
The fundamentals of tactical operations have not changed since the dawn of warfare: deploying, employing and maneuvering forces on a small scale in difficult terrain. Heights, rivers, swamps, and passes are just some of the obstacles that must be accounted for.
The 2020 season revealed how football tactics have evolved, leaving a lasting mark on the sport’s landscape. This dynamic evolution has in turn influenced football predictions, and shaped wider narratives.
Offense
The evolution of offensive football strategies has been the most dramatic of all. By the mid-1960s, the single wing formation had largely given way to the T-formation, which ushered in the era of the modern quarterback. By 1966, Tom Landry’s 4-3 and Oklahoma 5-2 defenses were widely used. Weeb Ewbank perfected the mechanics of a pocket to protect Johnny Unitas or Joe Namath. Sid Gillman put the finishing touches on run plays that became the basis of today’s West Coast offense.
Betting on football is a game governed as much by arithmetic and geometry as it is by the laws of physics: There are a limited number of ways to arrange twenty-two players on a plane, and even when accounting for rules that further limit the possibilities, someone somewhere has already thought of everything. The goal is to find the combinations that give you the best chance of success, to exploit the weaknesses of your opponent.
Those weaknesses, of course, include the speed and size of the player. Using misdirection to get great match-ups and blown coverages is an essential part of every offense, and the best offensive players have an arsenal of tricks at their disposal. In fact, it’s a strategy as old as warfare itself: placing the enemy on the horns of a dilemma, forcing him to choose between his own weakness and your strength.
Defense
Defensive strategies are crucial to the success of a football team. Effective defending requires strategic positioning, clear communication, and precise tackling. It also involves limiting an opponent’s ability to score goals.
Coaches must train their players to master defensive tactic. This includes teaching them about defensive positioning, the roles of each defender, and how to communicate effectively as a team. It is also important to teach players how to tackle properly so that they can prevent opposing players from scoring goals.
The word “tactic” is derived from the Greek taxis, which means order or arrangement. Xenophon was the first Greek historian to use the term in the 10th Century to describe how soldiers were arranged for battle. It was later applied to military strategy in general, as exemplified by the famous Tactica, a book that was written under the direction of the Byzantine emperor Leo VI the Wise in the early 10th century.
In football, tactical approaches describe the interaction of different technical and physical activities by a team during a match (Fernandez-Navarro et al., 2016; Hewitt et al., 2018; Lago-Penas et al., 2018). They can be categorized into various types depending on the competition scenario that a team is facing.
Special Teams
Special teams strategies have evolved along with the game. Special teams are becoming more important, even though they are not as complex as offense and defense. A team’s punter, kicker and long-snapper can make or break a game. These positions aren’t as visible as the quarterback or runningback, but coaches have learned to expect just as much from these players.
In the earliest of times, the oldest field tactics were those relying on concealment and surprise–often called ambush and raid. These tactics are closely related to hunting and remain popular among many tribal societies. After reconnoitering and stalking the target, warriors usually take up hidden positions behind cover in order to wait for the signal to attack.
The most advanced field tactics, on the other hand, depend on the coordination of a large number of forces. These coordinated attacks are launched in different directions to split enemy ranks and force him to open up. These sophisticated attacks require a lot of training and practice.
The Future
The technological advances have given sports teams the chance to fine-tune tactics based on data. Video analysis allows coaches to analyze the strategies of their opponents and prepare their own. Sports science tools, such as sports injury assessments and performance monitoring, allow players to improve by reducing their injury risks and improving overall fitness levels.
These tools also help coaches and athletes identify areas for improvement to ensure they remain competitive. As a result, the modern game of football has evolved beyond simply being a sport of pure skill and power. It now requires a high level of tactical fluidity and adaptability.
As a result, many teams today employ different formations throughout the course of a match to gain an advantage over their opponents. In addition, defenders and midfielders must possess the ability to switch between defensive and attacking roles in order to support the attack and protect their team’s defense.
Some research has suggested, however, that these tactics could be linked to a higher risk of head/brain injury among footballers. These studies have been criticized because they use subjective measures of heading frequency, do not consider pre-season or the training regimes for football players, study professional male cohorts, and fail to control for possible confounding factors like player self-selection, or age [16]. Further longitudinal studies are needed to delineate current ambiguities and to establish whether protective strategies actually reduce the frequency of head impacts in football.