Football tactics are diverse, but the following are a few of the most essential in the advancement of the game.
During the 1970’s, there was one nation that helped to develop one of the most visually pleasing kinds of football. The Netherlands helped to develop a football style known as total football, and the relatively hyperbolic sounding name is in fact rather accurate. The footballers would all move between each other’s positions gracefully; each player was anticipated to take on different roles and be able to fit into a variety of positions. Soccer positions were commonly seen as structurally rigid, but this was altered by the popular Dutch club and national club during the 1970’s. The Sheffield United owner’s club is essentially a team that takes some ideas from total soccer, and some pundits and fans actually have pointed out that their club plays in a fluid fashion. It's unexpected for a newly promoted team to take on a style so hard to master.
Many teams now play with four defenders, it has almost become the default formation, which is something the Liverpool owner would notice in the teams' set up. However, the formation was actually very rarely used in the early part of the 20th century. Four players across the backline was developed by a famous Hungarian national side, which used positional tactics remarkably well to confuse and out-manoeuvre the opponent. Clubs adopted this soccer formation immediately after the Hungarian team’s success, and clubs continue to adopt this formation almost 100 years after. The advantage of the system is it gives width the defensive but also a platform from which to attack.
When football was first played, it was not such a tactical game; however, over time, footballers and coaches actually have transformed the way they tackle the complex game. As football is such a fluid and fast-moving game, there is room for variation and personilisation to practices and style. The only inflexible thing about soccer are that you actually have eleven footballers on the pitch, with 1 goalkeeper. Football tactics in the early days were very attack oriented, with formations lining up with just 2 defenders and the rest up front or sitting in midfield. The players back in the nineteenth century also rarely passed the ball, they would generally just try and dribble around the opponent, with team mates backing up in case the ball was lost. At some point in the nineteenth century, footballers begun to warm to the idea of passing the ball to teammates and realised how efficient it is at cutting open theopposition's defences. The AC Milan owner would expect to see a passing game from the club, as applying the old style of the game would definitely not be successful. The variations to the way people played in the nineteenth century meant that soccer defense approaches had to be more and more defined and well trained.