Football is a game that never stands still.
It seems that in a blink of an eye ideas and methodologies shift. For a time tiki-taka ruled the world. Perfected by Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona and replicated by the all-conquering Spain national team, possession was king.
It was a tactic that was adopted across the globe. A possession-based style became the norm, but now trends have moved on. While possession was king, now it seems a high intensity pressing style has taken the throne.
Tiki-taka has been replaced by gegenpressing and it is Jurgen Klopp, not Guardiola, who now rules the roost. But for how long? Is the high-intensity pressing style here to stay, or could we soon see the pattern shift once again? Is there another tactical revolution on the horizon?
“I don’t think it’s going to change within a couple of years,” former Feyenoord boss Jaap Stam tells Goal. “But I still think the most important thing is the manager and how he wants to play.
“As a manager you have to go to a club, look at your squad and the quality of the players and then pick a certain way of playing. The likes of Klopp and Guardiola have the opportunity to buy their own team in terms of how they want to play.
“At the big clubs where a lot of money can be spent, they also look at the league they are playing in and the type of football that can get results.
“If you look at Pep, he wants to play possession football, but he learnt as well that in the Premier League sometimes he got caught out on the break and conceded goals. So now he’s choosing to sometimes drop in a bit more and wait for the right time to press and win the ball and then go on the break himself.”
Klopp’s arrival in the Premier League in 2015 has coincided with a fairly dramatic shift in the way the football is now played on these shores. It took a bit of time for the German to construct his team, but he has now transformed the Merseysiders into the best side in the country and taken them to the verge of their first league title in 30 years.
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Liverpool have been beaten just twice in the past two league seasons and have not lost in the league at Anfield since April, 2017. Klopp has crafted a side that has a powerful spine, full-backs that are as dangerous as wingers going forward and a frontline of Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane that is interchangeable and full of running.
“Our system, when we play with all three up front, is something like a diamond; it can be a 4-5-1, it can be a 4-3-3. Of course, 4-2-3-1 – 4-4-1-1 I’d prefer in most situations to name it – is a good system,” Klopp explained to Liverpool.com.
“But it’s never about the system, it’s all about the players. My job is to bring the players into the best position where they can help the team most with the things they can do.
“If I can do it with the system, I do it, but it’s not that we go through the week and be very creative with things like that because, in the end, the players need to play [on instinct].”
It is clear from watching Liverpool, though, that the desire to win the ball back quickly and high up the pitch is something that is drilled into them time and time again on the training ground.
It is not just at Liverpool that we have seen this tactical shift in recent years. Unai Emery tried and failed to bring it to Arsenal, mainly because he did not have the players in midfield to be able to pull it off. Ralph Hasenhuttl is having some success at Southampton operating in the Klopp mould while in the Championship, Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds have blown teams away with their intense style of play.
There is no doubt that the pace of the game has quickened over the years and many believe it will be difficult for young players currently coming through academies to make it at the top level in the future if they are not blessed with the attributes of an elite athlete.
“I think the game will always change,” says Omer Riza, who is currently in charge of Watford’s Under-23 side. “The one thing that is obvious it has got quicker and more physical and I think to be an elite player, you probably will need to have those attributes to be able to compete at the top level.
“At youth level there are two aims. One is to get the Under-23s boys up to a level where they are pushing for first-team football and the other is to develop the basics in the younger ones so they are ready to cope with the rigours of professional football and they have sound tactical understanding.
“I try to focus on a bit of everything as a coach. The intensity of sessions is paramount because if that isn’t there, they just get lost when they try to step up to the first team.
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"So I try to implement that the best I can. Intensity wise, they train at a level that is replicated when they go up to the first team and tactically it’s really important they understand how to beat opposition, how to deal with opposition and be able to deal with making changes to either win a game or protect a game.”
Riza adds: “One thing we know for sure is one player is never going to play under the same manager for a long period of time anymore, so they also have to be adaptable, they have to be able to play different ways and also in different positions.
“That’s why it’s important you don’t just give young players a narrow understanding of the game. You have to give them a broad one and you expose them to different type of systems, different types of tactics throughout the course of the season.
