Yet another article praising our style of play

[Balham]

This time it's the Guardian's chief tactical writer, Jonathan Wilson.

Shift from power to possession allows Chris Wilder to set centre-backs free | Jonathan Wilson

Sheffield United’s innovative tactics are derived from the influence of Pep Guardiola and changes in the laws

www.theguardian.com

 

[LoughboroBlade]

Nice to see a shout-out in that piece for Squirrel-Kill Knill, the brains behind the tactical innovation.

That said, I do wish people would give it a rest. We’ve been doing this for over 3 years now, so to keep labelling it as innovative suggests that football doesn’t exist unless it happens in the Premier League. This is the 4th season we’ve deployed this tactic – the fact it’s news to a good many is representative of the ignorance of many that just follow the top leagues.

 

[Tom Bott]

Squirrelgate lest we forget.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2012/sep/05/scunthorpe-leagueonefootball

 

[LoughboroBlade]

Squirrelgate lest we forget.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2012/sep/05/scunthorpe-leagueonefootball

And special mention to the lesser-known later plea to Scunthorpe fans:

Scunthorpe United plea to fans not to wear any 'squirrel attire' ahead

Knill collided with a squirrel which sent him flying of his bicycle and a fan has asked the club if fans will face a ban for wearing squirrel costumes ahead of his return ti the club with League Two rivals Torquay

www.independent.co.uk

 

[103SecondsOfMagic]

Ha! This otherwise decent article actually credits Guardiola for CWAK’s tactics!

Pep has apparently created the environment necessary for Wilder to ‘redeploy his pieces’! What a load of self indulgent shite.

I never realised we had Man City to thank for our current resurgence. They’d better hope they don’t get Walsall in the cup though!

 

[Melbourne Blade]

Weird but nice & complimentary article, I think. Started out about Rochdale then Pep then a bit about us then Pep again.

Me thinks it'll get more clicks mentioning Pep...

 

[FATTYFOULKE]

Good response in the comments on the article by KingKeith.

Absolutely no ideas what Pep Guardiola has to do with it.

 

[diode_blade]

Squirrelgate lest we forget.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2012/sep/05/scunthorpe-leagueonefootball

Yup this one aint happy and is out for revenge

 

[A Storm of Blades]

Honestly, it’s as if he wants us to believe CWAK said “what would Pep do?”. And just because the writer includes a sarcastic point highlighting that some do argue that Guardiola didn’t invent the passing game, doesn’t make that salient point false.

I hate this prevalent thread at the moment that 90 clubs had their hoof to Niall Quinn tactics, until we were saved from our ignorance by the more cultured Pep. I’d argue Wenger had a much bigger impact, and even then, SAF’s Man Utd were hardly an eyesore. BTW, I love Guardiola and think he’s been fantastic for the game, but to make a bridge to him from a League 1 club trying to solve teams parking the bus, is insulting to CWAK.

 

[Weasel]

Zone people (mainly football media types) probably think Pep invented the wheel, discovered fire, and told Newton about gravity.

The tenuous linking of Pep to CWs innovative tactics are just bollox.

 

[Kenilworth]

Ha! This otherwise decent article actually credits Guardiola for CWAK’s tactics!

Pep has apparently created the environment necessary for Wilder to ‘redeploy his pieces’! What a load of self indulgent shite.

I never realised we had Man City to thank for our current resurgence. They’d better hope they don’t get Walsall in the cup though!

Exactly the way I read it.
That and the changes in the laws of the game - which enabled Guardiola to alter the face of football, as we know it.
He also stated that the change from the knockout format of the champions league had heralded a more open style of play.
Bullshit.
Pulis and co have been ultra defensive in their tactics for years and have never had a sniff of Champions League.
Smacks totally of a journo only thinking innovation and changes can be dreamed up and implemented in the elite group and unless it happens in the elite group it never happened at all.

 

[Kenilworth]

And by the way.
I wish the champions league would revert to a knockout competition.
It was much better that way but now it is a far greater money spinner to the bigger teams and UEFA who don’t want any of the bigger teams to go out early doors and poop on their revenue stream.

