Ticking to the tactical beat

Football and music are completely different beasts yet both have intriguing similarities. Each is an art form in its own right and involves structure, timing, rhythm and skill. They are further linked in my mind by the word metronome. In football terms this relatively new adjective relates to the central creative hub of the team - which I will go on to talk about in detail - and of course, the London electro pop group Metronomy. 

Throughout the decades since association football was conceived, the entire structure of the game has changed immeasurably with tactical formations and player positions being no exception. The first recognised tactical formation was called ‘the Pyramid’ and was created in Wales - Wrexham to be exact – and used by their victorious 1877-78 Welsh Cup winning team. This is widely acknowledged as the first time a British team made any serious attempt at defensive football. To see a line up including three half backs and five forwards in a 2-3-5 formation was completely revolutionary as up until then, customary formations were more likely to feature 7 or 8 attackers and 1 defender.

Formations and tactics developed and evolved further throughout the early part of the 20th
century with slight variations - most notably the ‘Metodo’ formation of the 1930's devised by then Italian national team coach Vittorio Pozzo. Heavily based on the 2-3-5 formation, this was slightly more defensive and arguably paved the way for Italy’s now world famous Catenaccio conceived by Nero Rocco at Triestina in 1947 and brought onto the world stage by Internazionale and their Franco-Argentine manager Helenio Herrera to vast acclaim in the 1960's. Pozzo's tactic involved flooding the midfield by withdrawing two forwards into advanced midfield positions creating a more balanced and defensively reliable format. This tactical framework is not entirely dissimilar to present day Barcelona's current style of play incorporating two 'true' defenders and up to 8 creative players at any one time.

Probably the most famous of the formations at this time would have been Herbert Chapman’s

pioneering W-M formation at Arsenal in the 1920's. Chapman enjoyed huge success with the North London club at this time and is credited with introducing the central defensive position to the modern game.

Herbert Chapmans W-M Formation

Brazil has long been a hot bed of tactical innovations and it was here that national team coach Flavio Costa takes recognition for creating one of the most widely recognised formations in world football, the 4-2-4. Acclaimed Hungarian coach Bela Guttman has to share credit for this formation, his work with the Honved team of the early 1950's giving birth to Ferenc Puskas and the Mighty Magyars Hungarian national team who took the world by storm and embarked on a 32 game unbeaten run - the longest international unbeaten record in history for 47 years until Spain surpassed it in 2009 - culminating in a 3-2 loss to West Germany in the 1954 FIFA World Cup.



From then, we have had tactical evolutions as opposed to revolutions such as the Dutch genius Rinus Michels 'Total Football' concept which is dependent on fluid and intelligent attacking footballers capable of interchanging into any of four forward positions at any given moment. In the modern game, the most widely used tactics centre around variations of several formations such as 4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1.

As you can expect with the drastic and revolutionary tactical changes throughout history, we have seen new positions borne from these.

As mentioned, we've had the creation of the centre back position, the introduction of  Lothar Matthaus achieving huge success as a libero for Bayern Munich and Germany, Roberto Carlos and Cafu as the first offensive wing backs, Claude Makelele as a midfield anchor in 'The Makelele Role' for Real Madrid and Barcelona’s Argentine superstar Lionel Messi recreating attacking football in what is now widely referred to as the 'False 9' role.

The latest buzzword for a tactical position is a metronome. The dictionary definition of the word is 'a mechanical device which indicates the exact tempo of a piece of music by producing a clicking sound from a pendulum with an adjustable period of swing'. Transferring this musical nomenclature into football terms as you would expect in the current climate, begins with Barcelona. Xavi is the perfect example. A true footballing metronome has to have the ability to recycle possession quickly and effectively whilst remaining constantly in control and two steps ahead of the opposition.
At Euro 2012 Juventus’ midfield maestro Andrea Pirlo reappeared on the worlds stage as Italy’s version of a metronome ensuring one of the true greats of the modern game finished his international career at the very top. Pirlo was imperious in Poland & Ukraine at the European Championships - who can forgot that match winning Panenka penalty against England - and a far cry away from the player being thrown on the scrapheap by Milan 12 months ago, deemed to be way past his best. Now after playing in all bar one of Juventus’ 38 Serie A matches last season he stands as Scudetto winner once again - making a mockery of Milan's insistence that he was too injury prone. Pirlo's display against England in the Euro 2012 quarter finals seems to have piqued England manager Roy Hodgson's and several Premier League managers’ interest in this type of player. 

It's a position - or a style of position if you like - still relatively underused in the British game, however, there are three players in particular that I feel perform this most crucial role for their respective clubs.

