Tactical Football & It’s Roots

“Football is simple. But nothing is more difficult than playing simple football.” – Johan Cruyff.

It has always been known that football is a game played as much on the field as in the mind. As more and more people thought about it, many philosophies developed, be it possession football, counter attacking football, tiki-taka or the Catenaccio. However, it is not so simple, though, as to say that the “correct” way of playing is the one that wins most often, as success is not measured merely in points and trophies; there must also be room for romance. That tension, between beauty and cynicism, between what Brazilians call  futebol d’arte and futebol de resultados is a constant, perhaps because it is so fundamental not merely to sports but also to life: to win or to play the game well? It is hard to think of any significant actions that are not in some way a negotiation between the two extremes of pragmatism and idealism.

All these years, football managers around the world came up with their own vision and tactics. But is tactics the only thing that determines how a side plays? Absolutely not! It is rather one aspect among many - alongside ability, fitness, motivation, power and luck, in an immensely complex tapestry. A physically fit team must play in a different way from a tired team; a team that includes dilettantish players must set up in a way to cover those deficiencies.

One such vision, propounded by Jack Reynolds when manager of Ajax, and developed by Renus Michaels, who played under him, brought about a revolution in the playing style of football, popularly known as “Total Football”.

In theory it means that any player can take over the role of any other player in the team. A player can be an attacker, a midfielder and defender, there are no fixed positions, except for the goalkeeper. Though looked with suspicion in the beginning, Total Football proved its point with the highly successful Ajax and Dutch teams of 70’s.

But then every system of football has its own requirements. Total Football requires highly fit players, both physically and mentally. But it is widely accepted fact that once a person becomes an expert at Total Football, he becomes a Total Footballer.

Renus Michaels, who was the manager of Barcelona (1971-1975) introduced Total Football to the club as well as brought Johan Cruyff  to Barcelona who had a pivotal role in the shaping of Catalan philosophy. Guardiola, who played under Cruyff mixed the philosophy of Total Football with a high pressing possession game which was fondly known as “tiki-taka”. 
Though almost a carbon copy of Total Football, tiki-taka ‘s major notable difference is the focus more being on ball movement rather than quickly changing positions. It involves clever, intricate one touch passes, working the ball through various channels, creating small triangles leaving the opposition defenders baffled and always chasing the ball.

The games, as they saw it, was about space and how you controlled it: make the field big when you have the ball and it is easy to retain it; make it small when you do not and it becomes difficult for the opposition to keep it. A high pressing approach off the ball has been used by possession-hungry sides like Barcelona, Spain, Roma and recently Bayern Munich under Guardiola. This system relies on ball retention and all teammates being able to keep the ball and pass it around. However, the best part is how they work off the ball. As soon as they lose the ball, they start pressing at an incredible intensity to win the ball back.

But, of course, no tactic is perfect. The biggest problem in this system is tiredness. It takes a lot of running and energy to sustain this pressing for 90 minutes which is a problem for old and lazy legs. Players in such a system would need, above all, the watchfulness to look for openings to upset possession, the serenity to wait for those split second moments without becoming sidetracked or over-aggressive, and the audacity to take instantaneous advantage of any momentary failure. Exceptional enough qualities, but they can be taught, to players who lack profound knowledge of their teammates.

Total Football revolutionised the way of playing tactical football. But, one never can be sure, that someday, someone might come up with something even better, which surprises the world in ways they never imagined to be possible, and make Total Football a distant memory.

                                                                                           

Chalti Ka Naam Zindagi

Nanhe kadmo k sahare
Chal padhna hain ek safar par;
Naa pata kisi manzil ka, naa dekha koi kinaara,
Bas ruukna nahi hain zindagi bhar.

The hour long classes of Moral Science in schools made sure we know that life is a journey, and that we are to complete this journey someday, leaving behind everything we acquired or came across throughout the path we travelled in our journey. But, it missed a point, a crucial point I'd say. It never told us where to stop, nor did it tell us to reach a specific destination. But, isn't that's what a journey all about? Starting from a point and reaching another point in a course of time. Perhaps, the writers forgot to mention that. Or maybe, we are never supposed to know our destinations. We're never supposed to know what lies ahead of us or where life is going to lead us in the future. Because, then we would know which path to choose and what mistakes to avoid and plan every step of life accordingly, leading us to the predestined destination without much hassle, lacking complacency.

Life is not about the right decisions you make, or the things that went right for you, or how fast you sailed when the tides were in your favour. It is about making bad decisions once in a while and learning from them, it is about trying new things which you thought you won't be able to do yourself, it is about exploring every little path you come across, and most importantly, it is about not stopping. Of course, it is not always going to be a bed of roses, but wouldn't a rose feel dull if there was no thorn attached to it? Just as life would seem dull if there were no challenges or ups and downs to make us go gaga over the good things or feel hopeless at the time of despair. It is the little things that make our lives interesting, without which, monotony will take the charm out of this life.

Sometimes though, we would feel that taking unexpected turns in our life is not something we would appreciate or are ready for. We stay happy and content with whatever the little we've got and try not to aim higher in the fear of losing what we already have. But, with a little optimism, we would know that it is just another opportunity for us to delve deeper or explore newer heights. And only by choosing to not stop there and continue this journey, we would be able to know where our destination really lies.

So, never stop exploring, never stop taking risks, never stop trying something new,
kyuki zindagi ki ek aakhri udaan abhi baaki hain tujhme, aur agar zindagi me uddna chahte ho, toh zinda ho tum.

