A rant about Rafa, Trojan Horse formations & guerrilla warfare tactics

Formations have basically ceased to matter and as soon as football catches up to evolution, they may all together. Managers like Rafa, Mourinho, Ferguson, and Wenger have realized this for a while now. World class footballers cancel out archaic tactics, allowing them to use guerrilla warfare instead of Napoleonic measures.

Take the Marseilles match. Yossi Benayoun, who is more of a direct attacking midfielder (and arguably a box-to-boxer) started on the right, yet rarely utilized the flank. There was no need. Having a fit Kewell on the left, drawing out the defense, allowed Rafa to basically cram an extra attacker into the penalty corridor. If he had needed Yossi to play out, the Israeli has shown in the past he's more than capable of adjusting. Then you pull Gerrard forward, push Mascherano way back, Kuyt slightly back and to the left, and voila! You essentially have a five man attacking front, calculatingly spread to open up the middle and cause havoc throughout. Without the pace, skill, and intelligence of such great footballers, this just wouldn't be possible.

The Marseilles match was also a brilliant display of guerrilla warfare. Utilizing our superior pace and skills, we struck quickly and then withdrew, digging trenches to halt our opponent's forward movement. The French side dominated possession, yet rarely entered our penalty box on foot. I can only think of two occasions when they did. This game plan devastates such opponents since they are already entering the match as the lesser side. Expending energy just to fight for a position makes their situation even more dire. It's not only clandestine in it's approach, but it's nearly impossible to penetrate if even done moderately well. The thing is though, it won't work against a side like Man U, who do have players who can beat you on their own.

Playing Gerrard on the right is another deceptive tactic that I hope Rafa utilizes more once Alonso gets back or he becomes more comfortable with Lucas. In position alone is Stevie-G truly on the right. In reality, he has free roam of the pitch, since he has world class cognizance of knowing positioning. Rarely does it cause congestion issues, at least ones that are his fault. If Rafa needs him to go the winger route, he's more than capable, but if Finnan is behind him, there's no need. Finnan is an exceptional wing-back, one of the best in the world. Of course, I don't have the same confidence in Arbeloa, so starting Gerrard in front of him is quite the risk.

One of the things you'll rarely see is Gerrard on the right with Crouch in the middle. Crouch is best utilized as a set up man over the middle or, obviously, a finisher in the box. When Gerrard is given free roam and Crouch tries to play his middle man role, you can just see the frustration on our Captain's face. He's essentially a caged animal and it negatively affects his play. The answer to that is having him play to the right, which he does and will effectively, but it's kind of like raising a puppy without a leash. All of a sudden when they're a grown dog, trying to train him/her on one is no easy task. Trust me.

Wing-backs are a crucial element to Rafa's game plan. Not many sides have the luxury of having two potentially great ones on the left in Aurelio and Riise. When they start together, Riise at midfield, it almost mimics starting Gerrard on the right with Finnan trailing. Riise can play the wing, though I would never mistake him for Harry Kewell, but with Aurelio, a deadly passer and crosser, behind the Norwegian, it's not required. Riise can float around the left-side of the pitch merrily, as long as he keeps an eye on the opposition and his teammates.

The goal of Rafa and ultimately any coach/manager is to have your side playing as a highly-functional organism, free thinking yet relying on other organs to provide the necessary output to succeed. The less static, the less predictable, and the more options, the more impossible it becomes to defend against. Shrouding such tactics under ancient jargon is just another way to get the edge up on the opponent. Unfortunately, when it comes to sides like the one we're to face on Sunday, trench warfare is the only way to go about it without evoking Ragnarok.