flat back four - andy gray

bought this book for a mere $3 at a second hand bookshop and i finished it within 3.5 hours. absorbing reading. but this post is not about my amazing speed reading ability and super intelligence, instead it's about the book, the insights of andy gray and about the tactical game of football, a book review if you will. for starters, it's an extremely easy read without any fancy technical mumbo-jumbo and for the alphabetically challenged, there are loads of diagrams too, which i reckon an uneducated schoolkid like wayne rooney would appreciate. it's refreshing to read about football teams from a tactical viewpoint rather than their heroes, losers and whiny managers. perhaps a little peek into the book chapters might give you an idea what it's all about...

1) the beginning: early tactics and systems
2) hungary 1953
3) four at the back
4) england 1966
5) 4-4-2 and 4-2-4
6) celtic 1967
7) defensive tactics
8) attacking tactics
9) brazil 1970
10) five at the back
11) tactics for europe
12) liverpool 1977
13) underdog tactics
14) wimbledon 1988
15) set pieces
16) england 1997
17) psychological tactics
18) manchester united 1997/98
19) the way fourwards

he explains tactics by describing the teams that use them. brilliant. the book was published in 1999, the time of manchester united's supremacy and the rising of an arsenal side with overmars and petit (who?). i don't blame him for not including the liverpool side of that time, with the likes of eric meijer and vegard heggem, it's hardly orgasmic stuff. he does however, dedicate a whole chapter to the 1977 european cup winning liverpool team which i read with great interest because i've never seen them play. he even dared to suggest that the current liverpool side of that time was similiar to bob paisley's team. my god. but enough of that, i'm quite embarassed at the mere suggestion of it.

then he dedicates a whole chapter to wimbledon's triumph over the mighty liverpool in the 1988 fa cup final - with long ball tactics. and, did you know....that wimbledon players always spit at the "this is anfield" plaque whenever they play at anfield? bastards. the footballing gods punished them nicely and look where they are now - oblivion.

ideally, you'd want to have video footage to complement the book so you can actually see it in application. but not everyday is a sunday and i doubt anyone would have the whole footage of celtic's triumph over inter in the 1967 european cup final to go with chapter 6 because it would be a complete waste of shelf space. perhaps bellamy and john hartson can find a little creative spark between them on tuesday and wednesday nights to produce it, it's not like they have champions league football to attend to. and i'm sure manchester united fans can somehow rummage through their stack of animal porn and pick up some videos or cds on the 1997/98 mu team to complement chapter 18, but unfortunately, andy gray is full of praise for the beckham neville partnership on the right side and that itself is football blasphemy, which makes it redundant. avoid chapter 18 at all costs.

i do however, have complete vhs footage of the 1970 final between brazil and italy and i watched it again after reading the book and i felt very enlightened. brazil employs a 424 formation on paper, but when they play, it becomes 244 - 2 defenders, 4 midfielders and 4 attackers. suicidal, something eric the king would employ. but pele's philosophy applies, which says, "if they score one, we score two. if they score 2 we score 4.". nothing can go wrong once the great man speaks, pele that is, not eric the king. interesting chapter to read, with video.

when i saw chapter 13 (underdog tactics), i skipped it. i think adrian and i have lots of experience in this regard with our psv, greece, turkey, olympiakos, celtic, lyon, wales etc. exploits against much better teams. i think we know more than anyone else what it takes for an underdog to win, and if we're lucky, we can rape the opposition too. i think a better read would a chapter called, coping with underdog wins against you, which anthony and king might find useful.

so other than chapters 13 and 18 and the bit about wimbledon, everything else is a worthy read to broaden your footballing horizons. gerrard rates the book 4 stars out of 5.