munich at the backdrop of a domestic title triumph were the talk of the footballing world in the week gone by. It will be a mouth-watering delight to watch these two powerhouses go against each other in the semifinals of Europe’s elite club competition. Galatasaray did give a scare to the more famous side from Madrid but it was a touch too far in the end for the Turkish side to turn things around.

The success of these clubs is laudable and the consistency displayed by the Catalans amongst Europe’s elite is incredible. The brand of football from these clubs is appealing but different.

While one mesmerises with possession football, the other might want to stay organised and wait for an opportunity. Position and space therefore, as any footballer will tell you, are paramount.

Amidst all this, this question came to me sometime ago. Why do Barcelona play the way they do or maybe why Spain play the way they do? Or for that matter, what’s the story behind the affinity that Bayern has for Champions League? Or, why are Germany always the well-oiled machine they are known to be? The same question can be asked of all the successful teams, not just in Europe but from across the world ranging from Brazil to England to Japan. What is it that makes those teams? Sounds elementary but was searching for some material that will not just answer these questions but will also help me understand football better.

Jonathan Wilson, through his wonderful work titled Inverting the Pyramid, provided me with these answers. If you love football, it’s a must read. It traces the history of football with a purpose. It’s not the same and sometimes-boring chronological narrations that we are used to seeing in the history text books. This book has got a context to it. It makes us understand why and when the world moved from Victorian interpretation to a rather global interpretation of the game.

For example, when did the world of football understand the need for a formation and, thus, in explaining the positional sense on a football pitch, we are introduced to characters that later turned legends and the situations under which they operated in to build successful teams over the course of time.

The depth of the book is evident from the fact that it doesn’t talk only about the big footballing nations of today. Even as the author dissects the 2-3-5 formation where the centre-half remained the fulcrum of the team, he has also explained Hugo Meisl’s vision in furthering the very formation that existed around the time when the world was about to engage in World War I. A change in the off-side rule in 1926 meant that one got to see the effect of Herbert Chapman’s thoughts that were moving towards 3-4-3, and later 3-2-2-3 to be precise, that brought him success at the Arsenal Football Club.

It commands as much importance and prominence in comparison to the total football initiated and developed a lot later in that century. And even while thanking Holland extensively for their contribution to Total Football, Wilson has made sure he’s explained why the credit to being the father of modern football should ideally go to Viktor Maslov. Through the Russian, he’s made readers understand Eastern Europe and why we owe a lot to the erstwhile Soviet Union.

Across continents, the success of Uruguayan football at the 1924 Olympics was followed by the gradual ascendance of Argentina. Political isolation over almost two decades meant we might have missed some fine Argentines. But at the same time, the world has celebrated the football carnival in a nation like Brazil. From faring very ordinarily in their first 10 internationals to their relationships with the footballing philosophies of Germany and Hungary, the author has made sure he has interwoven the flair that we associate Brazil with to a certain structure that allowed fluidity in its set up.

The earliest use of sports psychology and the practice of Yoga is attributed to the mercurial genius of Helenio Herrera through whose travels we gain valuable insights into the world of Italian and Spanish football. The development of Inter and AC Milan under different managers assumes a good chunk of the narration. The principles of Sacchi was encompassed in this statement, “Great clubs owned the pitch and the ball. That means when you have the ball, you dictate play and when you are defending, you control the space.”

And if you ever thought of generalising Italian football to be defensive, you might want to think again because, as the author argues, while the system under Sacchi and Fabio Capello remained more or less the same, the pace and the pressing abilities of the former was a lot more. In the course of that argument, he has moved through decades of success of Germany and The Netherlands with relative ease.

The advancement of philosophies and sports sciences has been substantiated with relevant examples from this generation of coaches and players. From the old style playmakers like Juan Roman Riquelme to the new age ones like Luka Modric, the smooth sailing across generations without ignoring the context continues. Not a bad read if you are interested in understanding why Jose Mourinho does what he does or why Barcelona were always meant to play this way. A good read, for sure, and an even better guide of the philosophies behind teams. Surely not a one time read, it’s a piece of work that you might want to get back to when in doubt.

The writer is sports editor and senior presenter with Neo Sports.  Follow him on Twitter @RK_sports