ZM’s end-of-season awards
Claudio Ranieri - the nearly man
The Champions League final has been and gone, so we are now officially at the end of the 2009/10 season. This would not be an internet football site without an article outlining some reasonably pointless ‘awards’, but since this is a site focussed on tactics, hopefully the tactical angle will – like a newly-signed winger that doesn’t appear to fit into the team – ‘provide something different’.
Best substitution(s) of the season:
Claudio Ranieri clearly got his initial tactics wrong in the derby against Lazio, choosing to play 4-3-3 with three central strikers, rather than his 4-2-3-1 that has been so successful. Considering Lazio play a back three, sending out such a narrow attack was a huge mistake. The tinkerman was always going to change his system at half-time, but being brave enough to take off Francesco Totti and Daniele de Rossi – captain and vice-captain, both Roma through and through, was astonishing. On came Rodrigo Taddei and Jeremy Menez – one won a penalty which Mirko Vucinic converted, the other won a free-kick which Vucinic smashed in from 25 yards. Job done.
Worst substitution of the season:
Sir Alex Ferguson taking off Michael Carrick and bringing on Dimitar Berbatov away in Munich was suicidal, and transformed a 0-1 lead into an ultimately crucial 2-1 defeat. Individual errors can be blamed for both the goals, but you can’t analyse a football game solely by how goals went in – taking off a holding midfielder and bringing on a striker when you’re defending a 0-1 lead away in Europe would have been hailed as brilliant if United had increased their lead – but they didn’t, and so Ferguson must take the blame.
Plan B of the season
Barcelona were awful in the first half at home to Valencia, with the Bojan-Pedro-Messi frontline unable to create or get in behind the Valencia defence. At half-time the out-of-form Thierry Henry was brought on for Bojan, and Barcelona switched to something resembling a 4-2-4 – Xavi and Busquets deep in midfield, Henry holding the ball up and dropping deep, with Andres Iniesta wide on the left and Pedro and Messi dovetailing between a striking role and a wide-right position. Barcelona ended the game 3-0 up, and comfortable.
Trend of the season
Frank Ribery & Arjen Robben - the most striking inverted wingers
The use of inverted wingers seemed to be mentioned in every other article on ZM this season. Three of the four European finalists – Fulham, Atletico and Bayern – all played wide players on the ‘wrong’ side to which their foot would generally dictate. Other notable sides using the system were Aston Villa and Manchester City. The Hamburg v Fulham game showed that two opposing sides using the system against each other can produce a fairly boring game when the centre of the pitch becomes congested, but overall they have made for an interesting tactical debate.
Imminent trend of the season
Brazil’s system of playing one central striker and one winger, with an off-centre diamond midfield behind, looks like it could be the next tactical craze. Sir Alex Ferguson outwitted Carlo Ancelotti’s diamond shape this way at Stamford Bridge earlier in the season, even if Chelsea recorded a fortunate 1-0 victory. Later on, Sporting Lisbon and then Porto tried the same – we’re yet to see a club side using it successfully (or consistently) – but that could change after this summer.
Most attacking team of the season
Benfica’s 4-1-3-2 system was a joy to watch all season – indeed, it’s slightly surprising that they didn’t manage to score more goals. Fielding Pablo Aimar and Javier Saviola behind Oscar Cardozo created a lovely attacking trident, fielding both Angel di Maria and Ramires provided support from the wings, and fielding a ‘passer’ at the base of the diamond in Javi Garcia ensured attacking moves started from deep. Add in the fact that Jorge Jesus insisted on playing midfielders at full-back, and you had a wonderfully exciting team.
Lucio shackled Drogba brilliantly
Individual defensive performance of the season
In the Inter v Chelsea tie, Lucio out-Drogbaed Drogba – nullifying his threat by being more physical and more dramatic – as well as positionally brilliant, of course.
Individual midfield performance of the season
For the second season running, Xavi dictated the Real v Barcelona game at the Bernabeu. Two assists, and two brilliant balls to Messi, who missed one-on-ones. Real’s diamond shape played into his hands, but he exploited the space brilliantly.
Individual attacking performance of the season
Messi’s four goals against Arsenal will live long in the memory – yes, it was a depleted Arsenal side, and they didn’t defend well throughout, but Messi’s performance was majestic, and the variation amongst the goals demonstrated what an all-rounder he is.
