I’m not too familiar with soccer/football, but I’ve watched Ted Lasso for the second time and I still don’t fully grasp what total football is. Can anyone break this down to barney level for me? What exactly is total football? What are the pros and cons to it vs other styles of play? It just does not compute in my head.
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I would argue it’s free flowing attack. Balls bounce back and forth from central players to overlapping attackers. Think of a fast break with numerical advantage in soccer, basketball, or hockey. There’s fluidity to a pass or two that is that moment of beautiful execution. Total football is attempting that on every play, but with all 10 players. Your defenders and midfielders flow forward, passing around the defense. The attackers have the ability to fill in as defenders when the ball is turned over in transition.
The show mentions variations of Total Football in the modern era as peak Barcelona under Messi and some of Man City under Pep. They don’t generally commit centerbacks as much on regular play, but the elaborate passing starts at the back and fullbacks can fly forward.
There’s nothing wrong with pure total football from the 1970s. It makes man marking very difficult, it uses quick passes to surpass the defense and wear them down. But it does require a lot of discipline to cover transitions back to defense and requires really good all around footballers. Modern variations often utilize centerbacks in normal use with added height for set pieces.
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