8 Tactical Masterclass of 2010’s

With the last decade wrapped up, we look back at the managerial magic moments from the last 10 years that revolutionized modern football as we know it. 

2010- “Parking the Bus”

Inter vs. Barca- 3-2 (agg.) - “UCL Semi Finals”- Jose Mourinho

The  earliest sighting of this incredible managerial masterpiece  of the past decade was  displayed by the special one himself. Jose Mourinho with his tactical acumen has built a name for himself in almost every major European League. With  Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona widely regarded as the best team around, Mourinho had an uphill task. Moreover, with the addition of a dangerously in-form Zlatan Ibrahmovic, the hill became a mountain, impossible to scale and the media heavily favoured the Blaugranas.  Realizing the conventional might not be the way to go, Jose  had a different approach- with his incredible idea of man-marking Messi with a dedicated defender and constant switching if the designated player could not get to Messi in time, he scaled the impossible mountain. At San Siro for the first leg of the tie, Mourinho played with an attacking mindset but with caution. This  kept Messi quiet and, as a result, went on to win 3-1. Inter managed to comeback after Pedro’s opener with goals from Sneijder, Maicon and Milito. But Jose saved the best trick up his sleeve for the second leg at Camp Nou. Even with a 3-1 lead, pundits expected Messi and Co. to score 2 goals and advance to the finals, but Mourinho begged to differ. With the likes of Lucio, Cambiasso, Motta, Walter Samuel and Zanetti - Inter had a ruthless defense, enviable by today’s standards. With the left sided defense constantly marking their talisman, Messi was almost cancelled out from the game and the gritty nature of Motta really applied pressure to the midfield until he was sent off. Mourinho went into a shell and substituted all his attacking players, padded his defense and built a wall in front of the Barcelona attackers. Never has the world seen such blatant disinterest in playing the game and limiting themselves to only defending. Eventually they did breakthrough with Pique’s goal but it was too late and Inter went into the Champions League finals for the first time since 1972.

2011- “End of an Era”

Real vs. Barca 1-0 “Copa Del Rey Finals”- Jose Mourinho

After winning the Champions League with Inter Milan, Mourinho moved on to coach Real Madrid. Tasked with the impossible  duty of reviving the giants of Europe and subsequently dominating their nemesis, Barcelona. Barcelona at the time was an unbeatable, well-oiled machine winning championships after championships coached by Mourinho’s soon-to-be arch nemesis, Pep Guardiola. Losing to Inter was a huge blow to Guardiola’s ego and he initially got his revenge. Pep’s Barca ran a rampage when the sides met for the first time and won 5-1 at the Bernabeu. This calamity of an incident only emboldened “The Special One”. The difference in previous encounters only signified the tough task ahead, and decided to dust off his old playbook from his time in Italy. Albeit, acquiring the world’s most expensive player  at the time Cristiano Ronaldo might also have helped. Real Madrid played a lightning paced counter attacking system with agile players. The idea was to break down the opponent's attack and have a quick outlet pass to one of its wings which had Di Maria and Ronaldo - and let them run with it. Linking up with them later in the field would usually be the German maestro Mesut Ozil. These tactics proved costly in their first encounter but after all the players understood the game they were ready to overthrow the Spanish giants. Hence, with defensive rigidity and Cristiano’s solo goal, Mourinho came out victorious. This eventually led them to winning the league the following year and began the era of Real Madrid’s European dominance by building upon the groundwork. 

2013 - “Gegenpressing”

Borussia Dortmund vs Real Madrid 4-3 (agg.) “UCL Semi finals” - Jurgen Klopp

The subject in focus for this fixture was the first leg of the tie in Signal Iduna Park where a rampant Lewandowski scored 4 goals, won the tie virtually by the 80th minute and Prothom Alo penned a headline for the ages. Around this time, Dortmund were riding the wave of their reputation of being everyone’s favourite hipster club, not for the football fans but for the football “connoisseurs”.  This match turned heads and made everyone look at the true potential of Jurgen Klopp. His team’s relentless work rate, unimaginable ball pressing then playing these intricate movements in small spaces was a breath of fresh air. Surely we have seen this done all for a short amount of spaces of a game but to actually implement during a blockbuster matcht where most teams usually play within themselves, sometimes to their own detriment - is deemed quite the gamble. The pressure and the expectation on top of the tireless backtracking closing in channels from back to front then front to back, describing that in words increased my heartbeat enough to trick my smartwatch into thinking I decided to get some exercise today (Machine 0-1 Human). Watching it live risked cardiac arrest. Klopp’s heavy metal football during the first-leg was the beginning of his tactical legacy. They shredded the Madrid attack and obliterated their defense. The fierce own-ball pressure was something the Spanish champions never felt and it proved that it was just too much. The game ended by quick strikes from their main man Lewandowski and Madrid was too late to respond. Even though they won the subsequent tie, too much damage was already done as the world was introduced to “Gegenpressing”.