Transfer business of the season
As well as getting Samuel Eto’o in return, Inter used the money they had received for Zlatan Ibrahimovic to buy Thiago Motta, Wesley Sneijder, Diego Milito and Lucio, before picking up Goran Pandev from Lazio in January. Therefore, their first choice XI featured six players in their first season at the club. Oh, and they won the treble.
Best individual selection of the season
The Premiership’s top goalscorer (Didier Drogba) who played for the Champions (Chelsea), was dropped from the side for the crucial, title-deciding game away at the the second-placed team (Manchester United). Carlo Ancelotti instead used Nicolas Anelka, who’s more fluid style suited Chelsea’s build-up play and enabled him to link well with Joe Cole and Florent Malouda in the first half, when Chelsea were dominating possession. In the second half, when Chelsea were under pressure, Drogba was brought on to hold the ball up, and claimed the vital second goal.
Guardiola's selection of Ibrahimovic against Inter was surprising
Worst individual selection of the season
Twice Pep Guardiola played Zlatan Ibrahimovic against his former club, Inter, when it was suggested beforehand that it was not the right approach against Inter’s backline. Barca ended up taking Ibrahimovic off early in the second half of both games.
Tactical league of the season
Whereas the Premiership remained fixated on a choice between a 4-4-2 and a system with one striker supported by two wide players, Serie A was notable for the sheer range of formations on offer:
Small-minded pundits continue to dismiss Serie A, but in boasting the European Champions, as well as a more equal league than La Liga or the Premiership, it remains a fascinating league.
Goal of the season
A goal of the season from a tactical point of view? Let’s go for Wayne Rooney’s goal on the break against Arsenal.
Rooney was brilliant in a false nine role that day, constantly drawing Arsenal’s defenders out of position.
Player of the season
It’s boring to say Lionel Messi, but the answer is quite clearly Lionel Messi.
Underrated player of the season
David Pizarro is a wonderful footballer and will probably never receive the recognition he deserves, but he combines being a fancy deep-lying playmaker with being a hard-working midfield battler brilliantly.
Team of the season
No player in Europe has enhanced his reputation this season as much as Diego Milito
Big game performer of the season
Diego Milito scored the winner in the Coppa Italia final, then the winner on the crucial last day of Serie A, then both goals in the Champions League final.
Manager of the season (title challengers)
You can’t look past Jose Mourinho, seeing as he won every competition he entered. Inter’s side looked to be fading in March, but Mourinho squeezed two more months out of some very tired legs to complete the first treble in the history of Italian football.
Manager of the season (Champions League challengers)
Hard to choose between Tottenham’s Harry Redknapp and Sampdoria’s Gigi del Neri – both guided their clubs to fourth place, for a chance to play in the Champions League for the first time in their clubs’ history. Both assembled settled teams of genuinely quality players, both with a Wengeresque focus on deep central midfield players, attacking wingers, and one frontman dropping off another. The main difference is that Redknapp will still be with Spurs next season, whilst del Neri is off to Juventus.
Manager of the season (midtable)
Alec McLeish’s job in taking newly-promoted Birmingham City to a top-half position should not be overlooked. They faded late in the season and finished ninth, partly as a result of Birmingham’s lack of depth – but for a while they looked set for a European place, and were unbeaten at St Andrews against the sides above them in the table, with the exception of Aston Villa – the one game they didn’t want to lose. An interesting aside is that they were unbeaten at home when they played their 4-4-2 system – the two games they lost were when they switched to a 4-5-1 shape.
Manager of the season (relegation battlers)
Did anyone expect Sinisa Mihajlovic to become a top-class manager? Probably not, but he took over Catania in mid-December when they were rock bottom of the table, and guided them to a respectable 13th-place finish. 1 win in 15 games before he joined, 9 wins in 23 when he was in charge. The run included an impressive 3-1 victory over Inter, a club he has been linked with, now it appears Mourinho will not be in Italy next season.
