History of Positional Play I

Football started with the English centuries ago. It wasn’t until the early 1800’s that soccer was acknowledged by public schools as a way to “harness moral edification of their students” (Inverting The Pyramid, Wilson). This is when we saw the game start to emerge as we know it today, with basic rule sets.

It took a while for these rule sets to be universal throughout not only England, but other surrounding countries such as Scotland and Whales. At the time, there were two schools of thought. England saw the game as a chance to develop manliness, courage, bravery, and grit. Scotland saw the game as a way to build teamwork, technical skills, and short pass the other team to death.

For some time, England prevailed over the two. But it didn’t take long for Scotland to catch up. And when the game was introduced to other countries, the standouts tended to lean toward the Scottish approach, such as Austria, Hungary, and Brazil. Each country added their own style of play that coincided with what was happening in their land area.

In 1925, the offsides rule was put into place. This changed tactics of the game significantly. “Just as the dribbling game and all-out attack had once been the ‘right’— the only— way to play, so 2-3-5 became the touchstone” (Inverting The Pyramid, Wilson). The 2-3-5 formation is where positional play starts, and it’s still utilized in today’s game.

Here’s a modern day 4-3-3 formation:

You’ll notice the goalie in the top of the picture, then the four defenders in a “flat back four”, then the pivota with two attacking midfielders, then the three forwards toward the bottom of the picture. This is how teams like Manchester City and Barcelona are often shown in formation before the game.

This all changes once the game is started. When on attack in the opponent’s third, you’ll often notice positional play teams line up like this:

Notice the goalie pushed up in the middle of the picture. The two center backs are on the midfield line. The fullbacks are pushed up in line with or even beyond the pivota, sealing off the attack and creating options to switch the field of play. The two attacking mids fill in the gaps between the wingers and striker up front, hence two defenders, three midfielders, and five forwards (2-3-5).

This creates a lot of options and overloads for the attacking team and creates problems for the defending team. Remember, positional play philosophy has three main components:

1. Positional Superiority - The players are setup in a way to receive the ball with time and space and exploit it.

2. Numerical Superiority - Having more players in a given space than the other team.

3. Qualitative Superiority - Simply put, our best players are attacking their worst defenders. Pep Guardiola is quoted as saying all he needed to do was get the ball to Messi and watch.

In the 1920’s, the switch to a 2-3-5 formation from a 2-2-6 or a 1-2-7 allowed more defensive cover and an opportunity for the shape of a formation to matter. Triangles and rhombuses are critical to the game as they allow for the ball to be passed diagonally forward past defensive lines. Straight line passes at distances have a much higher percentage to be intercepted and counter attacked.

Formations are fluid in the game, though. And the importance is not so much how the players initially line up as it is the philosophy and tactics of play moment to moment.

In the next part of positional play history, I'll cover the Austrian national team of the 1920’s and 30’s and Hungarian’s Golden Team of the 50’s.

Skill Development for Players - 15 minutes a day

1. Rollover, Touch (Sideways) - 5 minutes

2. Rollover, Stepover - 5 minutes

3. Double L - 5 minutes

See you tonight.

Michael