The transformation to total football

[MOwl]

Since his arrival in 2015, Carlos Carvalhal has revolutionised the style of play at Sheffield Wednesday. Upon first being appointed, he was branded as an 'unknown' by expert pundits, but has subsequently planted a continental style of play upon The Owls - something which, when at its best, enthrals both neutrals and fans of the club. 

 

Following our match against Brentford last night, something struck me. I've often wondered who, and what, Carlos bases our style of play upon - and I think I've cracked it. 

 

Total football.

 

Now before you all scoff, let me explain.

 

In recent matches, a lot of our success has come from link-ups and partnerships. For the first time in quite a while, we lined up with the same side in consecutive matches.

 

But what particularly struck me about this was the fact that so many of our line-up have played in a multitude of different positions throughout Carlos' tenure.

 

Adam Reach = left back, left wing

Ross Wallace = right wing, left wing and central midfield

Barry Bannan = left midfield, right midfield and central midfield 

Kieran Lee = everywhere

Gary Hooper = striker, attacking midfield

 

Even players like Stephen Fletcher have played on the wing (albeit, in an attacking sense rather than a traditional winger). 

 

What this provides is great fluidity. Players fill in to various different positions, and play multiple roles. And that is something which is the very definition of the style of play that is entitled total football. 

 

The similarities continue. Exponents of total football such as the late Jimmy Hogan utilised an intriguing midfield set up: a runner, a passer and a breaker.

 

Looking at last night's fixture, we lined up in the exact same fashion. Kieran Lee as the runner, Bannan as the passer and David Jones as the breaker.

 

Total football also relied heavily upon full backs who were adept at joining up with the attack and providing new avenues through opposition defences. Adam Reach and Jack Hunt do this superbly.

 

Finally, and in my opinion the key to our current play style, the role of Gary Hooper mimics the late and great Johann Cruyff. 

 

Hooper has, in recent matches, been given complete freedom to pop up where he wants. Naturally, being the fantastic goalscorer that he is, that's usually in between the opposition centre backs, but he also enjoys being a link man in midfield - which coincides with Lee's role who often replaces him inside the opposition box. 

 

Of course, that isn't to say Carlos sticks rigidly to such an unusual blueprint. We play a flat 4-4-2 out of possession, and players are still given positions to stick to..

 

BUT... While at times the performances have been lacking, results havent always been perfect and often the system fails, Carlos has revolutionised at The Owls, and created an extraordinary, unique play style that we should cherish while we can. Not many other managers in the Championship are capable of implementing such a dramatic shift in tactics, so successfully. Make the most of it folks, it's not perfect (And never will be) but you're witnessing something that is rarely seen at Hillsborough at the moment.

[bebby]

A good analysis but I'll have a pint of what you're on. 

Edited September 13, 2017 by bebby

[Mr Farrell]

Say no to drugs.

[The Dukeries Owl]

Sometimes we play "Totally crap" football 

[VictoryBell]

Ah, Willi Meisl is alive and dead an posting on OT. But The Whirl will never truly be realised until Westwood scores a hat trick.

[Tamworthowl]

Baffling!

[The Dukeries Owl]

Then there's "cupf*ckupfootball", we're great at that 

[sherlyegg]

I just likes the the 'Get In' type football best...total football is not for the unsofistikated

[pazowl55]

The role of Gary Hooper mimics the late and great Johann Cruyff.

 

Now there's a sentence I thought I would never read.

[apswfcowl]

Hope we never play non-total football because that would be very dull.

[The Dukeries Owl]

To Wednesdayok: Remember Preston 

[Fuzzy logics]

47 minutes ago, Mr Farrell said:

Say no to drugs.

 

Booo....soz Zammo

[Costello 77]

Good grief.......... again.

 

 

[james o connor]

Yeah Gary hooper is exactly like johann cruyff.... my word ! 

[Bark1062]

No wonder other fans think we are deluded, we've won 2 games on the bounce and Carlos has brought us total footballl!

[Groundhopping Owl]

There's an element of it there. Carlos likes to line us up in a 4-4-2 and at our best we zip the ball quickly down the lines of players and keep the opposition on the back foot, which is reminiscent of the early total footballing sides. Very much enjoyed the bit about the three types of midfield players, I'd never thought of it like that before but arguably that creates the most well-rounded midfield and we clearly have players for each role. A bit more physicality in there wouldn't go amiss as I worry about us being bullied by big physical sides like Leeds. A lot of midfields across football fit into that category, e.g. Rakitic, Iniesta and Busquets at Barca, or Modric, Kroos and Casemiro at Real. Also shows why Man U are struggling to make Pogba fit properly because it's hard to class him as any one of them.

 

For all those slating the OP - just because Carlos is trying to implement a more total footballing style doesn't mean we're always going to get it right. We've seen plenty of times over the last year where it's gone wrong, our passing has been far too slow and we've turned in stodgy performances.

[Eightace]

I thought we did ok last night, probably the better team but Brentford got in dangerous positions far too often.

With a bit of luck they could have won.

Dangerous game if that's total football

[dmw]

1 hour ago, MOwl said:

Since his arrival in 2015, Carlos Carvalhal has revolutionised the style of play at Sheffield Wednesday. Upon first being appointed, he was branded as an 'unknown' by expert pundits, but has subsequently planted a continental style of play upon The Owls - something which, when at its best, enthrals both neutrals and fans of the club. 

