Football tactics are a set of principles that managers would like to utilise in their team in order to play a certain way, and there are many different philosophies that managers have discovered and developed over the years. These tactics are key to winning a game of football because the manager may have different tactics based on the opponent. For example, high-pressing and attacking football can be used against weaker teams, and defensive counterattack plays can be used against stronger teams. Keeping these tactics in mind can help develop game sense and personal skills while helping the team win the game.

Back then in the 1890s, there weren’t any special tactics. Teams often used the 2-3-5 formation, which would sound quite bizarre if you were to use it in modern times. It was simple back then, it was just defenders stopping the attackers, and the attackers just trying to score as many goals as possible. However, during the 1920s, a man named Herbert Chapman introduced a new formation known as W-M. This formation consisted of 3 defenders, 2 midfielders, 2 inside forwards, 2 wingers, and a centre forward. This formation allowed teams to maintain both attacking and defending effectively at the same time, which was a big deal back then.

During the 2000s, Spanish football created a new strategy known as tiki-taka. This strategy consists of fast one or two-touch passes to keep possession of the ball. This tactic was designed to tire out the opposition and be in control of the ball at all times. The tiki-taka was mainly used by prime Barcelona around 2010 and so on, which allowed them to win the treble, consisting of the Uefa Champions League, La Liga, and the Spanish Supercopa. Later on, Manchester City were introduced to this new tactic when newly appointed Pep Guardiola joined their side as a manager in 2016. The club quickly found success off of Guardiola’s tactics, which included beautiful passing, exploiting wide areas, counter-pressing, and last but not least, tiki-taka. Guardiola’s spell at Manchester City won them 5 Premier League titles, 4 Carabao Cups, 2 FA Cups, 2 Community Shields, and 1 Uefa Champions League over these 8 years, and they’re still hunting for more.

Nowadays, many different tactics have been revolutionised by different coaches such as Pep Guardiola, Antonio Conte and so on. An example of a revolutionised tactic is the “False 9.” The False 9’s job is to drop deep into the midfield and lead the defenders down the field to create a gap in the defence for an easy attacking opportunity. Creative tactics like these can help create an element of surprise that the opponent won’t expect which can give you an advantage. 

Another example of the evolution of tactics is the new tactic implemented in the Tottenham Hotspurs team. With the new manager Ange Postecoglou joining the team, he revolutionised a new tactic that made Spurs a team that could win the premier league this season. This tactic has made significant progress helping Spurs reach their first 10 unbeatable streak in the premier league. However, with the injury list of the Spurs players increasing, they could not retain their unbeatable streak. For the starting formation, Ange used 4-2-3-1 with 4 2 ball-playing defenders, 2 inverted full-backs, the double pivot, 2 wide midfielders, 1 attacking midfielder and 1 finisher.  The new tactic was to push both full-backs inwards to create dominance in the midfield. To make sure that the backline does not get outnumbered, Ange included the goalkeeper, Vicario in the build-up phase of the match.  James Maddison has taken a huge role in being the main source of progression, constantly moving back and forth to support players when necessary.  With his creative passes, he was able to play key passes to teammates that often led to a goal. The other key factor that led to Spurs’ incredible achievements this season was the new role of full-backs. With the two fullbacks pushing up to the midfield, which brought back the old tactic of the 2-3-5 formation. This made Spurs’s attack play so lethal and hard to defend as both inverted full-backs, Udogie and Pedro Porro might make an overlap run or underlap run. This made it very difficult to predict the move of the Tottenham players. However, with only 2 players back, this created a lot of gaps between the defense line. That’s when Romero and Van de Van step in, both of the players are fast, strong and aggressive in tackling opponents inside their penalty box. With Romero having an 80% success rate in tackling opponents at the start of the campaign, it was sure that he also played an important role in the amazing success Tottenham made this season. 

Even in Hong Kong, different strategies have been used in different teams. For example, district and YPL teams usually use possession and counter-attacking plays to beat opponents. Whilst other weaker district teams use long crosses and abuse the winger’s speed to create chances to score.  We can see these tactics being used in the World Cup Qualifiers during the Hong Kong vs Turkmenistan game. Since Turkmenistan is ranked 101st in the world by Fifa, they seemed more likely to win on paper, as their style of football was possession and movement midfield play. They often like to control the midfield using short passes. Turkmenistan also relies on the personal skill of the wingers to beat the fullbacks and score or assist the striker as you can see when the left winger dribbled into the box and chipped the goalkeeper. However, Hong Kong relied on quick counter-attacks and took advantage of the opponent’s mistakes and gaps in the defence, which led to the first and second goals. This game resulted in a 2-2 draw, which shows what happens when two completely different tactics are used.

In conclusion, we believe that football tactics over the years have developed a lot and have shaped football into what it has become today. We are looking forward to seeing what other creative strategies managers will come up with to achieve success in the future.