Overall season rating:
9/10. It’s been a brilliant campaign. Serie A, La Liga, the Premiership, the Portuguese Liga Sagres and the Dutch Eredivisie, won by Steve McClaren, all went to the final day. Ligue 1 produced a six-way title fight and the Bundesliga’s title race was fascinating for three-quarters of the season, even if Bayern eventually ran away with it. The Champions League was excellent – the lack of English clubs in the final four produced more interesting, novel semi-final and final games, whilst the rebrand of the UEFA Cup as the Europa League seems, somehow, to have re-energized the competition. The one disappointment was that the four major leagues were all won by teams who have dominated, or co-dominated, in recent seasons. Had we seen title wins for Arsenal or Roma (probably the neutral’s choice) or a first-ever title for Bayer Leverkusen (or even Braga in Portugal), it would have completed an excellent season.
And the best bit? We’ve still got a World Cup to look forward to.
ZM’s end-of-season awards
Great post. Curious why Roy Hodgson didn’t get a mention in the mid-table manager discussion. You are so thorough, I’m sure there must be some logic behind that.
Probably deserved a mention, although not in that category as Fulham’s league season was pretty poor (admittedly because they were focussing on the Europa League). Cup Run of the Season? A bit tricky, since he didn’t win the cup. Still, he hasn’t been short of accolades.
+1, another fine post ZM.
To be fair to ZM, Hodgson has been getting mentions left right and centre since the season came to an end, so it’s kind of refreshing to see someone look elsewhere.
Great choice of awards, particularly the “imminent trend” one, it’ll be interesting to see how your suggestion pans out. Perhaps a more focused look at defending a la Inter this season could come into mainstream use for some of the bigger European teams.
The first Treble in the history of the Champions League? For Inter, you mean, surely – Barca won it last season, and if I recall Manchester United completed their own treble (and subsequent sextet) the previous round.
Is(n’t) it becoming increasingly easier for teams to sweep all six competitions?
Apologies – “first treble in the history of Italian football” was the intention. Thanks for the correction.
United only won the treble once, in 99.
I don’t see trebles raining down left and right personally. Still very, very difficult.
Surely Manzano somewhere? Missed the CL by a couple of minutes, but considering they were supposed to be headed down..
For tactical trend, I’ll add the novel and fascinating Inter tactic of not bothering to try to pass or possess the ball and instead concentrate on not letting the opposition through. That a team could win with such little passing and possession is quite amazing.
And at the risk of sounding like a bitter old fart, I’ll state that though this was a great season, it was not as good as last season. In the last season we had some incredible and unforgettable games in the leagues: Liverpool 4-4 Arsenal, ManUtd 1-4 Liverpool, and Real Madrid 2-6 Barcelona. Also, we saw incredible CL matches like the 7-5 Chelsea-Liverpool tie, and the 5-0 Liverpool-Real Madrid tie. The Premier League saw 4 teams play very nice football, and La Liga’s second-tier offered more than this season. And Barcelona were an absolute joy to watch.
There were also many nicer goals, if you compare the cream of this season’s goals with last season’s.
2010: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/poll/2010/may/22/european-goal-of-the-season
2009: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/may/26/european-goal-of-the-season
Perhaps with the World Cup weighing so heavily on many players’ minds, we did not get to see performances as good as last year. Let’s all hope this means that this World Cup is better than the last one!
“For tactical trend, I’ll add the novel and fascinating Inter tactic of not bothering to try to pass or possess the ball and instead concentrate on not letting the opposition through. That a team could win with such little passing and possession is quite amazing.”
They’re just a counter attacking team, no? To an unusual degree, but they don’t seem to be doing anything new otherwise.
And as so often, they were so very close to everything falling apart. If Roma hadn’t blown their chance, if Milito didn’t score an offside goal etc. Let’s not proclaim this the new great strategy just yet!
Offside goal? Roma still won 2 goals. If Roma didn’t turn into martial arts dojo in Coppa Italy, I’m sure the game would be more better.
I am skeptical about your conclusion re: this year vs. last year.
1. Barcelona were still a joy to watch this season.
2. ZM point out that 4 leagues were not decided until the final day, which spells “excitement” to me.
3. “The Premier League saw 4 teams play very nice football” last year? At least that many teams played “nice football” this season.
4. You mention 5 “incredible” games, and 4 of them involve Liverpool. You liked last season better than this season. those points combined with number 3 above incline me to suspect that you are merely a Liverpool fan who didn’t like this year because they were not at their best.