2014- “Death of Tiki Taka”

Spain vs. Netherlands 1-4 “FIFA World Cup 2014 Group Stages”- Louis Van Gaal

International Football is often labelled as player driven fixtures rather than battles of tactical acumen. Even though some of the greatest managers coached their international teams and have never won the title due to a lack of talent at a certain position. But this match was one for the tactical ages. Louis Van Gaal finally formulated a way to destroy the greatest rendition of tiki taka football ever played by the former World Champions Spain. The defending European and World Champions were shell shocked by the result itself. Usually the idea of tiki taka is to keep the ball away from the opponent and present them as little chance as possible but at the same time recognise the impatience in the defense where the players cannot track a certain player and ball gets passed into that void. Here, Louis Van Gaal employed 3-5-2 formation and zonal defense which handicapped Spain’s attacking aspect. He overloaded the wings and midfield making it impossible for them to pass between the lines and at the same time whenever a pass was misplaced had his wingbacks run on the wings and deliver crosses to their target man Robin Van Persie. This team has previously failed to overthrow this same team during the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals. Even though most of the players the tactics variation really showed through the genius of Van Gaal. Hence, a 4-1 drubbing not only shot the wings of Spain in the tournament but also put them in the crisis that they are yet to overcome as they crashed out of the World Cup in group stages. Since then, this particular blueprint has been employed by the world over to stop team’s having possession style games and lead to Spain along with Barcelona to head back to the tactical drawing boards.

2015 - “Cup stays home”

Chile vs Argentina 4-1 (pens) “Copa America 2015 Chile”- Jorge Sampaoli

Grit. Determination. Willingness.Hard Work. Four superlatives that summarizes the excellent performance displayed  by Chileans  against the reigning World Cup Runner Ups, Argentina. Argentina at their peak of their form were almost destined to alternate plans. With their progressive defensive game with a crowded midfield and a pacy attack they managed to wither the Argentine offensive creativity. The way they did it is they employed a 3-5-2 formation set but had their two defensive midfielders stay even while attacking, only at the most opportune moment one of the midfielders would join the attack. The likes of Gary Medel and Arturo Vidal the team had the strength to employ the tactics. Throughout the 90 mins even though Argentina had the majority of the ball, the dangerous chances were gained by their opponents. After a hard fought battle, keeping Messi out of action for 120 minutes while being on top of his game was an unthinkable task  but they did it. As the penalties arrived the penalty save machine Claudio Bravo stepped in and gave in a captain’s performance to lead his team to a continental cup. Credit should be given to Sampaoli whose masterstroke to win the cup later on let him coach the Argentine side but with a rather gloomy result. Nonetheless he was excellent on that day.

2016 - “VIkings Clapping the English Off”

Iceland vs England- 2-1 “UEFA EURO 2016 RD of 16”- Heimir Hallgrimsson

The ultimate underdog story -  Iceland in its first ever qualification to Euros somehow managed to pass the group stages and then went on to beat England. Many call it a catastrophe for Roy Hodgson’s men but it was truly a masterclass from the Icelandic coach. His brilliant set-up, gritty at times and sometimes ugly, in the end managed to be very effective. All the while, after giving away a penalty in the first 5 minutes of the game. The response to conceding the goal was ferocious as the team resiliently went on to score two goals in quick succession and were leading by the 19th minute. The quick ball retention and simple high work rate caught the complacent English players napping. Then the long 70 minute barrage of full blooded English offense came their way. On the face of the high pressure attack some ugly defending, the Vikings did not buckle and created a force field around the defense making the English search for that equalizer with almost maddening desperation. The goal never came and Iceland went to the quarterfinals where they were eventually hammered by the French.

2018- “Gegenpressing: Merseyside Edition”

Liverpool vs Manchester City 5-1 (agg.) “UEFA Champions League Quarter Finals”- Jurgen Klopp

The 3-0 thrashing of the Citizens at Anfield might have been the beginning of a modern powerhouse rivalry in England. The same Liverpool squad was destroyed by City in their last outing. The men in blue with their great playmaking were well on their way in securing the  Premier League title with record points and were looking equally impressive to win the Champions League. But Jurgen and his men had other ideas. Their attacking prowess with the big 3 was on full display and the spark provided by Alex Oxlade Chamberlain who did not play in the last encounter proved to be the critical lynchpin. Constant pressure on the ball and quick outlet passes and utilization of free spaces provided by the 3 man defense employed by City allowed Liverpool to overwhelm their opponents. This game instilled the Reds as a force to be reckoned with to the world and ensured the transferability of Jurgen Klopp’s tactical mind from Germany to England. Liverpool had the worst defensive record among top teams in the league at the time and City with the best attacking team, hence the clean sheet spoke volumes of how different the game of football can get when it comes to knockout football. 

2019- “Totally Outplayed”

Ajax vs Real Madrid 5-3 (agg) “UEFA Champions League Round of 16”- Erik Ten Hag

In this episode of giant  killing, the Dutch team ran a rampant destruction of a  ragged Real side in their own backyard. This match constitutes what is best of Johan Cruyff’s true ideology of “total voetbal”. Keeping the ball for the sake of possession is already out of fashion. The idea was to always find ways to destabilize the opponents defensive lines with clever build up plays through almost crafty runs off the ball. The Ajax side played to their resurgence narrative with the help of their golden boy Frenkie De Jong commandeering the midfield was a sight to behold. Neres and Tadic with their clever runs made sure the experienced Real defense were always on their toes and any mistakes would have proven to be costly. Through incredible and nifty plays and the absence of the mercurial captain Ramos, allowed the Ajax men to fire goal after goal past their defense. The match was marred with tactical howlers as well and each mistake came at a heavy price. Not only did they manage to overturn a 2-1 home defeat but they also managed to humiliate their opponent in the process.

BY KHAN MUHAMMAD NAFIUL AKBAR