Have England just ushered in a new era of football?
Or, at the very least, a whole new tactical approach to the game?
I’m terming it the false six. You heard it here first.
Personally, it is not a style I resonate with. But credit where credit’s due. Gareth Southgate and his band of passionate and hyper-talented merry men have given the world a tactical lesson in a whole new way to play football: without a midfield.
That’s right. No sixes. At least, no traditional definition of a six when the team has the ball.
‘But the team sheet clearly points to two sixes’ I hear you say: Kalvin Phillips and Declan Rice, two standout players of the Euros.
Good point. However, have you ever questioned where these two marquee players are when England have controlled possession of the ball?
The answer: not at all where you’d expect your defensive midfielders to ever be on a football field.
Kalvin Phillips and Declan Rice are two of England’s stars this tournament. (Photo by Carl Recine – Pool/Getty Images)
In fact, they regularly retreat into the defensive line as England appear to have no interest in collecting the ball through the centre.
Rather, the tactic appears to be to shift the ball in a U or horseshoe-type fashion from right to left, left to right, and back again.
The wing backs push high. The seven and 11 even higher. And the key element of this move is they shift it quickly. Like a U back, out the other side, and then up the opposite wing.
At this point, when they receive it, the wide players then make a decision. Do we now have the space and freedom to get in behind?
If yes, we go!
If no, back it comes, down the sides, and around we go again. It’s actually a tactical masterclass, especially given the quality of the front players England possess.
It makes a lot of sense, and not just as an attacking piece. It also forces England’s opponents’ defensive teams to work even harder over the course of 90 minutes to reposition themselves again and again.
Forwards, back, to the side, over and over. It’s no wonder England have punished so many teams in the second half of games.
All the while, England’s sixes stay nice and fresh, ready for transitional moments, to break up attacks or push forward and strike. Or lead a five-to-seven-man central defensive block in front of goal.
This is another reason why England have conceded just the one goal – none from open play, mind you – across the whole tournament.
So do I like it? Not really.
Take me back to the mavericks and number tens of the ’90s any day of the week. Insert Jack Grealish.
However, that’s just an aesthetic preference and admittedly, it may not be a formula that gets you to a final of a Euro.
But conversely, as a coach, I love to see evolution in the game and watching the teams, players, and coaches that pioneer this evolution with success.
So hats off to Sir (to be) Gareth Southgate. You have ushered in a new era.
The six is dead. Long live the false six.
Cam Jones
Roar Rookie
Love it JB! I get what you’re saying. Perhaps this is a different topic to that of the ‘false 6’. But I see the relevance. In any case, what I’m seeing England do with their 6s (in controlled possession) is something I haven’t seen before in modern football. So perhaps another piece of evolution to add to the history you have detailed. And respect for that btw mate. Your knowledge of football history is definitely respected by this pundit!
jbinnie
Guest
CAM= there was no intent to belittle your use of the term 'false 6" it was just an advancement on the understanding that there has been many innovations in the "numbers game" over the years and usually these innovations have had a number attached to them by people with insufficient knowledge to follow the tactical development of the game. If we go back to 1930 Chapman changed the midfield of his Arsenal side to a 3 man back line thereby launching the WM formation that took root all across the world for some years. Then the Hungarians, being influenced by the pre-war Austrian team, introduced a tactic which saw the presenting as 4-4-2 when defending, and 3-3-4 when attacking. At the same time Brazil ,with a plethora of brilliant players morphed into a 4-2-4 formation which, due to a gifted player called Zagallo, who relished in going back into defence when needed, and into attack when required, so by 1957, Brazil were using a 4-3-3/4-2-4 formation. Now an emerging nation began to experiment with the organised movement in playing positions during games and the ever thoughtful press termed it "total football" so by 1974 Holland were regarded as the top tactical nation in the world. Students of the game knew better, for all this numerical positional experimentation could be traced back to a theory proposed by a Swedish coach in the early 1930's,Hugo Miesl ,who with the help of a British "rebel" coach Hogan. was introducing what was known as "continental football" into the game. Strangely for the history of the game it was Russian coaches who began to advance on Miesl's idea and through men like Arkadiev, Maslov, Malofeev, and Lobanovskyi saw the apparently quick rise of Russian football into top European comps. The essence of Miesl's idea was that out field players should be able to play in any position and to do this was to use a "whirl" to play the game. Meisl also made public that to achieve this was almost impossible, but coaches have been trying to prove him wrong for years now, hence the almost constant changing of formations. Cheers jb.