“That a team could win with such little passing and possession is quite amazing.”
They lost 1-0, remember?
I’m not sure any of those games were particularly brilliant, though. They were incredible scorelines, but the Liverpool 4-4 Arsenal was a dead rubber, the Chelsea-Liverpool tie was just a bit silly, and the Liverpool-Real Madrid was so one-sided. No offence meant to Liverpool there.
“Considering Lazio play a back three, sending out such a narrow attack was a huge mistake”
In some other posts, you’re pointing that a 3-men defense would find it hard to cope with a 4-3-3. So, in that sense, Ranieri had his tactic right ? Any clarification ?
Hard to cope with a 4-3-3 featuring two wide players, dragging the centre-backs out of position.
But Ranieri’s “three” were so narrow, it didn’t stretch Lazio’s back three at all – see the pics o nthe article from that game for how narrow they are.
I think they played a 4-3-2-1 rather than a 4-3-3 , I saw the game and both totti and vucinic were very narrow.
I think it had more to do with it being the sort of 4-3-3 with 3 striker types up front, as opposed to the 4-3-3 that a few seasons ago might have been better understood as a 4-5-1 with wingers playing high up the field. Lazio was playing three strikers in the middle against 3 center backs, essentially, and not creating any width.
Meh, ZM beat me to it.
Manzano, the manager from Mallorca deserved the title of best manager (Midtable). What McLeish did with Birmingham is not that astonishing compared with Manzano’s work with Mallorca.
nice article, and i agree with most of the awards. but goal of the season? really? this is probably the most subjective award of all, but it was made so, so easy for man u to score that goal.
of course it was good energy, good control, and good movement, but the suicidal, lacksidasical and naive defending allowed the goal to be scored. surely a great tactical goal would be one in which a brilliant defence was opened up by a brilliant attack – a goal where absolutely shocking defending played less of a role.
perhaps joe cole vs man utd at old trafford? a far more tactical goal in my opinion, and just about as significant a goal imaginable.
as a Romanista it’s nice to see Pizarro get recognition for his immense work. And this is a great list but surely Manzano must be the coach who get’s the award for midtable award of the season. simply astonishing work with Mallorca.
Great article. Good idea, I think your choice is good and logical. Mainly the choice of the awards is new and exciting, thank you.
And keep going with your website, it’s the best I know.
And once more you have noticeable exclusion of Bundesliga teams or players. van Gaal’s job with Bayern is as impressive as any of the coaches considering the squad he had to deal with and the past eight years of mis-management. Likewise Robben’s resurgence as a player or even Magath’s turn of Schalke.
No matter that Bundesliga is narrowing down the gap for the fourth CL spot the league is just not as good as top 3, mainly because of the domination of Bayern. They may score more goals but that is because of the poor defenses in the league. Bayern were very lucky to reach the final , which even van gaal accepted. I think it needs 2 – 3 more years and better defenses to become a top 3 league.
There are poor defensive performances in La Liga as well. Not to mention the dominance of Inter in Italy and Madrid and Barca in Spain. It outweighs that of the Bundesliga. In that sense, the Bundesliga is actually a more competitive league than both Italy and Spain.
Inter dominates italy right now but there are the perennial powerhouses of milan and juve to contest against them which bundesliga needs , la liga was not a two team league till recently , remember super depor and valencia , whereas bundesliga has always had one team which has remained dominant. maybe mid table bundesliga is competitive but at the top it is not. Barca or RM will crash one of these days if they continue spending like this as even football is not immune to the recession. look at valencia , if barca and rm have a few years with bad results they will also suffer.
Juve and Milan are no longer the teams they were a couple of years ago. As a result, the rest of the league has caught up to them, leaving Inter for the most part unchallenged. The Bundesliga is a lot more competitive, look at the amount of different winners over the last couple of seasons relative to the other top three leagues.
La Liga was not a two team league until recently?
Real Madrid and Barcelona have won it a combined 51 times and been runner up 41 times. Granted there was a brief blip recently when Valencia won it twice and Deportivo once but they last won seven years ago. You can find other blips in seasons past but generally speaking it has always been between Real Madrid and Barcelona. In my lifetime (25 years) La Liga has only been won four times by teams outside of Real Madrid and Barcelona. La Liga is the very definition of a two team league.
