Before the World Cup began I had intended a short, sharp blog on the group stage. There was no way that anyone could have anticipated such an enthralling, exciting and, ultimately controversial group phase.
Possession
What do we want it for?
At it’s simplest football is thus – If we score more goals than you than we win. No matter if that is 1-0 or 11-10, I win. Straight forward.
Consider that Brian Clough said “It only takes a second to score a goal”. If that is the case then to win 1-0 we only need the ball for 1 second out of a possible 5,400 (excluding and injury time). Of course this is taking Brian Clough’s point to the extreme, but we have seen numerous examples of matches other the years where the dominated team has found a way to win.
“If we have the ball, they can’t score”, Johan Cruyff once said.
Why do we want the ball? Control. The hitherto great Spanish team want to keep the ball so you can not have it. The odds on scoring greatly alter when you have the ball, but not as much as not having the ball.
Arsene Wenger has described the Spanish style as “sterile domination”. As their version of Tiki Taka has evolved it has become less about scoring goals and more about starving the opponents.
At this World Cup Spain have been blown away twice. Once on the scoreboard, once in stylistic terms. The 2014 World Cup really started to motor on day 2. Netherlands 5 Spain 1. The Dutch had 43% of possession (which is actually a relatively high number against Spain) but they used it to far more penetrative effect. Chile produced a similar figure, 44%. Only once Chile had secured a 2-0 lead did Spain have control, by which time it was too late.
At this tournament possession has not been king. Productivity has. Rather than looking to maintain 60% plus possession statistics sides are sacrificing 5-10% for more goalscoring opportunities. In essence, they are taking more risks for the chance of more rewards. The goalscoring so far would suggest this has been the case. A new group stage record of 136 goals has been set and audiences enthralled. There has been nothing sterile about this group stage.
The Children of Bielsa
The end of the Spanish era has caused many to herald the death of Tiki Taka football. It is not just Spain’s early exit that has prompted this. Pep Guardiola’s “failure” to improve Bayern Munich through a Tiki Taka revolution and the fall of Barcelona have given critics ammunition.
Yet, this is just one particular form of Tiki Taka.
Tiki Taka exists in a number forms but all share particular characteristics, what Jed Davies describes as the nine pillars of Tiki Taka.
1 – The spatial positioning system and concept of formation. Width and depth. Triangles. Outnumbering the opposition. Overloading as many areas as possible.
2 – The transition differentials of a fluid and zone dependant formation; from the build-up play, attacking zones and defensive zones. Transitioning between making the pitch as big as possible when in possession to making the pitch as small as possible when out of possession.
3 – The defensive organisations – The block.
4 – The art of collective pressing. “You win the ball back when there are 30 metres to their goal not 80”, Pep Guardiola.
5 – Ball circulation.
6 – The attacking attitudes and off the ball movement
7 – Form follows process (relationships between the 4 basic states)
8 – Individual basic tasks
9 – Tactical response and variations of the system – 4-3-3 or 3-4-3.
Some of these are instantly recognisible within the teams at this World Cup. High pressing. A focus on attacking movements. Creating overloads. Most of them can be considered basic principles of play.
Penetration.
Dispersal.
Movement.
Support.
Creativity.
Not every team combines them all at once. One group that has are those children of Bielsa, Chile.
When Pep Guardiola was developing the way he wanted Barcelona to play he met many times with Marcelo Bielsa to discuss footballing philosophies. They shared many of the same ideas and principles. Guardiola won trophies with Barcelona. Bielsa won great acclaim with Chile and Athletic Bilbao. In 2012 Jorge Sampaoli became the manager of Chile and the principles, the Tiki Taka of Bielsa returned. Their performances have been eye catching and exciting, filled with verve, style and predominantly, excellent technical foundations. Tiki Taka lives.
There is a degree to which everyone plays Tiki Taka now. The practical differences between 4-3-3 and 3-4-3 when in possession are minimal. Full backs are no longer true full backs, they are virtual wing backs. Central midfielders/defensive midfielders drop in alongside their central defenders as deep quarter backs. A back three in possession a back four when out of possession. The Dutch origins of Tiki Taka on display, with Ajax’s preference for a back three now encompassed in a shifting system that is finding favour amongst the many, not than the few.
England
Before the tournament began there were promises of a more attacking, modern style from England and the young modern players.
Indeed England did deliver an attacking style, but somewhat lacking in control and cohesion. The style at times was verging on the frantic. Verging on the Premier League. Verging on panic.
What was on display, was talent. Skill and ability. The ability to isolate opponents 1v1.I began writing blogs in 2012 following England being knocked out of the European Championships. The performances were archaic and embarrassing. While there was not a victory at this World Cup I did not feel embarrassed. Statistically the performances in the 2-1 defeats against Italy and Uruguay were good performances, with more possession and shots than the opposition. The problem with football is, in a reprise, that you have to score more goals than the opponents. Not have more shots. Not have more possession. You are judged by how many times the ball enters the net.
