"Delap's Successor & the Chicken Jinx: Shaping the Future of Soccer?"

English football has undergone a tactical revolution since the mid-2010s, with the Premier League attracting top European coaches and pushing the boundaries of innovation. However, a lack of fresh ideas has set in as Pep Guardiola's Manchester City struggles to find a new approach. In this article, Alex Keble, a football tactics writer, discusses several potential future trends that could shake up the game.

One idea is the 'corner chicken' strategy, which involves leaving four or five players on the halfway line during a corner kick to create long-ball counter-attacking opportunities or force the opposition to commit more defenders.

Another suggestion is pre-planned formation changes, with teams altering their shape during a match to throw the opposition off guard and gain an advantage during periods of adaptation. This would require managers to think differently about time and plan each segment of the game.

The article also questions why there aren't more Rory Delap clones, as the former Stoke City player's throw-ins led to numerous goals but have not been replicated by other teams.

Keble also proposes the idea of marauding centre-backs, suggesting that powerful centre-backs could make off-the-ball runs through the lines like Destiny Udogie at Tottenham Hotspur, disrupting the opposition's system.

In a more radical proposal, the author suggests playing without a goalkeeper, with Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold donning the gloves in a League Cup match against lower-league opposition as an experiment.


Source: BBC Sports Football

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