                      

When a legacy ends

It is true that we don't always value the gem when we have it. We only realise it's value when we lose it. AFA and the rest of the world never realized what they had. And now that Messi has announced his departure, the world will know what they have been missing out all these years.

The news certainly took a toll on me. Realising that Messi is growing old. He's no longer the long haired youngster who joined the blaugrana colours and showed the world what magic is. He has grown up now. He has grown old. And most importantly, he has grown tired. Tired of all the criticism he had to face even when not at fault or even when his teammates let him down. But he didn't complain and still gave it all every time he stepped on the field, with the sole motive of making his countrymen happy despite of all the hatred and criticism they had towards him. But, destiny certainly had different plans for him, mocking him to take him too close to what he deserved and then pulling him backwards again.

But it will all be gone now. Argentina won't have him anymore. He will not defend the albiceleste shirt anymore, and this will leave a void in the world of football, which can never be filled up again.
The world of football already cried when maestros like Scholes, Xavi left the field and Pirlo too will be leaving it soon. And now we realise, that there will no more be Messi in international games. And when he'll hang up his boots for good, football will cry so loud and so hard, that the joy this game holds will no longer be the same.

So enjoy him while you can lads, because you'll never get to see another like him. I don't know if he's the best now or ever. But, what I know, is that there will be no one else to fill his boots ever again, and player like him, is born only once.

And now his watch has ended.

Feel The Fear

fear

(n.) an unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain, or harm.

People are fearful. Yes, all of us are, even the ones who deny it. You know what I'm afraid of? Spiders. I hate those creepy little creatures. Then, there's snakes (who doesn't fear them?). Can't remember a time when fear didn't hit me when I saw any of them. But that's not the end. There's more to my "List of things I fear".

I'm afraid of oversleeping too. I put 4-5 alarms so that I can be able to wake up on time, or more like, I don't get late. Also afraid of commitment. Total commitment-phobe. If my exes are reading this, I apologize for my commitment-phobic behaviours.

Our fears make way for anxiety to creep into our lives. Anxiety is a big deal in our lives. It's kind of an evil irony. It usually ends up holding us back from the things that we consider the most important to achieve. I've had a variety of anxieties. Still working on the commitment one. But, some anxieties just stay with us to worsen our lives. Like anxiety about not being worthy or good enough to achieve certain things we desire.

We all have been to that place once in our lives where we wanted to do something, to say something, to impress someone and make them think that we're better than the others. But when we open our mouth, it's just awkward, and then silence, followed by awkward silence. Or perhaps worse, we blab, we say too much, we say things, things we are not supposed to, things we thought we would never tell anyone in a normal state of mind, things that we later regret saying, things that come to our mind when we can't sleep at night; thus, beginning the chain of all the embarrassing events happened in our lives. These moments/feelings mess up our psychology and restricts us to perform such ever again in the future, resulting in blocking our already on construction road to success.

Psychology is an intertwined thing. It's all connected. It's more like an onion, we tear up a layer only to find another one. Psychologically, we cannot just defeat anxiety, but we can surely overcome them; where confidence and self belief can be the two very strong weapons we ought to keep in our arsenal. Even when they are not enough to win the mighty battle, the desire to win, desire to be special, desire to achieve it more than the others always does the trick. Because only by pushing our limits, we can know how far we can go. As success is awarded not to the fearless, for he has little to do in the road to glory; but the fearful, who chose to be brave enough to defeat his fear and overcome them.

Dreams That Get Lost

The mind is a wonderful thing. It can be creative and imaginative. It can show you dreams. Dreams that can rise you from the dust and take you to glory. Dreams that can create the very meaning of your existence. But, it can also be cruel sometimes. It can show you dreams of uncertainties and lead you to a dreamland, the thought of  which would always make you happy even at the gloomiest of hours; or it can reverse the gear, and take you back to those lanes that you left far behind in your memories.

Some memories may take you back to places where you dream about what you want from life, where you have always wanted to be, or at least your heart did; while some might just take you back to the narrow lanes that you somehow managed to pass through, or rather survive it. Such memories always leave mark, physically, some might argue; mentally, often to agree. One may seek pleasure revisiting his childhood days, cherishing the times, he spent with his family and friends, the little things that used to matter more then, the worry-less days he used to go through or even the times of future promises that were never true. Those days he thought the world is as simple as it could get. He thought he would win the world someday. He thought he could achieve it all. To be precise, he thought he knew what he wanted and had control over his dreams. Little did he know, that he knew nothing more than Jon Snow.
But destiny, knew it all. It awaited him and used time as it's means. Time is a strange thing. You always think you have it, but often you don't, and of course, you're always too late to understand it. Time flows at a speed greater than the speed of light. They don't tell you this in the books; nor would they teach you this in school, rather they would want you to know what's the expansion of a binomial expression or how much is the marginal rate of substitution of a quantity, irrelevant of your need for it in your life. Only when you're too old, you understand what really matters to you and realise the importance of your dreams and how much it meant to you when you were a child. For some, it might be too late to chase their dreams, while others just give up on them, and would rather prefer visiting his dreamland where he has all that he wants.

But, as they say, it is never too late to start dreaming or even start acting upon them. One should never settle what someone else wants out of his life. Only by being pertinacious about how much he wants it, he can truly achieve it. And achieve he must; as by killing his dream, he kills a part of his soul. The part that is lost forever, without which, his life could never be fulfilled, and without which, his existence wouldn't have a complete meaning.