Backs to the Future.

PART 1 Evolution of the Flat-Back Line

WHAT IS THIS STRANGE idea about defending with a flat-back line?

If that's the case, who stole the sweeper?

Or is it just another tactical facet that will be forgotten in a year or so.

All these questions and more have surrounded this murky concept of defense. To many of the diehards reared in the sweeper system, it is an alien concept. Downright risky, they claim.

Those in favor of playing with zonal marking and a flat-back line like to point to teams like AC Milan, Barcelona Ajax, Manchester United, and the World Cup finalists both in USA '94 (Brasil and Italy) and France '98 (Brasil and France), who have played in the system.

Even in the stronghold of the libero sweeper, the Bundesliga, teams like Vtb Stuttgart are bedding into the idea.

So where are the truths amongst all these opinions?

In the beginning--1925 anyway--FIFA changed the offside law due to the growing drought of goals. Many professional games had become games of attrition as teams abused the use of the offside trap. The referee's whistle was in constant use due to the overuse of this tactic. The officials were calling over 40 offsides per game!

Fans got frustrated and goals became scarce. Gone were games of 5-3's and 4-2's to the bleak 0-0 offside-ridden, stop-start affairs. FIFA had to act to redress and encourage attacking play. This they did by changing the number of defenders from three to two.

The law says: "A player is in an offside position if he is nearer to his opponents' goal line than the ball, unless: A. He is in his own half of the field of play OR, B. There are at least two of his opponents nearer their own goal line than he is."

This segment of the law has remained virtually the same and is the law as we know it today.

The Three-Back System-Swivel Defense (Diag. 1)

The beginning of the 1925/26 season caused all sorts of upheaval in the sport due to this major law change. Many hoped it would just disappear and soccer life would go on as before, but the tremors of soccer's first traumatic earthquake were about to take soccer into a new era. While some were resisting change others were being forced into the ferment. Panic or poor results are ideal ways to speed up these creative juices!

Arsenal FC chose the poor results method of trauma, losing five of its first seven games, culminating with a dreadful 7-0 defeat at Newcastle. On the long train ride back to London, coach and captain argued and discussed various ideas.

Charles Buchan, the captain, promoted the plan to drop an attacking halfback (today they're called midfielders) into the backline. In other words, dropping a player deeper and having three backs rather than the then common habit of two. However, the manager/coach, Herbert Chapman, agreed to disagree and the debate lasted several hours.

A few days later on the morning prior to the afternoon game with West Ham United, Chapman called a meeting of the first team squad to discuss Buchan's plan. Chapman thought the basic idea of moving a player back was excellent, but it would be better if instead of an attacking half-back, why not choose a specialist defender to fill this new role?

That afternoon these ideas were put to the test and poor West Ham was hammered 4-0 by the "new" Arsenal. Unknowingly, Jack Butler had the honor of being the first defensive center half or "third back" in soccer history that day. If all such meetings could be so productive!

Chapman and Buchan probably created the first substantial tactical "big bang" in the game's history. That meeting spawned ideas that directly influenced the world game for the next 20 to 30 years. Out of it came a new way of playing, the "W-M" system, the "Third Back," the "Swivel Defense," the "Stopper Center Half," to the "Roving Inside Forward."

Even the concept of a team meeting was a Chapman Invention. No other club bothered. The nearest any team came to a meeting was when the players were told to wait for a bus or train! Chapman was light years ahead of his time by allowing players to pool their ideas to the common good and his captain was the ideal lightning rod to spark debate.

Arsenal FC went from success to success, always looking to improve and refine on these ideas. New players were brought into the squad. Chapman was not waiting for success to come to him. Like all great coaches, he chased perfection.

Butler started the process of change and Herbert Roberts perfected the role of "Slopper Center Half." Such was his reputation fans renamed him, "Stopper" or "Policeman" Roberts. He symbolized the "Gunners" (Arsenal's nickname) and their defensive fortress.

Opposing fans despised him and his team's success with unbridled banter and abuse. If abuse is the highest form of sporting flattery, he and his teammates would have won soccer's version of the Nobel Prize.

The three-back system swivel defense was born, based on a zonal marking arrangement. This is the source of the modern back-line systems. The three backs of Male-Roberts--Hapgood set the standard for others to follow. With Roberts at the heart, the line would "swivel" like a swing.

When the right back pressured the ball, the swing would drop towards the ball. The center half and left back would "swivel" over to give diagonal cover. See Diag. 1.

If the Right Back (RB) is beaten, the Center Half (CH) & Left Back (LB) would "swivel" over to give diagonal cover. If the ball is passed to the other wing to their Outside Right (OR), the defense would "swivel" round, as the Left Back (LB) moves to pressure the winger (OR). See Diag. 2.

Note: It is worth noting from 1925 to the 1960's, there were extremely structured attitudes towards playing the game; e.g., the center half (5) always marked their center forward (9), the left back (3) always marked their right winger (7) and so on. This rigid mindset was an unwritten agreement all over the world.

The next major development came during the post war years of the late 1940's when the Hungarians tore up this unwritten contract and revolutionized soccer with new tactical and training ideas. Graciously they didn't inform the rest of the world, and their World Cup team went unbeaten from 1949 to 1954. They pulverized England 6-3 and 7-1.

To many observers, it was a disaster of national proportions. Some even thought it was a communist plot! History proved it was not of KGB origin, but self-inflicted dogma of a system that had fossilized. England had stood still but luckily the "Magic Magyars" breathed fresh energy and vitality into the sport. The pupils had overtaken their old world masters in an embarrassing fashion.