With the financial disparity between the teams and the ability of the big two to consistently spend big there is little chance of anything changing any time soon. Unfortunately the improvement of the big two has also been met with a decline of the chasing pack. It reduces the standing of La Liga in my eyes. If people prefer to watch attacking football from lightweight creative players that is their prerogative. I personally get little pleasure from an attack orientated league which contains suspect defending at times or Barcelona using basic passing triangles and movement to walk through the league. For me football is equally about defending and when the balance shifts too much to one side I lose interest.
I miss the seasons of old when Valencia would rock up with a strong defensive system and the rest of the league would struggle when their only attacking plan was laughed away by Ayala. It will be interesting to see if Mourinho can achieve similar with Real Madrid. Barcelona have proven that an all out attacking game plan can be very effective and Real Madrid have proven that having a poor defence has a negligible impact. Will the balance shift, will opponents adapt or will La Liga simply come down to who has the better season between Ronaldo and Messi? Time will tell.
Great post.
I also think Gorosito deserved a mention for holding on to Primera until the last day of La Liga after picking up a Xerez side with a horrible record. Cheers!
Not sure that you can only mention Harry Redknapp and Del Neri as the best coaches in the CL hunt. Jean Fernandez of Auxerre did as good a job, if not better. He took a side from 8th to 3rd, increased their tally by 20 odd points, and was able to vary his tactics that ensured they beat a few of the big boys. The use of Pedretti and Birsa in alternating roles in midfield and attack was very clever. I agree that Del Neri did a top job at Sampdoria, not so sure on Redknapp, especially compared to these two. Probably also a big mention should be made for Montpellier who were promoted and finished 4th, 3 points behind Lyon in second, the work done there has been very very good.
As for the best goal, from a tactical point of view, the way Inter carved Milan open for the Motta goal is worthy of mention, drawing a player, quick passes then bang, unlike Arsenal who everyone knows, can’t defend counter attacks, it was a goal made for Rooney by the incompetence of Arsenal if we are honest.
“He took a side from 8th to 3rd, increased their tally by 20 odd points, and was able to vary his tactics that ensured they beat a few of the big boys.”
But that’s exactly what Redknapp did, albiet 4th instead of 3rd (but then its harder to go from 8th to 4th in the closed shop of the Premiership than it is to go from 8th to 3rd in the rather more open Ligue 1) so not so sure why Redknapp doesn’t deserve to be in there…
Montpellier did deserve a mention though, that’s spot on.
Spurs were aided in a weaker field of teams this season in England, even Villa or Man City could have finished 4th this year. In Ligue 1, Auxerre, of all the teams that finished in the top 6, the only team they failed to beat was Lyon, they took the rest out, compared to the squads as well, the only notable acquisition was Birsa, compared to the well stocked Spurs squad that tooled up significantly. I just don’t think Spurs and Redknapp deserve big praise for reaching 4th, with the team they have, they should be there already, Auxerre were close to the title and their squad is not even in the best 8 in Ligue 1.
Cameo of the Season:
Cesc against Aston Villa at the Emirates
Steve on the choice of Rooney’s goal you said “of course it was good energy, good control, and good movement, but the suicidal, lacksidasical and naive defending allowed the goal to be scored. surely a great tactical goal would be one in which a brilliant defence was opened up by a brilliant attack – a goal where absolutely shocking defending played less of a role. ”
What do you think of this ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyzw1QYst6Y&feature=related
OF course, this being Milan’s defence, it probably fails your requirement of a brilliant defence being involved but even then I am sure you would concede that this was a well-worked goal. Oh, and knowing your bent, I am sure you find it awkward it was scored by a Mourinho team. Irony, eh ?
A fuller and clearer version of the same clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyzw1QYst6Y&feature=related
Great article, but to be true Zaccheroni never played 3-4-1-2 with Juventus, he always employed a 4-3-1-2 system, always using a four men defensive line.
He played 3-4-3 and 3-4-1-2 when he won Serie A with Milan some years ago, not now.
He played 3-4-1-2 for three of his first four games with Juve this season though – Livorno, Genoa, Bologna.
I’m not sure it’s about the fact Real and Barca are dominating, more the fact that the chasing pack was quite so far behind.