Cam Jones
Roar Rookie
Yes, perhaps, the difference here being the DMs aren’t (or rarely) looking to collect the ball in the middle third to advance the game forward. As they are not part of the desired ‘horse shoe’ ball movement.
Cam Jones
Roar Rookie
Interesting thoughts JB! Slightly different topic to what I was commentating on with the 6’s - or if you don’t like the ‘number reference’ (only used for simplicity of reference being common modern coaching language) it’s referring to the role of the Defensive / Deep lying midfielders who would traditionally look to collect the ball off the back four facing forward to advance the game forward - being non existent when in controlled possession. Waz threw in the over lapping centre half. And role of the centre half’s. But it’s not really relevant to the ‘false 6’ concept. Love your passion for the history of football though! Especially the sweeper (or the libero) one of my favourite tactical roles in the history of the game! This one, however, was all about the ball movement of the team and the players roles in that relevant to their position. In England’s case, the 6s not really being part of it, outside of bouncing balls backward or sideways to keep the momentum of the desired ball movement.
jbinnie
Guest
Waz - "Young" Cam gives away his age in this comment. The "first" of the "attacking centre half's" goes back to the days when the centre-half was actually a midfield player and it was the Arsenal manager of the 30's,Chapman, who moved his center-half back to play in a position between the full backs was in fact creating what was to become the worldwide accepted W-M formation. The first man to change that formation drastically was an Austrian Ernst Ocwirk who played in the late 1940,'s and plied his trade as a player both in Austria and Italy. The next "notable " to adopt this tactic was the world class Franz Beckenbaur who played officially as a "sweeper" in the West German team but loved to move into an attack role using his skills to get him into dangerous positions. The rather strange thing about this "numbers game" is the fact that it is widely thought that the move to play where the ball took you originated in players moving into different positions while the game progressed. This thinking had as it's basis another Austrian theory by a student of human movement and also a successful football manager , Hugo Miesl ,who put together the Austrian pre-war " Wunderteam" which also saw another tactical innovation with the first 'deep-lying centre- forward", Sindelar , a converted playmaker, into a more dangerous attack position. This was a tactic copied unashamedly by the great Hungarian team of the early 50's when they did the same with Hidegkuti. Since those days the "numbers game. has exploded to now where we have descriptions like Cam's "false 6" to contend with. Think of the roles played by Cruyff, Zagallo,and Modric to name a few and you start to get the true picture which is probably best described as "organised disorder" from the brain of Russian coach Boris Arkadiev. Cheers jb.
Viscount Crouchback
Roar Rookie
That's the Continental European way - but in England, the defensive midfielder is traditionally number 4.
Cam Jones
Roar Rookie
Great question Dezzy! Numbers in football definitely aren’t as definitive as rugby. But there are used as a positional indicator, especially for coaches. It runs in numerical order out of the back. The 6 is then then first player / position named in midfield as the most defensive. If a team decides to play with 2x 6s it simply means they are playing with 2x defensive midfielders.
Dezzy
Roar Rookie
When I think of 'sixes' I think of fighter pilots with 'bogies' on their tail, but then I'm a bit of a soccer noob. I take it a 'six' is a defensive midfielder, but why are they called 'sixes'? In rugby each position has a different number, so how can there be more than one six?
Cam Jones
Roar Rookie
Agreed. Definite similarities in thinking here. For sure. The specific difference with the ‘false 6’ being that they start in a position. Then disappear from that position when on the ball. Or at least disappear from providing the usual movement and linkages to play that a normal 6 would. Just like a ‘false 9’. As opposed to an overlapping full back who looks to take advantage of the space when the opportunity presents itself and then makes unconventional actions to create overloads. In this case, there is very little decision making needed by the 6s. They simply know they are not part of the attacking build up when in controlled possession. Unless they drop into the backline. Or a rare opportunity and bit of space presents itself.
Waz
Roar Rookie
Robbie Fowler did the same thing at Roar (not sure about your “false 6” thingy but let’s go with it) but Robbie introduced an “overlapping Centre back. The point being someone from the defensive line was not where you’d expect them to be when the teams in possession. I’d suggest the similarities point to England’s version of our National Curriculum and that their young coaches are implementing what they’ve been taught. The logic is simple: commit large numbers of players to one side of the field you force an overload. If you can’t use the overload to break through, you at least have the numbers to keep possession …. And you then go back, go wide, and go down the opposite side of the field where there is space because your opponent committed numbers to prevent the overload working on the other side. The key is defensive players (DM’s, CB’s) have to be more advanced to create the required overloads.