Football is an ever-evolving sport.
It used to be that teams lined up with mostly attacking players and only a few big, strong men at the back.
Tactical development saw the shape of teams change in the second half of the 20th century, with Italian sides like Inter being the best example of prioritizing defending.
You may not be able to speak Italian, but if you are a football fan, you will know what the word “catenaccio” means.
If you want to know what is the best sportsbook it is be because you have an idea of what team you want to bet on.
Plenty of different markets are available these days, but the match result wager is a perennial favourite.
The team chosen is usually decided on its ability to stop opponents from scoring goals.
How teams go about that has changed dramatically over the last decade in particular.
Up until about 30 years ago, coaches generally believed that the opposition would not be able to hurt their team if the ball was in the other half.
The idea was that you could not concede if the ball was a long way away from your own goal.
This situation could be forced in a number of ways but one of the favorites – especially in the English game – was to play a long ball up to a big attacking striker.
If they could take the ball there would be a chance to score a goal.
But even if they were unable to keep possession, at least the ball was not in a dangerous position.
The best example of this long-ball game was from a goal kick.
A keeper would take the kick and launch it as far into the opposing half as possible.
These days that tactic is as rare as a coach not using any of his designated substitutions during a game.
We are all now very used to seeing goalkeepers and defenders playing the ball out from the back and keeping possession.
Fans of a certain age can get very frustrated with this style of play, and when it goes wrong, it is very easy to see why.
Teams still persist with this risk-and-reward tactic; however, the idea of keeping possession and creating the space to start an attack is far more important.
There are a number of reasons why playing out from the back has become the default setting for goal kicks.
The first step came way back in 1992 when the back pass law came into effect.
This outlawed keepers from picking up a back pass and forced them to become more proficient with their kicking—with both feet.
Then, in 2019, a new law was passed that stated goal kicks no longer needed to leave the penalty box.
This opened up the potential for shorter passes between players in the hope of creating that all-important space.
Now it is far more common to see a defender playing the first pass to the keeper from a goal kick, with further short passes to follow.
However, another development in the last few years suggests that a rethink might be needed.
It used to be that the team that did not take the goal kick gave its opponents room to play the ball out.
This was particularly common if the team taking the goal kick was deemed superior.
But coaches realized that this was precisely what the good teams wanted and an aggressive press was the answer.
This brought a new risk for the team without the ball, of course.
But the rewards were excellent, with the opportunity to dispossess the team taking the goal kick very close to the goal.
When things go wrong, they go very wrong – and that is precisely why some fans still moan when they see their side attempting to play the ball out from the back from a goal kick.
It is not as though we are seeing more goals scored.
But we do see more embarrassing goals scored.
Whenever a mistake is made – with a goal being the result – it is always deemed an error that doesn’t need to be made.
These mistakes have deterred most sides from playing the ball out, but there has been a subtle shift.
Nottingham Forest has taken the EPL by storm this season, transforming from a team habitually battling against relegation, to one that has qualified for European football for the first time in 30 years.
Some noticeable components of Forest’s play are that the players are more than happy not to be in possession – and that the keeper and defenders are not averse to “knocking it long” when required.
Pundits and commentators (particularly ex-players who would never have contemplated playing short passes from the back in their day) have been only too happy to suggest that Forest’s success is down to its decision to ditch the new style of playing.
The reality is far more complex, but it also suggests a new way of doing things—one that might signal the end of playing out from the back on a universal scale.
There is no suggestion that we are about to see a return to route one, long ball football.
Forest was never a team that resorted to that style of playing, even when it was the default style, and it is not going to change now.
What is more likely is that a hybrid model will become more popular.
Possession football is still important, with risk and reward at the forefront.
But that risk will also include longer passes.
These passes will be carefully considered and precise.
But they will force opponents to think twice about the way they press.
Once again football tactics will evolve – and coaches will have to reevaluate how to get the better of their opponents all over again.
