Gabriele Marcotti of the Times writes about how Bayern's strength on their flanks is more critical for their team's success than their 'spine'-
I think I may have touched upon this before, but watching Bayern recently brought it all back. Footballspeak is filled with cliches and one of the absolute dumbest goes like this: "To win you need a strong spine. Your goalkeeper, your central defenders, central midfield and a strong centre-forward... no good team will be lacking in those departments!"
I can just see some grizzled cliche-merchant spouting it off on my TV or radio or filling column inches with this idiocy.
Why is it so foolish? Well, for a start, it's extremely unlikely that a good team WILL NOT have at least three or four good players playing in central positions, for the simple fact that in the most common formations - 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 - seven of the eleven outfield players play in the middle and are therefore part of the spine. (In 3-5-2 there are actually nine players who can be considered part of "the spine"). So when 7 out of 11 players are part of "the spine" it stands to reason that at least 3 or 4 of them are going to be "pretty good", especially on a "good team".
It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. And therefore utterly meaningless.
You'll not find very many good teams that have six or seven useless guys between goal, central defence, central midfield and up front. If they had that many ordinary players, they simply wouldn't be good.
That said, there are concrete examples to back up my point. Look at Bayern, Champions League finalists. Their three best players are arguably Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery (when fit) and Phillip Lahm. Two wingers and a full back, not one of them part of the "mythical" spine.
So who is part of "the spine"? Goalkeeper Hans-Jorg Butt is only starting because Michael Rensing was so awful earlier this year (before this season, the ageing Butt hadn't been a regular for several seasons): he's ordinary at best.
Martin De Michelis and Daniel Van Buyten in central defence are OK, but nothing special. Bastian Schweinsteiger is great, but Mark Van Bommel, while very experienced and canny, is also an ageing player who misses games through injury and who the club were looking to dump not so long ago.
Youngster Thomas Muller has been a revelation admittedly, but Bayern have had a rotating cast of centre forwards (usually Miroslav Klose or Mario Gomez, sometimes Ivica Olic). It's not a slight on Bayern, it's just that their most important players are not part of the "all-important" spine.
And, incidentally, Bayern are not some kind of weird one-off. Look at last season's Barcelona, when they won the Champions League and were hailed as one of the greatest sides ever.
Yes, the "spine" included Samuel Eto'o, Andres Iniesta and Xavi. But it also featured Rafa Marquez and Victor Valdes. Whereas Leo Messi and Dani Alves, arguably two of Barca's three best players, were not part of it.
I think I may have touched upon this before, but watching Bayern recently brought it all back. Footballspeak is filled with cliches and one of the absolute dumbest goes like this: "To win you need a strong spine. Your goalkeeper, your central defenders, central midfield and a strong centre-forward... no good team will be lacking in those departments!"
I can just see some grizzled cliche-merchant spouting it off on my TV or radio or filling column inches with this idiocy.
Why is it so foolish? Well, for a start, it's extremely unlikely that a good team WILL NOT have at least three or four good players playing in central positions, for the simple fact that in the most common formations - 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 - seven of the eleven outfield players play in the middle and are therefore part of the spine. (In 3-5-2 there are actually nine players who can be considered part of "the spine"). So when 7 out of 11 players are part of "the spine" it stands to reason that at least 3 or 4 of them are going to be "pretty good", especially on a "good team".
It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. And therefore utterly meaningless.
You'll not find very many good teams that have six or seven useless guys between goal, central defence, central midfield and up front. If they had that many ordinary players, they simply wouldn't be good.
That said, there are concrete examples to back up my point. Look at Bayern, Champions League finalists. Their three best players are arguably Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery (when fit) and Phillip Lahm. Two wingers and a full back, not one of them part of the "mythical" spine.
So who is part of "the spine"? Goalkeeper Hans-Jorg Butt is only starting because Michael Rensing was so awful earlier this year (before this season, the ageing Butt hadn't been a regular for several seasons): he's ordinary at best.
Martin De Michelis and Daniel Van Buyten in central defence are OK, but nothing special. Bastian Schweinsteiger is great, but Mark Van Bommel, while very experienced and canny, is also an ageing player who misses games through injury and who the club were looking to dump not so long ago.
Youngster Thomas Muller has been a revelation admittedly, but Bayern have had a rotating cast of centre forwards (usually Miroslav Klose or Mario Gomez, sometimes Ivica Olic). It's not a slight on Bayern, it's just that their most important players are not part of the "all-important" spine.
And, incidentally, Bayern are not some kind of weird one-off. Look at last season's Barcelona, when they won the Champions League and were hailed as one of the greatest sides ever.
Yes, the "spine" included Samuel Eto'o, Andres Iniesta and Xavi. But it also featured Rafa Marquez and Victor Valdes. Whereas Leo Messi and Dani Alves, arguably two of Barca's three best players, were not part of it.
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