What can you say about Paul Scholes that hasn't already been said? Arguably the finest English midfielder since Paul Gascoigne, the Salford born and bred midfielder is showing no sign of letting up as he approaches his 38th birthday. Described by Xavi in a 2011 article as 'the best midfield player of the last 15-20 years' - high praise indeed - Scholes has undergone somewhat of a transformation in the latter half of his career. Famed as a creative, goal scoring midfielder ala Andres Iniesta, he has understandably curbed this in his twilight years. He now occupies the 'Xavi' metronome role for Manchester United, the central creative hub upon which Manchester United operate. He is pivotal in ensuring Man Utd effectively recycles possession providing the platform upon which all offensive play is built. It is England's loss that Scholes retired from international football at the tender age of 29, just one year older than when Xavi won Euro 2008, the first leg of Spain's now historic treble).

Joe Allen. The poster boy for Team GB's Olympic football team. Allen shot to fame last year during Swanseas fantastic introduction to the English Premier League and has followed Brendan Rodgers to Liverpool this summer for the not insignificant transfer fee of £15m. Swansea were famously Barcelona-esque in their approach last year so it will be fascinating how Rodgers - and Joe Allen - go about changing the fabric of the Liverpool team. His partnership with Leon Britton last year was magnificent, their rhythmic passing a joy to watch and the key to Swansea's brilliant debut season. This year Allen will be partnered in the Liverpool midfield by the return from injury of Lucas Leiva. Lucas - a slightly more destructive player than Leon Britton - should allow Allen to stamp his authority all over Premier League midfields. Allen's pass accuracy last year of 90.3% - including a fantastic 84% success rate in the final third - is precisely what Liverpool require and for me, he has the potential to be the signing of the season.

Another player with a 90.3% pass accuracy is another Spanish pass master - Mikel Arteta. Arteta unsurprisingly learnt his trade at the Nou Camp and arrived at Arsenal last summer after spells with PSG, Rangers, Real Socieded and Everton. Seen as a diamond within a end of transfer window panic splurge and a very un-Wengeresque signing in terms of age - £10m for a 29 year old - Arteta consistently shone for Arsenal last season. With the departure of Song to Barcelona this summer a lot of the midfield burden will be on Arteta as the creative force and the heartbeat of the Gunners midfield. A fantastic player who has steadily matured into one of the best passers in Europe, Arteta must surely be up there with one of the best current international players never to receive an international cap.

Chelsea and Manchester City are in my view, at their weakest in the central midfield position. Chelsea this season now have an embarrassment of riches in the attacking third. Further back however, they appear to be lacking the thread for the needle, if you like. Frank Lampard, Ramires and Raul Meireles are excellent footballers but none of them can be described as a metronome and are not notorious for intelligent passing or excelling in recycling possession quickly – a crucial aspect of the modern game. Similarly with Manchester City, the Nigel De Jong and Gareth Barry axis doesn’t sit correctly as proven by Man City’s struggles to knit excellent defensive and attacking play at various stages of last season.

With the above in mind, it is curious in the extreme then, that the two clubs vying for the signature of Real Madrid’s young midfielder Nuri Sahin – Arsenal and Liverpool - are the two who arguably don't require his services. Sahin is a player of similar style to Joe Allen and Mikel Arteta and is certainly a player I feel could perform the metronome role at a top Premiership club.

Sahin is a 23 year old Turkish midfielder who made his name at Borussia Dortmund in Germany, Part of the now famous Dortmund team fashioned by Jurgen Klopp, Sahin shot to fame on loan at Feyenoord in the 2007/2008 season. Upon his return - and Klopps appointment in 2008 - Sahin was given a huge role in the team playing as the midfield metronome complementing the more defensive skills of Sven Bender.

The current Dortmund team has received more than a few plaudits, players such as Mats Hummels, Shinji Kagawa, Mario Gotze and Robert Lewandowski helping them to a second league title in a row and are now considered household names. In season 2010/2011, Nuri Sahin was far and away the teams best player. Again the best word to describe him is as the heartbeat of the team and Dortmund hugely felt the impact of losing him to Madrid at the start of last season for the paltry sum of €10 million due to a clause in his contract at the Signal Iduna Park. As with Mesut Ozil and Sami Khedira the season before, Los Merengues manager Jose Mourinho managed to get a fantastic and precocious Bundesliga talent for a knock down fee.

Sahin has seen very limited game time in Madrid - unable to oust Xabi Alonso in Madrids midfield is no embarrassment - and a loan move to England for the talented playmaker will surely fire him straight back to where he belongs, the top of the European game.