Formations used by Everton teams of the past

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JordanianEmbassy

JordanianEmbassy

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The Tommy TG Jones thread got me thinking that when people talk about Everton teams from the past I often don't understand what formation they played. For example, when I first heard about the Holy Trinity I wondered who the 4th midfielder was and why he never got a mention :)

In Howard Kendalls book he talks about how the term "midfield" wasn't really used yet when he first joined Everton. I believe he was the "right half" in the late 60s side? Does that mean Colin Harvey was the "left half" and Alan Ball the "centre half"? Did that side play 4-3-3 or some other variation of it?

So... can anyone out there enlighten me? How did the 62/63 and 69/70 title winning sides line up? Or the 66 cup final team?

How about the sides that Dixie played in? Were they still playing 2-3-5 or had they adopted Chapmans WM formation?
 

So to quote @degsy from the TG Jones thread, this is the part of his post that prompted me to start this thread:

degsy said:
It was around then that the 2;3;5 (hence Fullbacks R & L being numbered 2 & 3) turned into 3 at the back with the Centre Half dropping in between the full backs...nothing's new really. This was, iirc, caused in part by the change in the offside law just before the war.
Everton won the league in 62-63 with a back line of Parker, Labone, Meegan.
But by 1966 it was Wright, Labone Harris, Wilson
Click to expand...
 
GK
RF. CH LF

RHB. LHB

RW. IR. CF. IL. LW


3/2/5

Inside right and inside left dropped a bit deeper but when attacking played alongside the centre forward.
Wingers hugged the touch line
Back 3 defended and that's all they did basically.
Wing backs were grafters who won the ball and linked play.
It all started to change in 66 with Beckanbauer and Moore became ball playing CH / Libero players
 
Martinezs fluid 2/3/5 or 6/3/1 or whatever he fancied st the time confused the hell out of me
Don't think the players knew what was going on most if the time either
 

Here's a write up on one of the emerging systems of the early 60's...An Everton team struggling for form, carrying injuries and playing an 'Old Fashioned Formation', took these to a close 1 goal loss over 2 legs...and had a goal disallowed for offside
Everton That.

No team are more associated with Catenaccio though than Inter. Under Helenio Herrera, the Nerazzuri defined Catenaccio and were largely responsible for the negative image that it retains to today. Rather than playing with one sweeper behind three defenders and then having a centre-half or centre midfielder act as playmaker, Herrera opted for the added security of using an anchor in midfield to give a further line on protection. Gianfranco Bedin was the man charged with the role and he would sit deep and screen the defence of attackers, leaving Luis Suarez in front of him as the midfield playmaker.

In the defence, Armando Picchi acted as Libero, but he was a far cry from the traditional idea of a cultured sweeper bringing the ball out of defence. Picchi was effectively a stopper who played as the free man, and was very much a safety first defender. In front of Picchi played Aristide Guarneri as the centre-back and to his right was Tarcisio Burgnich, playing somewhere between centre-back and a right-fullback.

On the left of the back line was Giacinto Facchetti, who offered much of the attacking verve of the team. Arguably the first wing-back in the game Facchetti was happy to bomb up and down the left touchline and offered support to the attack. This allowed Mario Corso, the nominal left-winger, to drop inside and assist Suarez in his playmaking role. The team was naturally unbalanced due to Jair’s willingness to drop deep on the right side of midfield which allowed Bugnich to shuffle inside, but it was certainly effective. Inter won Serie A in 1963, 1965 and 1966, and won the European Cup in 1964 and 1965. In addition they were beaten finalists in 1967 to Celtic.

Herrera always maintained that his was not a defensive side, and that it was only low quality imitators who gave Catenaccio a bad name. However, the negativity of Inter’s team in a number of their clashes, most notably the European Cup final of 1967, left fee neutrals as great admirers of the system. Bill Shankly hailed Jock Stein as “immortal” for defeating Herrera in that game and proving to the world that more positive play could gain success.

Internazionale v. Benfica 1965

---------------Sarti

---------------Picchi

-----Burgnich------Guarneri---Facchetti

-------------Bedin

------------Suarez

Jair-------------------Corso

---------Mazzola

-----------------Peiro

On the plus side they also did over the rs too
 

If you have the inclination and/ or the time, there's an outstanding book called "Inverting the Pyramid" about the history of football formations/ tactics.

Interestingly, when league football first developed, it was largely "kick and run" with as many physical players as possible. Teams who tried to "keep the ball" (think nowadays to how possession is the latest trend) were actually seen as defensive because they weren't good enough to "play properly" by kicking it long and chasing it!
 
Too much emphasis put on formations these days I think and not enough about being a team and running your socks off for each other and the fans.
I'm all for sitting back and defending as a team or all out attack as a team but all this crap about diamonds and triangles and circles and oblongs and trigonometry and all the other chit they talk, does my head in.
 
CHRISTMAS TREE.webp


The classic Christmas Tree thingy!
 

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