This is no more or less than should have been expected. The international bright young things of Sterling, Sturridge, Lallana, Barclay, Shaw and Henderson all has minimal international experience. Barely featuring during qualification and only playing a handful of friendlies together, there was never going to be enough time for them to form a true team. The emergence of this group of players was ill timed for Roy Hodgson and it is ultimately unfair to judge them until they have spent a full qualification period together. Time to grow together, time to learn together. In 2012 the manager was thrown in at the deep end. In 2014 the players have.
The exciting but unlucky performances of England at this tournament had a hint of Liverpool to them. Not the Liverpool of Brendan Rodgers, but the 2011-12 Liverpool of Kenny Dalglish. A team that played attacking football with a large share of possession but was ultimately let down by the frantic nature of the performances and an inability to take a high enough proportion of chances created. The frantic play outside the penalty boxes leading to frantic minds inside it.
What do we want possession for? Control. Control of ourselves as well as the ball. The key thing that England lacked was control of themselves.
Reputation
The World Cup has been a place for players to cement their reputation. To launch their careers on a wider stage or finalise their legacy.
Pele probably used the World Cup better than anyone. Announcing himself in 1958 and cementing himself in 1970.
At this tournament a number of players seem determined to either announce themselves or create their ever lasting legacy.
For Colombia James Rodriguez has been the most thrilling player of an exciting young team. In the first three games he has scored three goals including a wonderfully stylish and skillful strike against Japan.
Arjen Robben has and Robin van Persie have inspired the Dutch with three goals apiece. Both players could have scored more and both players have embellished the tournament with glorious goals. It was not just the crushing nature of the victory against the Spanish, it was also the headlong flying header of van Persie and the stunning solo strike from Robben that mean the game will never be forgotten by any who bore witness.
For France the goals have flowed freely with Karim Benzema the benefactor. Another player on three but he could have had a five a missed penalty and the best of the lot a stunning effort curled in at speed against Switzerland. A great goal that never was as the referee had whistled for full time a fraction of a second before Benzema’s boot connected with Brazuka.
The cutting edge of the ever impressive Germans is provided by Thomas Mueller. A hat rick in the 4-0 dismissal of Portugal followed by the winner against the USA. Like his namesake form 1970, the goals have not been stunning and laced with imagination but it is Mueller’s mass of output that impresses. No player has finished top scorer in consecutive tournaments, Mueller must have a great chance.
Imagine the pressure of being the host nation. Imagine the pressure of being their best player. The player who all of their hopes rest on. How easy it would be to buckle? Neymar has taken those hopes and run with them, scoring four times in the group stage. In his first season at Barcelona some considered him over rated. After his opening three showings the harshest critic would have to reconsider.
Finally, the greatest player in the world. Not Ronaldo, but his seemingly eternal rival, Lionel Messi. Ronaldo has shown that one player can’t win a World Cup. Lionel Messi is trying to show that one player can. He also has four goals in three games. A dazzling dribble and one two before placing a shot in off the post against Bosnia and Herzegovina. A 25 yard curled effort in the dying moments against Iran. Then a pair of strikes against Nigeria, the first laced in from a rebound, the second an exquisitely executed free kick.
For Messi the standards are so high that in order to truly create the legacy the planet wants for him this is not quite enough. The desire is for him to replicate the performance of another legend of the World Cup and his generational predecessor, Diego Maradona.
Morals
Some claim that Maradona won the 1986 World Cup on his own. What is for sure is that scored one of the greatest goals of all time against England. He also scored the goal that caused the most moral outrage.
In England we are very quick to react to that which we consider immoral.
We are expected to place morals above results, above victory. The absence of John Terry from the World Cup is testimony to this. To win the tournament you must take the best players. John Terry has been the best English central defender in the Premier League. He has not been the best human being. For that reason he was not selected. It is arguable that one (Suarez winner) would have been prevented with the best defender and best organiser in England in the team rather than in England. The price of morals.
Suarez has been the final subject of the moral maze. There is no debate to be had. He sunk his teeth into an opposition player. Suarez bit Giorgio Chiellini on football’s biggest stage. Chiellini was victim number three. Ivanovic number two. Otman Bakkal victim number one. The ban imposed by FIFA is four months. In Uruguay they feel it is far too harsh. Morals. The moral issue will switch to Liverpool. To keep an exceptional footballing talent or sell a human being of questionable morals who has damaged the reputation of the club. Will English morality cost Liverpool as it has cost England?
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/statistics/players/goal-scored.html
Jed C Davies – Coaching The Tiki Taka Way
England 1 Italy 2 – http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/matches/round=255931/match=300186513/statistics.html
Uruguay 2 England 1 – http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/matches/round=255931/match=300186486/statistics.html#nosticky