Their rise to a great soccer power came with a crop of world-class players (Puskas, Hidegkti, Grosics, Kocsis, and Bozsik), talented coaches like Sebes, and overcoming a major problem. They didn't have the traditional bustling center forward needed for the W-M style of play.

Experimentation led them to upend this system and play without a regular striker. Hidegkti (9), like Roberts, was a pioneer in creating a new position, that of being the first "deep lying center forward."

Remember the rigid mindset and years of tradition of marking in the same old way? All of a sudden, the three backs had no one to mark, as the wingers were also withdrawn. Out of habit, they went looking for their "official" mark or number; e.g., the center half (5) always marked their center forward (9). This process opened up huge holes. In place of a single center forward, they pushed two inside forwards up. The W-M system was being demolished by soccer's second "big bang."

Out of this tactical explosion, new ideas emerged--deep lying striker (Hidegkti), withdrawn wingers (Czibor & Budai) and a back-four defensive line with a sweeper-keeper (Grosics) supporting their back-line.

Sadly, the full bloom of Hungary's soccer revolution ended in political turmoil of the 1956 revolt against Soviet rule. This led to the exodus of ideas and talent worldwide. The main beneficiaries were Spain, Italy and Brasil. Their expertise proved invaluable to Spain (Real Madrid & Barcelona) and especially to Brasil where Dori Kruschner, a Hungarian coach, spearheaded the use of a back-four alignment with "Marcacao por Zona" (zonal marking). The blending of Hungarian know-how and the high skills of Brasilian players created a unique fusion of attacking and defensive ideas.

Although Brasil may have not invented the "back-four," they certainly refined it into both a defensive shield and an attacking weapon, with their wide backs overlapping and supporting attacks on the wings. The back-line of Djalma Santos, Bellini, Orlando and Nilton Santos played an outstanding part in Brasil's success during the 1958 World Cup. The Santos's excited fullbacks worldwide to attack.

By the 1960's and 70's, the sweeper system was the dominant defensive method except in countries such as England and for the most part, Brasil. England produced several teams whose back-fours were outstanding like Liverpool, Arsenal and Leeds United. They tended to play the line flatter.

All these teams had outstanding central defenders who were superb organizers--Hansen at Liverpool, McClintock at Arsenal, and Jack Charlton at Leeds. This domestic success was carried onto winning major European trophies. It also parallels the popularity of the back-four with the World Cup winners of '58, '62, '66, and '70.

In the mid-1980's, an unknown coach took over at AC Milan and shook Italian soccer. Saachi was bitterly criticized for not playing the "official" Italian game of caution and counter attack. He replaced it with a positive plan of taking the game to their opponents with an aggressive form of the pressing game.

The flat-back was a vital part of this tactic. The line of Tassotti, Costacurta, Baresi, and Maldini brought back play to new heights with organization, talent and understanding.

Saachi, through his world class captain, Baresi, looked to attack and defend in a positive way. Defending to win took on a whole new meaning as the back-line pressed the play into the opposing half. They wanted to force errors to get "regained possessions" in the opponent's half. Only Costacurta held a purely defensive role, as Baresi would come out of the center of the defense, making attacking sorties out of the back.

At a less flamboyant level, Arsenal of London re-emerged as a soccer power in the late 1980's with a back line as effective as AC Milan. The back-four of Dixon -- Adams -- Bould -- Winterburn became one of the meanest defenses in the world game.

Their Scrooge-like mentality gave their fans a chant hated by opposing fans. Once Arsenal scored, the chorus "One-Nil, One-Nil"...often chilled the opposition into defeat. With ten minutes or so to go the losing fans would start to leave knowing the inevitable. In fact there is even a video available called, "Arsenal, One-Nil."

Another feature both Arsenal and AC Milan share is the stability and tenure of their respective back-lines. They seemed to be stuck in a time warp for a good part of a decade. It was the same quarter of back players season in and season out.

The arrival of talented French coach, Arsene Wenger, in 1996 saw Arsenal take on a continental look by playing with three across the back - Keown, Adams and Bould. The fuilbacks, Winterburn and Dixon, became "wingbacks" with a freer role to fill in where needed down their respective flank.

This gave the Gunners not only a new look but, more importantly, greater tactical flexibility. Many pundits christened this mini-revolution with such remarks as a "poor man's back four" or a "back four using smoke and mirrors."

It really was "Backs To The Future." To the old faithful, it was 1925 all over again. Instead of Male, Roberts and Hapgood, it was Keown, Adams and Bould. The same concept separated by over 70 years.

As an intelligent coach, Arsene Wenger learned to appreciate the knowledge and ideas of this famous club. With coach like Wenger and players like Tony Adams, Arsenal reintroduced the dreaded and mean "Back Four." This foundation stone gave Arsenal their finest season in years by winning the highest prize in the English game, the Premiership, in 1998. "One - nil, one - nil" was back louder than ever in their fans songbook.

With television, video and travel, soccer has greater accessibility to ideas. What happens in Sao Paulo today will be common knowledge worldwide tomorrow. Such movement of ideas encourages players and coaches everywhere to experiment. Already, teams are changing formations in light of tactical needs of the game.

For example, they might start off playing with a sweeper one half and change to a flat-back line in the second half. Teams are always searching for that edge and tactics are getting more flexible by the day.

Between talent and tactics, we will probably see further developments as the information age speeds up these changes. Such is the rate of change today. The variations and possibilities make for exciting times ahead.