Total Football

Does anyone know what it really means???
Do we even play it these days anymore???

I'll be the first honest one and say I never fully understood what the term meant.
I was just a little kid back in 1978 when we lost the WC final, and I dont remember WC1974 at all.

I also remember seeing 2 interviews, one with Cruijff and one with vBasten 10 years later, and they both gave different answers what the term meant.
Go figure

Wow you are old...

I can say with confidence that we don't play anything close to it. We don't have defenders and attackers who can just flip flop heltah skeltah with each other and whatnot.

Maybe Kuijt is the last of the dying breed.

I'd advise you to look at that second goal again.

The pass came from deep...but from our number 10.
The cross came from the left wing...but from our left back
the header in came from the right wing...but from a guy who spent most of the game at right back
The goal was scored in the 6 yard box...but by our attacking midfielder.

I may be the oldie on this board having watched every WC final since England-Germany in 1966. I know Johan doesn't like the book, but David Winner's "Brilliant Orange - the neurotic genius of Dutch football" has a good set of interviews with many of the 1970s players. It was a different and more static game back then and Michel's Ajax teams of the early 1970s and the WC team of 1974 changed things a lot. Players would seamlessly move from various positions on the field to either attack or defend depending on the situation. There was a recognition that if a left fullback joined the attack someone needed to be alert and track back to protect against a counter attack. I think the same thing goes on today with almost every club. Fullbacks regularly come up on the wing (such as Von Bronkhorst on two of the goals against Italy).

In sum, there are no hard an fast rules about what Total Football is. Netherlands is recognized as the birthplace of it all.

That was my whole point, almost every team I know of has left or rightbacks coming forward. Roberto Carlos, Lahm, Ramos just to name a few who are really good at it.

Would you say the match against Italy was somewhat reminiscent of 'Total Football'???
Judging by Gio's cross to me it did

What is most interesting about the 4-2-3-1 formation is that the two holding mids de Jong and Engelaar rarely go much past the midfield. Gio moves up consistently but unless we have Melchiot playing on the right fullback position there is not much attacking from there. Boula rarely ventured upfield during the time he was on. I think Van Basten adapts to who he has available and their relative skills.

I'm just learning about Total Football, but van Brockhorst's game reminded me of it... the second goal sticks out for his crazy run and cross, but look at the third goal...

You have him pushing up on another counter attack, but as the most advanced player and scoring on a header near the 6-yard box... the left back! I was just shaking my head in disbelief at the mixture of total confidence and reckless abandon you must have to make counters like that.

Every player knows where the other player is during the match without having to look for him. Its almost as if they pass the ball around blindly

I see your point. We might have flashes of total football but to play it for prolonged periods is asking too much.

According to Cruijff we have now returned to playing Total Football.
And he thinks because this current team is young they can get even better.

Scary thought

http://www.voetbalzone.nl/doc.asp?uid=62062

The exact explenation of total football, i don´t know. I guess total football is just a name of the way how Oranje plays in 1974, and i think there is not a real defination for it.

One of the key things of Total football is that every player are able to defend as well as attack. Also footballers are able to take over each others position. The style of football is attacking, always try to see a football sollution instead of just kick the ball away. Total football is called Totall football because this kind of football is depend a lot of the football own sollution-making skills.

I think i give a good describition of the basic ideas of total football. I must say, that the football Oranje plays now on the Euro 2008 is not really Total football. Totall football depends on your own strenght, instead of reaction football, wich depends on the mistakes of the opponent. That is more the way the Dutch plays on Euro 2008.

Thats my opinion also

Total football to me is just attack, attack and more attack, throw in a few long balls (Bergkamp vs Argentina), throw in some long distance shooting (Arie Haan), throw in blazing speedy wingers (Robben, Overmars, vd Kerkhof...etc).
And there you have it, one of the best attacks in the world

total football is of an attacking philosophy.

players look for the best place to be at any given time and get there, and the other guy moves to cover space accordingly.

this means you have a lot of fluid moves. and no "out of position" complaints at all.

Worked quite well last night, didnt it???!!!

You can't base football on the results of one game, unfortunatly these type of tournaments don't give you a second chance.
The dutch play great football and I hope they don't change just for the sake of winning a tournament. I doubt more people are impressed with the Greeks even if they won this tournament.

I don't think this dutch team played total football in this tournament.

Only to the extent of about 40% of it's true form.

I'm guessing what you're really trying to say is: people stop praising Dutch football, German football is much more attacking?

It cracks me up, this German jealousy of the Dutch reputation for attacking football.

wtf is your problem?!?

FYI, if I wanted to put down holland's reputation for attacking football then I'd do it directly, because total football is not the only way to attack.

Is it blindingly obvious or what, to everyone else in here that you're jumping on me for nothing?

What's blindingly obvious is that you seize every opportunity to big up Germany, even in threads that aren't linked in the slightest to German football.

what the hell is wrong with you today??

I doubt I even wrote a word beginning with "G" in this thread!

Im just reading through the lines that's all.

well don't!!

that from you was the most paranoid thing I've ever read on bigsoccer.


I didn't watch the second and third dutch games properly, but from what I saw of those and of watching the first game twice, it was not real "total football".

It wasn't, but it was still great to watch.

right you agree with me.

then what's the attack on me about? is it that time of the month?

No, I watched German television gloating about the Dutch departure. They're conveniently forgetting that they were quick to copy the Dutch system of play after their defeat to Croatia.