By Merlion
July 17 2011

1 – RINUS MICHELS’ CIRCULATION FOOTBALL Arsene Wenger has nurtured and rebuilt since 2006/07 season with “Total Football” as the main style. After 5 years, this 2011/12 team is expected to begin to master what Rinus Michels called ‘ball circulation’ something not many teams can do. This article is based on an extract from that section “Circulation Football” in that book (extracts from the book in blue)

Rinus Michels: “Team Building - The Road to Success” 

This strategy is distinguished by the ability to circulate the ball from player to player until the correct moment arises for the attacking phase and thus, the ball can be played deep. That moment can arise very quickly, but it can also take many passes over many stations. It places a high demand on the build-up qualities of the team, together with high-quality positional play. This is a tough assignment, especially if the opponents pressure you constantly. 

Circulation football is linked to two guidelines: 

- It is a means to be able to play the ball deep and not as an aim in itself; 

- It has to be linked to a healthy dose of opportunistic football via for example, the lucky pass and the cross. 

Fast combinations and excellent positional play are a must - Circulation football! 

The coach who “forgets” these guidelines when playing circulation football, chooses to play boring football without many surprise, and thus easy to defend. 

In the golden era of Ajax, they were able to perform this style to perfection, just as FC Barcelona can now. 

In comparison to Spanish players, they were trained in the principles of this style while they were young players. A structural approach in the youth education system of Barcelona could lead to some success, but a top-team such as Barcelona will always be dependent upon the global market for its players.

KICK AND RUN 

The counterpart of circulation football is the refined kick and rush football as seen mostly in UK and Norway. However, top-teams from these countries are putting more elements of circulation football in their game. As coaches though, we cannot forget that the spectators in England enjoy watching these kick and run games. There is always something happening around the penalty box.

(Unlike watching 3 seasons of Arsenal’s Crab Football with 20 to 30+ passes around the box with the final pass invariably hitting a defender’s leg, body or butt)

Those great 1970s and 1980s’ Liverpool teams,  and Fergie Fledglings, plus Ferguson’s title-winning teams combined “Kick and Run”, “English Grits” and “Circulation Football”.

Sadly, Arsene Wenger had under-estimated teams like Bolton, Stoke City, BRUM, S*CUMS, etc. which beat Arsenal using two elements, “kick and run” and “opportunism” plus surprising, they do play an element of “Circulation Football” as well.

The day that Arsene Wenger acknowledges that lower premiership teams know how to play “Circulation Football” as well and exploited “opportunism” to beat Arsenal, is that day that Arsenal FC will beat all these teams at any time of the day of the week with its superior brand of “Circulation Football”; like FC Barcelona 2010/11 beating any premiership teams.

Sadly, Arsene Wenger had forgotten our French Spine’s “Kick and Run” strategy that within four touches of the ball from box to box; an Arsenal player was in a clear position to shoot at goal. This is the 2^nd Strategy of “Circulation Football” – play deep ball.]

OPORTUNISM

Opportunism is the 3^rd strategy for the build-up. There is a need in football for a surprising action in the build-up and the attack. This is possible through opportune plays. You need to have the courage in the attacking third of the field to sometimes “blindly” cross the ball and not choose to play a square pass or a backwards pass. It sometimes seems like they [Dutch team] only want to score a goal out of very elaborate combination play. Perhaps they will succeed at times, but most of the time it does not work.

Isn’t that the perennial complaints against current Arsene Wenger’s team a “over-elaboration” and “attempting to walk the ball into the net”? That one through ball or visionary pass will do instead of indulging in 30+ “Crab Football” around the box?

In the predictable “Crab Football” style we are playing now, there is no opportunism, thus it lacked the surprise element. And it was rubbed deep into us at Nou Camp where we couldn’t marshal a single shot on target, nor were able to string three consecutive passes together!]

I believe that when you have a chance to cross the ball into the box, that you should take full advantage of that situation and play the cross. I have had discussions about this with outside forwards during my time at Ajax. The player wondered what good it would do if he crossed the ball when there were no teammates in the box. I made it clear to him that this was not his problem. When nobody is positioned in front of the goal after a good cross is given, I can confront the other forwards with this. When the cross is not given at all, then the next time they will not make the run on time.

[And that was what Clichy, Sagna and Walcott were attempting to do – crossing the ball from the flank. But it was awful and utterly predictable that opponents would just wait patiently in the box in anticipation for the predicted cross to swing in.

Worst, we had a bunch of cowardly lions that absolutely refused to go into harm’s way in the box going for headers!]

However, if there was a disappointing score in the game with only 20 minutes to play, then we would switch to a more opportune approach, namely, to a more “kick and run” strategy. When such a situation occurred, the team had to get the ball into and around the penalty box as soon as possible, preferably with crosses from the wings. My sweeper would act as an extra forward in the centre; he was strong in the air. The opponents were constantly put under pressure in and around the opponents’ box. There were only three defenders left over who were not allowed to take part in the build-up or the attack.

The advantage of this “English Style” football was that the crowd would get behind the team, because we were constantly putting attacking pressure on the opponents. This style of play also prevented the ball from being lost in an early stage in the midfield. This does happen a lot in the final minutes of a game, if you are losing and sticking to a deliberate build-up.

FINAL PHASE ATTACK

The team tactical guidelines for the final phase are:

a)   Make sure there is an optimal force of players inside and around the box. When the ball is crossed from the right flank, the left forward is often still too far away. Cutting inside towards the penalty box is too often are also not performed.

b)   An outside forward who is also a good header – but also a defender or a midfielder in that position – is worth his weight in gold. Again, it is a matter of specialised individual training and the willingness to work on this aspect as a player.

c)   The teamwork between the central and the second forward is very important. Unfortunately, this is often not developed in great detail. This is also a piece of the team building process. The willingness of these forwards to gear their actions to one-another, to serve the best interest of the team, is a difficult assignment for them. They both want to score goals themselves. However, it is all about playing as team efficiently as possible. Usually there is one forward that anticipates first and the second forward has to react to these actions immediately.

d) The players in the second line, usually the midfielders, must quickly take up a position to be able to receive a pass being played back or to intercept a cleared ball.

e) The third line functions as the cover defence and must stay involved and ready to act.

 f) Another guideline is: “never dribble unnecessarily into a wall of defenders.” If the ball is lost, the opponents will have an ideal situation to play the counter attack, because the players of the team that lost the ball will still be moving away from their own goal. When possession is lost in that situation, it will be deadly. So, when dealing with this wall of defenders, it is very important to act in a team efficient way. This is especially true for the men with the ball.

 g) It is often annoying to see how even top-notch players can still kill dangerous looking attacks by not being alert enough in recognising the off-side trap. They only have eyes for the ball and themselves. They do not notice the actions of the opponents.

 In this attacking phase, high demands are placed on the creative qualities of the individual players. However, guidelines are necessary to direct the complex traffic in the crowded penalty box, which ask for quick actions and reactions.

A style of play without opportunism will usually not be accepted by the crowd. It is too boring and sterile to watch.

PART 2 Here