Talk:Association football tactics and skills

Article merged: See old talk-page here —Preceding unsigned comment added by VirtualSteve (talk • contribs) 10:25, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

acted injury roll
Would you consider an "acted injury roll" (or whatever the proper term is in English) as a "tactic", or otherwise, is there a Wikipedia page for the action? 惑乱 分からん 23:27, 14 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Simulation is not really a tactic but rather an infringement of the rules.--Tiresais 16:46, 10 July 2006 (UTC)
 * It is called flopping in th US

you spellt the wrong!!!!! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.44.212.134 (talk) 16:45, 4 October 2011 (UTC)

Mixing individual tactics and team tactics
Team tactics and individual tactics are two rather seperate issues, and the two seem somewhat mixed together at the moment. Maybe the two could be separated into two articles. Possible new names are "Football (soccer) strategy", "Soccer strategy" and "Soccer tactics". Also, it would be nice to get expert help on common team tactics. In particular, explaining stuff like for example direct-ball and long-ball tactics, marking defense and zone defense; plus their justifications and criticism of them. Narssarssuaq 15:02, 5 July 2006 (UTC)


 * More specifically, I'd like this article to be named "Football (soccer) individual tactics and skills" and another, new article to be named "Football (soccer) team tactics". In the latter, stuff like defending styles (man-man, zone defense), attacking styles (counter-attacks, long-ball, kick-and-run, direct-ball, continental style etc. and their justifications), free kick and corner kick tactics plus the concept of space should be discussed, and formation should be mentioned. I hope it can be written on a level as professional and technical as possible, though with abundant hyperlinks so even beginners may understand. Narssarssuaq 12:31, 6 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Point taken but I wonder if there needs to be a separation at all. Individual skills are an important part of team tactics. Maradona's passing skills for example used such individual techniques as playing the ball into space ahead of a teammate, or finding the free man directly, but his pass to Burruchaga for the final goal of the 1986 Cup represented team tactics. Jose Luis Brown's fine opening header in the Final was an individual technique, but it also represents depth in attack, for Brown was a defender moving up from a deep position. Furthermore the score came off a set-piece move, itself a team tactic, and was caused in part by a foul on Maradona, and a mistimed movement by the German goalkeeper. Individual and team play blend together, they can be very hard to separate. The individual section is very small. It can stay that way. All it needs are some more guidelines on various techniques, like avoiding going over the top of the ball on a tackle, or the importance of moving into space. In the meanwhile, team tactics can be expanded. If a separate individual article provides indepth content and doesn't become a short stub it might make a difference.


 * The way the article has developed, there seems to be less need for any division now. Narssarssuaq 11:52, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

Rewrite in progress
I'm creating images for each tactic and going to re-jiggify this article, wish me luck!--Tiresais 16:21, 10 July 2006 (UTC)
 * It's a little better, will continue to work on this periodically, any help is appreciated.--Tiresais 16:45, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Goalkeeper strategy?
I think this page could use a section on strategy specific to goalkeeping, as it's quite different from that employed by the rest of the team on both offense and defense. I would be happy to help out with this. Any thoughts? --Othersider 05:17, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

I guess something could be said of the leadership role a goalkeeper plays in organizing the defense. Perhaps mention different styles of penalty saving and the mind games that precede the kick. Bobbyfletch85 23:18, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

Some keepers may play a bit of a 'sweeper' role. IIRC Jens Lehmann for Arsenal (aiding his back line's high offside trap style) and Edwin Van der Sar for Ajax are two past examples. Peoplesunionpro 16:42, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

This is also a space to briefly outline (as was done for field player) the skill set of keepers. Quickness and agility (including charging in one-on-one) of Campos etc. Positioning and judgment of Schmichael or other top keepers that have played past their youth. Catching and goal coverage (including diving and footwork) of a Howard or Cech. I'm just mentioning a smattering that would outline the skill set "specific to goalkeepers" that is brought up in the introduction to the "Skills" section. I'd also second the thoughts listed above regarding leadership and organization (particularly in the set up of the defense for set-pieces). Could even mention keepers are often considered "a bit crazy" as is probably needed to want the job that asks one to be the last line of defense and to put your head in harm's way while winning a ball from an opponent's foot. If we have sufficient citation in mind I'd also be happy to help with the writing of an entry. RGW 03:16, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