 

[BushBlade]

Ha! This otherwise decent article actually credits Guardiola for CWAK’s tactics!

Pep has apparently created the environment necessary for Wilder to ‘redeploy his pieces’! What a load of self indulgent shite.

I never realised we had Man City to thank for our current resurgence. They’d better hope they don’t get Walsall in the cup though!

It doesn’t say that. It says the same environment that allowed Pep to flourish has allowed Wilder and Knill to come up with our tactics.

‘But the broader point is that Wilder and Knill’s solution to the issue of a massed defence would not in the past have been possible. Football is quicker than ever and yet it has become increasingly a game less of power than of strategy. The environment that emboldened Guardiola to seek an approach based almost entirely on positional control similarly inspired Wilder and Knill to redeploy their pieces.’

The ‘environment’ is the changes in rules, such as outlawing the tackle from behind, and the improvement of pitches (Desso) that have allowed modern managers to play a possession based game.

 

[Nick Jansky]

I took it to say that Pep was the trailblazer in opening up the game to innovators with unorthodox ideas such as CWAK.

It doesn’t say that. It says the same environment that allowed Pep to flourish has allowed Wilder and Knill to come up with our tactics.

‘But the broader point is that Wilder and Knill’s solution to the issue of a massed defence would not in the past have been possible. Football is quicker than ever and yet it has become increasingly a game less of power than of strategy. The environment that emboldened Guardiola to seek an approach based almost entirely on positional control similarly inspired Wilder and Knill to redeploy their pieces.’

The ‘environment’ is the changes in rules, such as outlawing the tackle from behind, and the improvement of pitches (Desso) that have allowed modern managers to play a possession based game.

Yes that’s how I read it too, but that gets in the way of a good conspiracy theory!

 

[BushBlade]

I took it to say that Pep was the trailblazer in opening up the game to innovators with unorthodox ideas such as CWAK.


Yes that’s how I read it too, but that gets in the way of a good conspiracy theory!

I read it as that it was inevitable that someone would change the way football was played, that if it hadn’t been him, it would have been someone else. He was the right man at the right time.

Which, I more or less agree with. His entire footballing education can be traced, through Cryuff’s influence on Barca, to Rinus Michels and total football.

I also think that English football has been influenced just as much by managers like Howe, Holloway and Martinez/Rodgers who proved that small teams with small budgets could successfully play the passing game, even in the lower leagues.

I’m not sure how much CWAK will directly influence managers, it would be a bit like trying to emulate Clough and Taylor.

 

[JJ Sefton]

Ha! This otherwise decent article actually credits Guardiola for CWAK’s tactics!

Pep has apparently created the environment necessary for Wilder to ‘redeploy his pieces’! What a load of self indulgent shite.

I never realised we had Man City to thank for our current resurgence. They’d better hope they don’t get Walsall in the cup though!

I really like this writer, Inverting the Pyramid is excellent, but his recent book about Cruyff/Guardiola took dick sucking to levels Linda Lovelace never contemplated.

 

[103SecondsOfMagic]

It doesn’t say that. It says the same environment that allowed Pep to flourish has allowed Wilder and Knill to come up with our tactics.

‘But the broader point is that Wilder and Knill’s solution to the issue of a massed defence would not in the past have been possible. Football is quicker than ever and yet it has become increasingly a game less of power than of strategy. The environment that emboldened Guardiola to seek an approach based almost entirely on positional control similarly inspired Wilder and Knill to redeploy their pieces.’

The ‘environment’ is the changes in rules, such as outlawing the tackle from behind, and the improvement of pitches (Desso) that have allowed modern managers to play a possession based game.

You’re right regards the main body of the article, however the sub-header
‘Sheffield United’s innovative tactics are derived from the influence of Pep Guardiola and changes in the laws’, swings this debate back in my favour.

Critically important as it is!

 

[tomtheblade]

If you listen to Wilder interviews, he's usually quicker to point out Pochettino as an influence, and share his admiration for his Spurs side, so if there's any Premier League point of reference it should be him.
Don't recall Chris mentioning Pep at all.