Players win matches - not formations, insists Scotland veteran David Weir

A debate that resembles 'which came first - the chicken or the egg?' in soccer would be which is more important - team tactics or players?

One person who is pretty clear as to what wins games is Glasgow Rangers captain and former University of Evansville standout David Weir. Interviewed prior to Scotland's EURO 2012 qualifying clash with World Champions Spain, Weir was interviewed about Craig Levein's tactical blueprint versus the Czech Republic this past week that did not include a striker.

After all his years in football Davie Weir probably thought he'd pretty much seen it all. But last Tuesday afternoon in Paisley, this grand old man of the Scottish game witnessed something that took even him by surprise.

A football team - and a Scotland one at that - without so much as a single striker. Just one keeper, four defenders - and six men strung across midfield.

Or in other words, Craig Levein's first stab at a tactical blueprint for a Scotland win here in Prague.

It remains to be seen if Levein will stick to this improbable formation and send it out to face the Czech Republic tomorrow night. But what is clear is the manager is giving it the most serious consideration.

Axe Kenny Miller? Throw in rookie Jamie Mackie and deploy the QPR striker as a wing-back? Play without a centre forward?

Now, even for Weir, the most down to earth of pragmatists, this training session dress rehearsal must have been eyebrow-raising stuff. Not even Walter Smith has tried to pull this one off.

But Weir remains impressively unflustered. Perhaps he's simply too old to fret.

He said: "No one knows exactly what the formation is going to be. We worked on something yesterday but it wasn't really with regard to picking a team.

"I don't think anyone actually knows how we are going to play. I don't think you can be predictable or give too much away when you are going into games like this.

"If things are tweaked the players can adjust to it, that's just the nature of football. The manager worked on something yesterday but whether it is set in stone or not I don't know.

"But it's not systems that win games it's PLAYERS who win games."

No matter how good the manager is or how creative his tactics are, in the end of the day, it is players that win or lose games for a team. Tactics are important, but it is less about what role the manager puts the player in, and more about player selection. The manager that has the best players, and picks the right players for his team, wins more often than he loses.