Myles,
I read somewhere a few years back that when Spanish football sat down and asked itself how it could devise a system of football that would allow them to compete, they focussed on the fact that they were all really rather small and wiry, rather than the big lumps commonly found as English defenders, German defenders etc.
So they developed a short, sharp passing strategy which involved more intricate, inter-linked systems of team movement likely to tie more lumpen-footed opponents in knots.
They also prevailed on FIFA to be a bit more pro-active in stopping yobs kicking lumps out of skilful little wizards from Iberia…..they succeeded enough to win 3 international tournaments in a row.
Of course, that is a gross over-simplification – look at the size of Gerard Piquet and David de Gea and how they prosper(ed) at Man Utd. But also look at the size of Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas, David Silva, Jesus Navas et al and you do see what they were going on about.
So if you start to ask whether that style will suit Germany or England, you have to ask, I guess, what kinds of players from those countries you are going to use. One suspects that the Walcotts, Harry Kanes, Kieran Gibbs, AOCs may be more amenable to it than the Chris Smallings, Andy Carrolls etc etc.
There’s also the matter of fans. If you impose Rachmaninov on those musically ready for Beethoven if they are lucky, you tend to create unrest, rebellion and anger. In a more extreme example, introducing swinger parties to conservative Christians may not go down too well!
There’s a fine balance between adding what can be added to a system without removing its core philosophy.
I wonder if Guardiola has pushed Spanish football slightly too far in Germany……
Would it work with Ozil, Cazorla, Walcott, Sanchez, AOC, Ramsey etc etc? There’s a fair chance that it would.
It does offer another English team the chance to re-invent what the 2004 Invincibles had, that blend of skill, power and strength.
Which would win out? Well I guess in order to find that out, you’ll have to have Guardiola’s Arsenal vs XXXXX’s ‘new Invincible football’.
Myles says:
If you’ve got Ashley Cole, Bergkamp, Henry, Vieira, Gilberto and Campbell, you can play stylish power football. And beat everybody.
With three of those six, you can’t. With Almunia in goal, you can’t.
Football is about players and combinations of players – styles evolve from that.
With Xavi and Iniesta you can play a short-passing style.
But if Messi isn’t Spanish, you need a half-back like Xabi Alonso and a powerhouse centre forward like Torres in 2008.
Do you remember when Torres used to terrorise Vidic and get him sent off?