I grew up watching football with my dad.
It started with shows available here in the United States like Soccer Made In Germany, which were condensed versions of Bundesliga games. Then the NASL really took hold when Pele joined The New York Cosmos and a friend from school and I got season tickets. But it wasn't until the 1994 World Cup that I even noticed the tactical side of the game.June 18th, 1994. Italy against The Republic of Ireland. I'm there with my friend Derek, his brother Roy, and my dad. Derek is solely responsible for dragging me into this West Ham supporting life of torment and pain, and along with Roy and their father John were season ticket holders at Upton Park.
Twelve minutes in, Italian defender Franco Baresi tries to clear the ball out of danger while being pressured by Ireland's lone striker Tommy Coyne. Ray Houghton intercepts, does a quick turn to his left and loops it into the net. Bedlam. Pure, uninterrupted bedlam for the next 78 plus minutes. And that's how it ended.
In the car ride back into Manhattan, which took well over two hours to cover the roughly 15 miles from Giants Stadium to my apartment, Derek and Roy were in the back seat dissecting the game. "That was clever of ol' Jack to place five across the middle. Really gave the Italians trouble," Derek commented.
I asked him what he meant, because at that time I truly had no idea about 4-4-2, or 4-5-1, or any of that. They might as well have been map coordinates. He started to give me a lesson on the basic set-ups on the pitch. What they were intended to do, what kind of issues they can create for the opposition, and why some teams play one way while others don't. Somewhere inside The Lincoln Tunnel I had my very first "ah-hah" moment as a football fan.
"Italy play a style that uses quick passes and a lot of movement off the ball, so by having only one striker and an extra midfielder it's simply more crowded in the middle and harder for Italy to do their thing. Right?" I asked.
"Exactly", Derek replied. All of a sudden the game I had just finished watching made more sense to me. I understood a few of the strategic elements well after the fact, and I couldn't wait to watch the next game on television to see if I could retain my new found knowledge.
Which brings me to Sam. Whether you agree with him and think he plays a 4-3-3, or you think you see through him as a peddler of 4-5-1, one theme that is constantly brought up among supporters is a desire to see him try a traditional 4-4-2. Last season when goals were hard to come by, you could almost see the hair being pulled by some of us fly out from our computer or tablet screens.
Yet in the past decade or so, that very same 4-4-2 has been labeled as ancient and outdated by many a football commentator. Some have even blamed its continued existence and some English managers fixation on it as the reason for England's "failures" at The World Cup and Euros. Even within Premier League clubs there is almost a resignation that in order for a team to win in Europe they MUST learn to play one striker and protect the centre of the pitch.
Are supporters wrong to call for Sam to play two up top? Or worse, hypocritical? Johan Aarnio is a retired coach that lives near me. He worked with a number of professional teams in North America during his career, including the Montreal Impact. He was also the head coach at The University Of Albany for 11 years before he packed up his bibs and cones. I threw the question his way.
"There is never more arguing among football fans then there is about tactics. As far as I'm concerned, Allardyce has always set up his teams in a way that plays to their strengths and mitigates their weakness. It's all about the players, and formations and tactics are nothing more than starting points. You need movement on the pitch. So a 4-5-1 can quickly become a 4-3-3 if there is an opportunity to penetrate on the attack. And it can go the other way when you need to cover on defence."
I could see by the look in his eye that just talking about it for a few minutes got him all charged up. You can take the man away from the game...
Johan only pays attention to West Ham because every time I see him I cackle on and on about us. I wanted to converse with someone from within The Tribe. And lucky for me I have just the person. When Bob Woodward was uncovering Tricky Dick Nixon and Watergate in the 1970's, he had his mysterious informer that went by the name Deep Throat.
I have @ExWHUemployee.
The Twitter legend himself has made himself available to me while remaining nameless. I know from "chatting" with him that he is a Sam supporter and was enthusiastic about signing Andy Carroll from day one. So was I, which made us kindred spirits of sorts. So I asked him for his take on it.
"I personally believe that fans will always favour a system with two up front rather than one. Quite simply because the fans want to see their team score more goals and believe that having double the forwards is the answer. Whilst there is an obvious clear logic in that, the logic only works if both forwards are of a good quality and that the midfielders behind them are providing them with enough service to create the chances.
"The effectiveness of that also depends on how the opposition have set up. As you say the current trend is to not play 4-4-2 and to favour a formation where there are usually five midfielders. Unless those midfielders are of a significantly better quality than the opposition they will always be outnumbered and therefore make them self more vulnerable to conceding and less likely to break through to create chances."
I think the majority of fans now accept Sam's starting formation and I believe Andy Carroll is the perfect forward to fit into that system. What I think annoys people is that when we are chasing a lead he doesn't change it and become more attacking. I can see this argument but I do think you have to have the players to do it.
It is also very hard for clubs to have at least two quality forwards because a forward's value is always that much higher than other positions. Generally modern day forwards wish to be the ones that score the goals and grab the headlines so often it is hard to find a partnership where both are equally contributing or creating for each other.
I take Newcastle when they had Demba Ba and then signed Cisse. It was no surprise that at the start of the 2011/12 season Ba was scoring regularly. When Cisse joined and they originally played together, with Ba either up front or pushed out to the wing, he stopped scoring and Cisse took over. I am a fan of Sam and believe that he plays to the strengths of the players that he has available to him and currently 4-5-1 or 4-3-2-1 as I like to call it is that system."
So what happens if some of the rumors flying around daily come true? Getting a Demba Ba to play with Andy Carroll does not seem like a Sam style of play. The man never pays two up front, right? What would he do if he actually signed more hotshots?
"I think Sam will play the system that is right for the players. When Bolton were first around in the Premiership under Sam they were known to be a rough side with a route one playing style. As they became more established he started to bring in the likes of Djorkaeff and Okocha.
"These players were far more known for their flair and skills then their physical attributes and ability to kick it up to a big man. Sam was also very close to landing Samuel Eto'o at one point and of course these players would not have fitted into a system that didn't allow creativity and something different to what Sam had tried before.
"Sam has a reputation amongst some fans as playing boring, long ball and physical tactics at West Ham. The fact that both Yossi Benayoun and Joe Cole were signed back, both of which I would describe as not physical but creative show that depending on the players that Sam has available he would change systems.
"I like to describe the system and the style that we play as "situational football". There are times when we play long ball tactics depending on the opposition, players available and score. There are other times when we do play some lovely passes and quick interchanges, which I often feel is overlooked."
At the end of the day, it's probably safe to say that Sam Allardyce knows more about managing a football club than we do. And instead of fixating on a particular tactic and how some numbers represent it, we should look at the overall. And that says we are in a far better place than we have been in a very long time.
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