Rewrite of defensive tactics
I've rewritten the defensive tactics part, and even given a reference. It's now very structured. I hope it's appreciated. We still need to write something about man-to-man defense and defensive set pieces tactics. I retained some of the existing text for this, but most of it doesn't hold encyclopedic quality. As for goalkeeper strategy/skills, we should find some goalkeeper who knows something about this. Narssarssuaq 02:06, 19 November 2006 (UTC) Right now, the attacking tactics section is in need for improvement, to reach the same level of the defensive bit. Narssarssuaq 19:24, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Attacking tactics
We need well-referenced material here, watch out for WP:OR. Does anyone know of any sources that many be used? Narssarssuaq 15:46, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

Updatated info
As you have surely noticed i have put more noteworthy links to advocate that long ball should be a seperate articleDwanyewest 11:47, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Deleted biased part of Fair play or foul play.
Section was talking about 2006 World Cup. And writer was biased on France's side. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.96.180.214 (talk) 02:41, 13 April 2007 (UTC).

Defending - first, second and third defenders
so much as I agree with the majority of this article, im not convinced by one of the strategies of defending. It suggests in the article that well organised teams will try to force teams to play through the middle. This isnt necessarily true in my opinion. If a team is poor in the middle defensively, why would they want to force a team through the middle? also, defending styles depends heavily on where the opposition have the ball. If for example, a winger is attacking the full back, he will want to show him the line if he is anywhere near the 18yard box. but, if the winger is in his own half, the full back my not even close the winger down, or perhaps try to force him into a congested midfield area. Nonetheless, the point is clear, tactics and defending strategies cannot be determined so generally. William Kitchen

You tube link removal
1 link removed - Clip contains TV footage - No indication from clip information or uploader profile that uploaders has right to footage concerned, or is connected with the production entities concerned. Sfan00 IMG (talk) 13:54, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

Long Ball
I believe that I have provided enough references and is distinct enough to to be split and have its own article as long ball is a well known and used piece of soccer terminology. Dwanyewest (talk) 00:40, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Goodwork. If you leave at least 1 paragraph in the main article on the long ball that should be enough to point readers to the new, more comprehensive article. I have created a diagram showing a quick counterattack longball Strike that can go in either writeup. I plugged in into the new article for now. Enriquecardova (talk) 05:26, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

I think the long ball word should be redirected to the long ball article can someone redirect it for me please? Dwanyewest (talk) 09:43, 24 May 2008 (UTC)

Individual abilities
I rewrote the section a week ago (using another ip-adress). An stand-alone article is recommended. (212.242.213.150 (talk) 11:53, 6 June 2008 (UTC))

Substitutions
I added a comment about substituions used as a time consuming tactic late in match. Elaboration or rephrasing is recommended. (212.242.213.150 (talk) 12:09, 6 June 2008 (UTC))

Zidane Comment
The comment about Zidane after the "mental strength" skill is unnecessary and definitely not objective. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.126.228.194 (talk) 00:46, 6 September 2009 (UTC)

I definitely agree with my predecessor here, also because this is not an example for a lack of "mental strength", but rather for priorities (family honor over soccer). One would argue that Zidane consciously decided to react the way he did, knowing quite well that he was going to be red-carded for it (I do not intend to idealize his action, I am only assessing the situation differently than the author). Also the source provided does not underline the given assumption in any way, as no information or hint to causation is given in the last sentence, it only says: "Zidane [...] was sent off for the headbutt and Italy subsequently won on penalties" (http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=454343&cc=5739).

A better example for "mental strength" could be Trezeguet missing the penalty later on in the game of issue, although one could again conclude differently in favor of "tough luck" or otherwise.. Khalil H. (talk) 20:54, 11 October 2009 (UTC) Khalil H.

Not really a description of tactics worldwide
This doesn't come close to covering the different tactics and playing mentalities used outside the UK. Just thought I'd point that out. 99.234.182.107 (talk) 17:02, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

Gegenpressing
I was surprised, as I'm sure others have been, to find no Wiki article on the tactical approach of Gegenpressing. It is an approach that has gained considerable media coverage; certainly enough has been written about it to support a decent article on here. Such an article would be of benefit to people who, like me, have seen the term used in the media but had to research it on the internet to understand it.

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Article needs cleaning up
I added a few clean-up tags to the article. The main problems are that the tone of the article is often not encyclopedic, and most of the sections have few or no citations. There's a lot of good information in this article but in its current form it does not resemble an encyclopedia article. Iafisher (talk) 01:28, 8 July 2020 (UTC)