Why there is no such thing as a perfect football tactic | Jonathan Wilson

"Paul I dislike the term cyclical for tactics because it implies inevitability. Winter, spring, summer, autumn is a cycle; what happens in football tactics is not. When older ideas are repurposed for the modern age, they come with knowledge of what went before. So, to take an extreme example, when Pep Guardiola started fielding teams in a sort of 3-2-2-3 shape, it wasn't the W-M used by Herbert Chapman in the late 1920s, because in the 100 years since, football has changed enormously: players are fitter, pitches are better, kit is better, we understand pressing, we have data and sophisticated analytical modelling."

"Equally, we should be cautious of imagining there is a preferred model that one tactical system is necessarily better than another. It's not that there is a best way to play and everybody is striving to achieve the style closest to that. Everything is contingent: there is only ever a best way to play for a particular set of players in particular circumstances."

"The arrival of Rafa Benitez and Jose Mourinho to English football in the summer of 2004, for instance, made control the defining attitude of the Premier League. The appointment of Pep Guardiola in 2016 brought his juego de posicion to England, which has had a huge impact throughout the divisions, even as he evolved. First, there was the challenge of Jurgen Klopp, which resulted in Guardiola's approach and German Gegenpressing moving closer together."

Playing styles develop through adaptation and repurposing rather than strict seasonal cycles. Older tactical ideas return transformed by modern advances in fitness, pitch quality, equipment, pressing concepts, data, and analytical modelling. No single tactical model is universally superior; the optimal approach depends on a specific group's players and circumstances. Distinct eras of dominance occur, such as Rafa Benitez and Jose Mourinho making control dominant in 2004 and Pep Guardiola introducing juego de posicion to England in 2016. Tactical systems interact and converge under competitive pressure, with coaches influencing and evolving each other's approaches.

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