“At Watford we definitely provide that within our curriculum. We might play one system one term and then play a different system the following one. And it’s the same with the tactics, in respect of we might play a low block, a mid block or a high press. It’s to make sure we give them a whole range of different ways of learning the game so that they are adaptable.”
Being able to adapt to different styles remains a key attribute for any player if they want to enjoy prolonged success in the game at any level. As Riza states, the short lifespan of a manager in a job nowadays means that players will have to adjust to different philosophies several times before they hang up their boots.
And while the art of gegenpressing may be the choice of many coaches right now, there are others who will always see things through different eyes.
Stam, who resigned as Feyenoord boss in October, may have played under the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson, Carlo Ancelotti and Roberto Mancini during his playing days, but he still believes in the possession-based style that he was brought up with as a child in the Netherlands.
It is a style he brought to Reading when he took over the Championship club in 2016 and, after some initial teething problems early on, it was one that took the Royals to the verge of the Premier League, only to miss out on penalties to Huddersfield Town in the 2017 play-off final.
“I’m not a fan of copying,” says the 47-year-old. “I like my teams to play possession football, to get the ball and move it quickly if the opportunity is there to create chances and score goals.
“When you are playing and go into management you start creating your own philosophy and your own way of thinking. Of course you will think about some of the managers you’ve had in your career and how they approached the game or training sessions, but I’ve rarely used that for myself."
Stam adds: “When I joined Reading I spent a lot of time watching them as the deal was getting closer and closer. I looked at how they played and saw they played a lot in 4-4-2, they very direct and without trying to keep possession.
“So when I went over there we started from day one to try and drill our way of thinking into the squad. A lot of games it worked out, sometimes of course it didn’t but that’s normal with every team when you try and play a certain way.
“It’s always a bit of a gamble in terms of how it will work out. Will the players like it? Will they start to feel confident? But we made it a thing for the players to enjoy and they started to believe in it.
“At the beginning of the season it was not the easiest, but eventually it became easier and easier for them and we won a lot of games that first season.”
One of the biggest changes football has seen in recent years is the way goalkeepers have been asked to play.
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It’s not enough to be a good shot-stopper anymore if you want to stay at the top, just ask Joe Hart. Nowadays keepers must be able to play out from the back, to be comfortable enough with the ball at their feet to receive possession under pressure and then potentially pick a pass to beat the press and start a counterattack.
The signing of Alisson has helped transform Liverpool while Ederson has been a revelation at Manchester City since Guardiola brought him in from Benfica in 2017.
“Modern goalkeepers are more integrated in the game now,” former Chelsea keeper Jurgen Macho, now at Rapid Vienna, explains to Goal. “They play a big role football-wise during the game.
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“They are now integrated in the tactics. Technically, you need to be able to play and this is the direction of travel in football. You also need to be even fitter.
“For me, it is important that a goalkeeper needs to still be good at making saves. That’s the core job to save balls first. That part will never change. But you have to now have both.”
“In my way of playing the goalkeeper is very important,” Stam adds. “Years ago they were only really used for defending and kicking the ball forward, but now they need to build-up play and the make the right choices with the ball at their feet.
“There is a lot of attention on them now and it is nice if the ball goes to the keeper the he can play it out and make the right choice to one of his team-mates, rather than just launching it forward from deep and making them try and win it.
“That’s when you end up chasing the ball a lot, which is why a lot of coaches are now using the keepers and playing for possession.”
The way the art of goalkeeping has changed in recent years mirrors the shift we have seen across all aspects of coaching in football. The tried and tested methods will always remain, but new ideas and youthful philosophies will ensure the game continues to evolve.
“There’s a lot more to come,” predicts Stam. “I think coaches are going to be thinking more and more about tactics over the next few years.
“With respect to previous managers who did very well and won lots of trophies, the game is changing all the time. Players are becoming quicker, they are athletes now compared to years ago and there is more at stake in terms of money.
"So people are thinking more and more about tactics and what can be done.”