subject: Defenisve Football vs. Offensive Football [print this page] I grew up in an era of attacking footballI grew up in an era of attacking football. Being a Real Madrid and La Liga supporter, I had the privilege of seeing Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Raul, and Ronaldo playing together and picking teams apart with no mercy; while their relinquished defence saw the ball go into their net on a few occasions. They never seemed bothered when they let in goals. Their philosophy was one that read We'll just score more goals than you'.
That same era we witnessed the Super Depor' team which had Juan Carlos Valeron, Djalminha, Mauro Silva, and Diego Tristan. It was a team that beat Milan 4-0 and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League to play another entertaining La Liga team at the time, Valencia. That era was the most dominant that La Liga has ever been in Europe and one that was pleasing to the eye. It seemed like Joga Bonito' had stamped out negative football' for good.
Football goes through phases. The era of flair and gung-ho offence is dormant for the time being. In the past year, we've seen defensive football emerge from it's slumber (it was actually always there, but not everyone used it, and it wasn't always successful).
Last season we thought Barca was unstoppable. And then we realized that the only way to beat them was to pressure them high and keep the defensive shell compact. That's exactly what happened the two times they were conquered last season. Rubin Kazan did it in the Camp Nou in the group stages of the Champions League (ironically, they held Barca to a 1-1 draw today in similar fashion), and then Jose Mourinho came to the Camp Mou' and played some of the most unattractive yet efficient games of football I have seen to knock Barca out of the Champions League.
One month later, Vicente Del Bosque and Spain started their quest for their 1st ever World Cup trophy. La Seleccion this year is virtually Barca 2.0. It's literally FC Barcelona plus Casillas, Ramos, Alonso, and Capdevila. The amazing thing is that Del Bosque took this team and totally changed it from the style of play that Pep Guardiola has Barca playing. He dropped Torres, and inserted a second DM -Xabi Alonso- to accompany Sergio Busquets. A simple switch that completely changes the system. Spain went from being an attacking team, to one that builds and solidifies at the back while trying to snatch a goal somewhere and then killing the game off with their possession.
Needless to say, La Roja went on to win the World Cup with a team that focused more on defensive stability than attack. This was evident as they won their last 4 games of the tournament by 1-0.
Mourinho - Impressive at the back
Jose Mourinho has Real Madrid playing more defense than they're used to, but it seems to be working. Last night Mourinho decided to play with three defensive midfielders Lass, Alonso, Khedira against 17th placed Ligue 1 side Auxerre. A formation that is unheard of in Real Madrid. Mourinho's philosophy is one that emphasizes defensive organization. To his defence -no pun intended-, Real Madrid has been playing the best defence I have ever seen them play, and although they aren't scoring as much, I'm sure the goals will come eventually. They have to. Especially when you have Higuain, Benzema, Cristiano, Ozil, Di Maria, Pedro Leon, and Canales in attack.
My only criticism of Mourinho thus far is his obsession with playing Karim Benzema at the right wing position. It's a position that destines Benzema to failure. He's most lethal when he's closest to goal, and at that position he occupies valuable space that Di Maria and Ozil could be filling. I'm sure Eto'o understands Benzema's frustration with his comment today after his hat-trick and Inter's 4-0 win over Werder Bremen:
And finally, a surprising ending happened at the Mestalla today as Manchester United grabbed a 1-0 win over Valencia. After literally attacking Manu for 80 minutes and coming close to scoring on several occasions, they found themselves losing the match after Manchester finally broke out of their defensive shell late to score the only goal of the game. If there ever was a perfect game', Sir Alex came pretty close today. He had United lined up fantastic defensively and Valencia found it hard to penetrate the great partnership of Ferdinand and Vidic. The more Valencia pushed, the more Manchester absorbed, and just when it looked like Valencia might score, Ferguson came up with two genius substitutions bringing on youngsters Javier Fernandez and Federico Macheda. The later was the architect who set-up Fernandez for the winning goal. It was a lovely move that can be seen here.
So what is the answer? Is a defensive approach more efficacious than an attacking approach? There is no clear answer. What's evident is that football goes through phases and different coaches are successful with different tactics. That's the beautiful thing about football, every team plays differently and some of the most beautiful matches can come from two teams who have completely contrasting styles of play.
Mourinho - Impressive at the back