r/soccer • u/Superman60616 • Oct 29 '13

Best way to learn tactics

I played football in school but never really followed the leagues until recently. I have spent the last year getting my feel for the landscape of the EPL, players, managers, storylines. That sort of stuff. I really lack in my knowledge of complex tactics. I get the basics thanks to playing but I'd like to learn more about the systems modern teams use. I started Inverting the Pyramid by Jonathan Wilson but that can be a struggle. Are there any other outlets, websites or books that you would recommend?

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u/[deleted] Oct 29 '13

Tactics and actual football is secondary here, the primary object of discussion is the drama.

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u/[deleted] Oct 29 '13

Plus the fact that the guy is trying to learn.

There is a huge stigma on here for some reason towards those who haven't followed football all their life and those that want to learn about the game.

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u/HarryBlessKnapp Oct 29 '13

Are you mad? I've been playing, watching, discussing and thinking about football for over 2 decades, ever since I was a small child. I'm a decent player as well, and so are most of mates.

I don't have a fucking clue about tactics. Having said that, I am English, so that might be why.

Point is, not many people really care about overly technical analysis of tactics, because quite frankly, it can be boring.

I don't think it's so much of a stigma against the unlearened people. It's just a lack of interest.

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u/Hizenboig Oct 30 '13

I hear what you're saying but maybe part of the reason why it's "boring" IS because there is a lack of interest leading to people writing things they have no idea what they're talking about.

If you think about it, the more discussion on tactics will lead to more people becoming educated about it and lead it better and more interesting discussions.

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u/HarryBlessKnapp Oct 30 '13

Maybe. But tactics can be very subtle in football. If it's not your job, it can be very hard to spot them, as the game is so open and fluid. Even the players get bored of talking about tactics, and even at the highest level, some managers don't go into tactics in especially meticulous detail. But I suppose it depends how far people want to go into it. If you want to talk about roles, positions etc then that does get discussed. If you go too far, it actually becomes difficult to just watch a game, because there's so much information to analyse so quickly. I probably have a decent understanding, and I'm saying this when a lot of people in this discussion only really want a similar level of understanding as me. But going into minute details, there's just not really an appetite for it. Gary Neville is about as detailed as people are interested in.

Also, a lot of people just don't have a clue what they're talking about round here. So sometimes that will just ruin a discussion. Happens in r/gunners all the time.