Valentine’s Day, 2021. A little more in love with the team. We’re not safe arithmetically, but in practice we’re virtually there.
The thing that’s made the difference I think is tactical variation. When I want to refresh the tactics I usually go for a big change in formation. But this time I’ve had the patience to play around with small-scale variation. Moving a player here, tweaking a role there.
So the base rock has been the tried and tested 5-3-2 sweeper formation.
The variations have been with the strikers: sometimes two-up; sometimes one-up with the second withdrawn to shadow striker.
And with the full-backs: sometimes wing-back support; sometimes wing-back defence; and sometimes full-back roles.
Doesn’t sound much, but if you worked out the total number of permutations that permits, it’s considerable.
This feels like a Japanese way of managing. A matter of quiet and subtle refinements.
Miniaturism has more to be said for it than I’d realised.
