We are starting to see some interesting new tactics in Premier League football that perhaps hark back to a more old-school style of play.
It wasn’t so long ago that managers like Sam Allardyce and Tony Pulis were ridiculed for their outdated, pragmatic style of football, but now it appears to be coming back into fashion after a decade or so of tiki-taka dominance.
We have increasingly seen even the great Pep Guardiola defending deeper and playing long balls to his players towards their tall center forward Erling Haaland, and now it seems there is a specific new trend that has come this season from many other teams.
As BBC Sport points out, more and more teams are throwing the ball straight out of play straight from the kick-off, rather than trying to settle into a rhythm with short passes.
Does football borrow tactics from rugby?
As the experts point out in this BBC video, it appears that this new tactic is inspired by rugby, with an attempt to force set plays further down the pitch, as early as possible.
Some fans may be wondering if they would be better off using Liverugbytickets.co.uk instead of seeing this sort of thing in Premier League football matches, but the logic seems to be that it’s a good way to put pressure on opponents early on.
Although it doesn’t seem that dangerous, especially compared to a smooth passing movement around the penalty area, simply getting the ball out for a throw-in for your opponents can create some interesting opportunities.
From the outset, whoever takes the throw-in will have to exert a lot of power to move the ball forward, otherwise he will throw it to a defender who is very deep and perhaps surrounded by fast-pressing opponents.
We know that modern football places a lot of emphasis on winning the ball high up the pitch, so getting numbers to try and steal the ball away could actually lead to high quality scoring opportunities and surprise opponents.
Paris Saint-Germain actually started using this tactic in the Champions League last season, and they won the trophy, so there must be something there, and perhaps this will also usher in some other interesting tactical trends, with football surely having something to learn from rugby and other sports when it comes to innovative new tactics, set plays, and more.
