What was total football

Ajax played the most fluid football after deploying Total Football, and completed a perfect home record 46 wins, 0 losses and draws for two consecutive seasons and They suffered just one defeat in the whole of the Eredivisie season, and celebrated four titles in — winning two league titles, the KNVB Cup, the European Cup and the Intercontinental Cup. Ajax, alongside Real Madrid, were clubs who adopted Total Football in Europe early on, though the philosophy was also used in other countries and leagues — such as the Austrian Wunderteam in the s, Argentina side 'La Maquina' of River Plate in the s, and English side Burnley in the s as well as Brazilian side Santos in the s.

Under manager Harry Potts, Burnley had adopted the Total Football system in English football where "every player could play in every position" which led them to win the Englsh league title.

In Argentina, River Plate forged an excellent team that were dubbed 'La Maquina' The Machine who were led by Carlos Munoz, Jose Manuel Moreno, Adolofo pedernera and Angel Labruno — who had perfected the idea of the 'false nine' playing style and a frequent change of attacking positions and formations. For their efforts, La Maquina won several Argentine and international accolades and inspired Hungary's Golden Team of the Summer Olympics pictured — who then went on to lose the World Cup final to West Germany in a narrow scoreline.

Johan Cruyff is the player who is the most synonymous with the philosophy of Total Football, having excelled in his role as a forward for Ajax under manager Rinus Michels in the mids. Cruyff was one of the most lauded players in his time and is still revered today — known for his iconic 'Cruyff Turn', a trademark feint of his that has been widely replicated in the modern game. Though Cruyff was initially fileded as a centre-forward, his manager allowed him to be deployed freely around the pitch and was not set in one permanent position — and he used his technical skill and intelligence in reading the state of play to take advantage of the other team's opposition and use space to create chances.

Cruyff's teammates then adapted their own play to suit him accordingly, and switched positions between themselves to make sure that tactical roles were always filled. Total Football. Rinus Michels, the Dutch national team coach of the s, is usually credited with inventing "Total Football". What is the pronunciation of Total Football?

Browse tot. Test your vocabulary with our fun image quizzes. Image credits. Word of the Day sweetheart. Blog Outsets and onsets! Read More. November 08, Order Philosophies. That desire to see space freely created from nothing is, Ben Lyttleton suggests, deeply hewn into the national psyche of the Dutch, where the landscape is as flat and pitiless as a pitch and territory has always come at a premium.

Such adaptability, to align fruitfully with product, must be propelled by a considerable imagination — a freedom of the mind. Nowadays we often bewail in footballers the homogeneity of their character, their lack of willingness — understandably, perhaps — to speak freely off the pitch, and, occasionally, when the going gets tough and tactical schema go out the window, to pull up their socks and force a result on it.

Such supplicatory natures could not be identified in the stars of the Oranje ; their respective vices attest to this. Read How Amsterdam changed the world of football forever. But they are exceptions. If players of such adaptability can still flourish, there must be other reasons explaining a continued preference for a general tactical rigidity in football.

One abiding similarity between the schools of total football thus far cited is that they all reigned when the pace of the sport itself was more languid. Watching Ajax as they rampage through the lines during their European campaigns of the early s, we can consider that the space they enjoy is partially derived from their explosively superior fitness levels relative to their opponents — while we might get misty-eyed about Ajaxian artistry, this was by no means walking football.

Once that speed became standardised, defending against it becomes fundamental. As with pace, attacking with width and depth can be attained with fewer touches and with much greater directness. It is no good to have a post-interchange central midfielder filling it at centre-back, or an inside-forward behind an advanced full-back, when trying to defend against such speed, particularly in the likely event that all players in your team are not of identical defensive skill or physical prowess.

Reckoning with this risk brings us to the aspect of modern Total Football that is the biggest issues. Given that Total Football remains so feted, and given that its fundaments, from touch and positional awareness to soundness of movement, are still taught aggressively at grassroots level by progressive nations, there is some suggestion that the reason for its relative disappearance may have a wider cultural impetus than just a dearth of able players or an excessive onus on physical prowess.