PROLOGUE

Football, like so many things in life, beloved or not, was invented by the English.

Alas, also like so many things in life, it almost certainly wasn’t. What they did do for the game was burden it with its very first set of rules and regulations, applying bureaucracy to a game in much the same way they had done to the countries in their Empire.

Countries, cultures and societies that exercise a claim to inventing the world’s greatest game (probably) and its second greatest obsession (possibly) are numerous. A game that involved using the feet in kicking, and propelling an object of sorts has certainly been recorded in both Ancient Greek and Roman history, with the Roman version, known as hapastum thought to have been a bastardised variant of the even earlier Greek version. Who knows, perhaps the Romans, style and form ever to the forefront even on the battlefield, included the first on-field trequartista in their noble ranks – an early Andrea Pirlo, resplendent in toga and sandals?

The Romans were, of course, famous for the military formation known as the Testudo, or Tortoise, one that Giovanni Trapattoni, a master of organisation and discipline, would have been proud to call his own. Testudo involved a group of around 36 Roman legionaries advancing into battle in such a manner that they were completely protected by their shields. The soldiers at the front held their shields in front of them whilst those at the sides held them outwards and those in the middle of the advancing rectangle would hold their shields over their heads. The result of this was effectively a mobile metal box that contained all of the men safely within its protective confines.

Not particularly pretty, not particularly fast or exciting, but very effective. Italian pragmatism in the mould of some of their national football teams. Nobody can say they weren’t forewarned. And, as far as any and all opposing armies were concerned, they couldn’t say they weren’t warned. Because it’s what the Romans did. In every battle. Time and time again. Predictable? Yes. Effective? Certainly. They had a battle plan, and by Mars, they were going to use it.

After all, once you’ve found a battle plan that works, you’re hardly going to deviate for as long as remains the case.

Thus, on rather more literal fields of physical combat, the leaders of fighting men continue to redefine warfare. Rome had, with its highly trained soldiers and tightly disciplined Testudo, turned the art of battle into a science. Long gone were the days when hordes of fighting men and women would simply form into two large and unorganised groups and simply run into one another, pell-mell, a blur of axes, swords and assorted blunt instruments with no one really sure of what they are doing or who they are bludgeoning to death. It was bloody anarchy.

Rome helped change all that.

People raved about Testudo. It was the tiki-taka of its day, reliant on close movement and finding space in the most effective manner. Cassius Dio, a 1st century Roman consul, historian and forerunner of the modern day studio pundit (‘Well Cassius, the ancient Britons are getting a mauling in this battle, can you see any way back into it for them?’) followed the campaign of Roman general Marc Antony, a very fond advocate of Testudo and, whilst observing Antony’s disciplined soldiers in combat, described both its formation and effectiveness with no little excitement:

‘This Testudo and the way in which it is formed are as follows. The Baggage animals, the light-armed troops and the cavalry are placed in the centre of the army. The heavy-armed troops who use the oblong, curved and cylindrical shields are drawn up around the outside, making a rectangular figure, and, facing outward and holding their arms at the ready, they enclose the rest.

The others who have flat shields, form a compact body in the centre and raise their shields over the heads of all the others, so that nothing but shields can be seen in every part of the phalanx alike and all the men by the density of the formation are under shelter from missiles. Indeed, it is so marvellously strong that men can walk upon it and whenever they come to a narrow ravine, even horses and vehicles can be driven over it.’[1]

Few opponents could live with Testudo when the Romans were fighting to the very best of their abilities. It was a remarkably successful, effective and, as far as the enemy was concerned, psychologically frightening sight to come across. And no wonder. If your best defence was nothing more than a few layers of animal skins and a pointed stick, you’re really not going to fancy your chances when you come up against it. In many ways, the battle was lost even before it had really begun.

What Testudo was, of course, and its relevance to our story here is a very early example of pre-battle tactics being planned and passed on to the proverbial foot soldiers just before battle. It was an action plan that was devised and passed on by the watching generals, which ensured that, if followed correctly and the orders of the battalion captain obeyed to the letter, they and their armies had the very best chance possible of departing that field of battle as the victorious army.

The Testudo action plan is rather like pre-match tactics being planned and passed on to the professional footballers just before a match – an action plan devised and passed on by the watching managers and coaches, which ensures that, if followed correctly and the orders of the team captain obeyed to the letter, they and their team have the very best chance possible of departing that football field as the victorious team.

Bloody battle and sporting battle. United in their use of pre-battle and pre-match tactics and on-field formations.

The word tactics is said to have originated from the 17th century Latin tactica, meaning the ‘science of arranging military forces for combat, which is exactly what Marc Antony and his legionaries were doing with their established, trusted and much feared Testudo.

And eaxctly what Joachim Löw and his formidable and much feared Germany side were doing with their very own version of Testudo two thousand years later as they swept up a world conquest all of their own in winning the 2014 World Cup. Löw’s 4-2-3-1 formation was based on the same basic principles as Testudo was: a solid defensive foundation at its most vulnerable point allied with an attacking zeal that swiftly switched from defence to offense, designed to catch opposing teams when they have over exposed themselves.

The Germans may not have had the benefit of curved wooden shields to help repel attacking forces, yet, with a world-class goalkeeper in Manuel Neuer supported by the likes of Philipp Lahm, Jerome Boateng, Mats Hummels and Benedikt Howedes, they didn’t need them. After all, a defence that concedes just four goals in seven games hardly needs any additional assistance, shields included.

Marc Antony and Joachim Löw. Brothers-in-arms separated by two millennia yet united in their mastery of effective on-field formation and tactics.

I’m sure they’d find they had a lot in common were they ever to get together over a bottle of the finest Sassicaia. Or Riesling, come to that. They’d both be lost in a world of their own: dining implements, glasses and condiments moving in an ever-quickening blur over the brilliant white tablecloth as they swapped ideas and theories on formations and tactics regarding the battles they’d have fought in heart and mind. Antony, no doubt, would be pleased – yet hardly surprised – to learn that Rome, in the guise of modern-day Italy has conquered the world a further four times, even if it had been in football rather than war and conquest.

The old and the new. Both tactical masters.

It may have come to pass, therefore, that the great Barcelona side that was coached so ably by Pep Guardiola from 2008 to 2012 was the one that, in footballing terms, waked many of the sports devotees up to the science and appreciation of football tactics and on-field formations with their perceived application (since rubbished by Guardiola himself) of the now famous tiki-taka style of play. The phrase itself sounds almost as sexy as the type of football it portrays: short passing and movement whilst constantly maintaining possession. Everyone loved it, the world fell in love with Pep and his team and, with it, both the footballing cognescenti and its rank and file became enamoured, enraptured by football tactics.

It was as if no one had ever considered, talked about or even applied tactics to football before. Yet here we were, eulogising Guardiola, fawning over Barca, Messi and tiki-taka.

Coaching became the new playing.

Yet of course, as far as football is concerned, the application of formations and tactics in the game has always been part of it, and as integral to the successes of Blackburn Olympic, the winners of the FA Cup in 1883 as they were to Löw’s all-conquering German side 131 years later.

Plus any and all points in between.

Like the great Austrian side of the 1930s and the work...