 

Following our match against Brentford last night, something struck me. I've often wondered who, and what, Carlos bases our style of play upon - and I think I've cracked it. 

 

Total football.

 

Now before you all scoff, let me explain.

 

In recent matches, a lot of our success has come from link-ups and partnerships. For the first time in quite a while, we lined up with the same side in consecutive matches.

 

But what particularly struck me about this was the fact that so many of our line-up have played in a multitude of different positions throughout Carlos' tenure.

 

Adam Reach = left back, left wing

Ross Wallace = right wing, left wing and central midfield

Barry Bannan = left midfield, right midfield and central midfield 

Kieran Lee = everywhere

Gary Hooper = striker, attacking midfield

 

Even players like Stephen Fletcher have played on the wing (albeit, in an attacking sense rather than a traditional winger). 

 

What this provides is great fluidity. Players fill in to various different positions, and play multiple roles. And that is something which is the very definition of the style of play that is entitled total football. 

 

The similarities continue. Exponents of total football such as the late Jimmy Hogan utilised an intriguing midfield set up: a runner, a passer and a breaker.

 

Looking at last night's fixture, we lined up in the exact same fashion. Kieran Lee as the runner, Bannan as the passer and David Jones as the breaker.

 

Total football also relied heavily upon full backs who were adept at joining up with the attack and providing new avenues through opposition defences. Adam Reach and Jack Hunt do this superbly.

 

Finally, and in my opinion the key to our current play style, the role of Gary Hooper mimics the late and great Johann Cruyff. 

 

Hooper has, in recent matches, been given complete freedom to pop up where he wants. Naturally, being the fantastic goalscorer that he is, that's usually in between the opposition centre backs, but he also enjoys being a link man in midfield - which coincides with Lee's role who often replaces him inside the opposition box. 

 

Of course, that isn't to say Carlos sticks rigidly to such an unusual blueprint. We play a flat 4-4-2 out of possession, and players are still given positions to stick to..

 

BUT... While at times the performances have been lacking, results havent always been perfect and often the system fails, Carlos has revolutionised at The Owls, and created an extraordinary, unique play style that we should cherish while we can. Not many other managers in the Championship are capable of implementing such a dramatic shift in tactics, so successfully. Make the most of it folks, it's not perfect (And never will be) but you're witnessing something that is rarely seen at Hillsborough at the moment.

 

Oh, what joy! One bad result at Preston and there was a clamour to sack CC which persisted until ... ooh, look ... we've won 3 out of four and are unbeaten in the league in 6! So now CC is getting elevated to a Cruyff reborn!

 

Well, it's better than the mindless CC hate. So, yeah! Let's hail CC, the Total Football man!

[MOwl]

50 minutes ago, pazowl55 said:

The role of Gary Hooper mimics the late and great Johann Cruyff.

 

Now there's a sentence I thought I would never read.

 

[Toon Owl]

1 hour ago, MOwl said:

Since his arrival in 2015, Carlos Carvalhal has revolutionised the style of play at Sheffield Wednesday. Upon first being appointed, he was branded as an 'unknown' by expert pundits, but has subsequently planted a continental style of play upon The Owls - something which, when at its best, enthrals both neutrals and fans of the club. 

 

Following our match against Brentford last night, something struck me. I've often wondered who, and what, Carlos bases our style of play upon - and I think I've cracked it. 

 

Total football.

 

Now before you all scoff, let me explain.

 

In recent matches, a lot of our success has come from link-ups and partnerships. For the first time in quite a while, we lined up with the same side in consecutive matches.

 

But what particularly struck me about this was the fact that so many of our line-up have played in a multitude of different positions throughout Carlos' tenure.

 

Adam Reach = left back, left wing

Ross Wallace = right wing, left wing and central midfield

Barry Bannan = left midfield, right midfield and central midfield 

Kieran Lee = everywhere

Gary Hooper = striker, attacking midfield

 

Even players like Stephen Fletcher have played on the wing (albeit, in an attacking sense rather than a traditional winger). 

 

What this provides is great fluidity. Players fill in to various different positions, and play multiple roles. And that is something which is the very definition of the style of play that is entitled total football. 

 

The similarities continue. Exponents of total football such as the late Jimmy Hogan utilised an intriguing midfield set up: a runner, a passer and a breaker.

 

Looking at last night's fixture, we lined up in the exact same fashion. Kieran Lee as the runner, Bannan as the passer and David Jones as the breaker.

 

Total football also relied heavily upon full backs who were adept at joining up with the attack and providing new avenues through opposition defences. Adam Reach and Jack Hunt do this superbly.

 

Finally, and in my opinion the key to our current play style, the role of Gary Hooper mimics the late and great Johann Cruyff. 

 

Hooper has, in recent matches, been given complete freedom to pop up where he wants. Naturally, being the fantastic goalscorer that he is, that's usually in between the opposition centre backs, but he also enjoys being a link man in midfield - which coincides with Lee's role who often replaces him inside the opposition box. 

 

Of course, that isn't to say Carlos sticks rigidly to such an unusual blueprint. We play a flat 4-4-2 out of possession, and players are still given positions to stick to..

 

BUT... While at times the performances have been lacking, results havent always been perfect and often the system fails, Carlos has revolutionised at The Owls, and created an extraordinary, unique play style that we should cherish while we can. Not many other managers in the Championship are capable of implementing such a dramatic shift in tactics, so successfully. Make the most of it folks, it's not perfect (And never will be) but you're witnessing something that is rarely seen at Hillsborough at the moment.