How football has changed in 10 years: False nines, xG, tiki-taka and other tactical stuff

As football tactics and strategies have evolved significantly over the past decade, fans and analysts alike have sought to deepen their understanding of the game’s intricacies. The sport has seen a remarkable transformation from the nuanced play styles of teams to the individual brilliance of players. For those looking to engage further with football’s tactical evolution and perhaps even place a well-informed bet, the 1xbet apk offers a comprehensive real-time platform for experiencing the game. This article delves into the key developments in football over the last ten years, including the rise and adaptation of tactical philosophies, the impact of advanced statistics, and the evolution of player roles and formations.

The main style of the 10th anniversary can be called tiki-taka. Although it started to lose ground after 2014, and even Guardiola called it “crap”, Barça beat their rivals for years with this scheme, and the Spanish national team took the World and European Championships. Much of the popularity of this tactic was dictated by the availability of the right players in Barcelona and the Spanish national team. As Xavi and Iniesta prepared for retirement, tiki-taka started to go out of fashion. Moreover, in recent years, teams whose strengths are fast attacks have been successful: with this style, Real Madrid and Liverpool have ruled European football.

Advanced Stats

You’ve probably noticed how many tactics have become a thing in the past few years. In the noughties, we used to focus on many goals, assists and tackles. Now, if you want to, you can track how many passes a player has made, with which foot, over what distance and at what height. Opta, InStat and Wyscout even calculate semi-professional football, and texts about tactics have turned from a behind-the-scenes arthouse into a popular genre in journalism.

It is not for nothing that football stars like Gary Neville, Thierry Henry or Jose Mourinho do not shy away from going to work on TV and talking about tactics. It has become prestigious, and it pays well.

There are metrics for expected goals (xG), ball progression (Packing), and a massive amount of fitness data. Not only can all of this be found in the public domain, but you can also learn how to conclude from these numbers. No wonder there are more and more self-taught tactical geeks in Europe with no experience of playing at a professional level.

Wingbacks, false fullbacks and other positions

With the popularisation of tactics, the general public learned that positions on the pitch are not only divided into forwards, backs, midfielders and goalkeepers. And while this was not new to coaches, for the average person, it was simple. But everything changed after the issue with the field division into zones came to a head.

The concepts of “zone 14”, “half wing”, “final third”, etc. are now actively used. We learnt that a fullback can be false (hello, Philipp Lahm) and a winger can be inverted (hello, Ronaldo and Neymar). We learnt why the insider position became history with the double-vee scheme and how the supporting midfielder becomes the third centre-back in the play-offs.

Pressing

Why did coaches suddenly need a goalkeeper as an extra player on the ball? The answer is simple – the incredibly developed pressing system in European football. It all started in the early noughties with the confrontation between Mourinho and Guardiola. José was trying to catch Barça on the wrong side of the penalty box.

Guardiola laid the foundations for the counter-pressing that Klopp developed at Borussia and later at Liverpool – to take the ball away within five seconds of losing it and, if unsuccessful, to move back. The difference is that Pep saw counter-pressing as a way to regain possession as quickly as possible, while Klopp called it the ideal dispatcher.

Pressing traps began to be actively used, when a team forces an opponent in possession of the ball to leave or pass to the flank, where he is easily covered. A “trigger” appears when a team switches from passive defence to active pressing (often when a non-technical or inexperienced opponent receives the ball). Or overloading, when a team deliberately over-saturates a specific area to move the ball sharply and leave Sterling, a notional technician, one-on-one with the defender.

In general, pressing has become the most important thing in football (the Bundesliga even turned into a competition of pressing machines), and in this decade, this component was maximised.

The death of the №10

Agreed, nowadays you’d have to try hard to find a classic ten like Totti, Del Piero or Baggio in football. The fact is that the role of the free artist in football is all but dead. Barcelona had Neymar, and Chelsea had Azar, who had freedom in attack but poor defensive work, which caused a lot of trouble for their teams. But at the same time, false nines are challenging to counter because of their complex guard system and unpredictability. This is what Xabi Alonso talked about.

In football of the tenths it became more important to fulfil your role and maximise variation. Therefore, the role of active false nines has developed. Messi has become more of a she than a full-fledged number ten, with top Firmino, Benzema and Griezmann working in the backline. In the last 10 years, false nines have been far more remarkable and critical than tens. A touch of the era.