Top 10 incredible tactical innovations that revolutionised football

#1 Total Football (Ajax, Barcelona and The Netherlands)

Johan Cruyff was the kingpin of the Ajax side that used Total Football in the late 60s

Total football is perhaps the greatest evolution of tactics that came into existence in football. It is also regarded as the base on which the possession-based style of play is built.

Initially brought to fruition by Rinus Michels' Ajax in the 70s, Total Football was based on two key concepts: the utilisation of space and the tactical flexibility of players. The main idea was to continuously interchange positions so as to confuse the opposition and break the man-marking.

Total Football was influential in exposing the weaknesses of the Catenaccio - the system that relied heavily on man-marking. With players continuously interchanging positions, the opposition defenders were often found out of position in an attempt to mark the assigned player, creating spaces for the attackers to exploit and score goals.

In this system, the players were required to have an astute sense of positioning since it involved changing positions frequently. It was also sort of mandatory for them to be versatile to be able to play in defence, midfield and attack so as to use the system to its full effect.

The system usually used a 4-3-3 or a 3-4-3 formation, with positions being interchanged vertically down the flanks. Horizontal switching was rare.

Johan Cruyff is regarded as the finest exponent of Total Football in history, both as a player and as a manager. Cruyff functioned as deep-lying forward and created spaces with his exquisite vision for his teammates to exploit spaces and score, drifting wide and inside at will. Finding space was the most crucial factor behind the success of the system. As a manager, he built the Dream Team at Barcelona in the late 80s using this system, which is regarded as one of the greatest football teams of all time.

The influences of Total Football are still visible in the coaching styles of modern-day managers Pep Guardiola, Maurizio Sarri and Marcelo Bielsa.

Using Total Football philosophy, Ajax won 4 league titles in a row and a European Cup title between 1965 to 1970 under Rinus Michels. The Netherlands, also managed by Rinus Michels, reached the 1974 FIFA World Cup final using this system.