What is 'Style of Play'?

Style is a word that is used quite frequently when describing the way in which a team plays. I would venture that most youth and academy coaches would use words like ‘possession’, ‘positional play’ or maybe even ‘juego de posicion’ when explaining how they would like their team to play.

The Hungarian expert Attila Ferenczi presents an alternative idea in his manual that dissects the theory behind the classic Brazilian style of play. In the book Brazil Képzés, Barca-Brazil Játékszervezés (translated: Brazil training, Barça-Brazil Game Organization), he refers to both ‘content’ and ‘form’ elements with respect to a given team’s style of play. 

*by classic style I mean the main elements observed in Brazilian clubs and national team particularly between late 50s and mid 80s. Since Telê Santana’s enormously talented team failed to win the 1982 World Cup there has been internal battle between tradition and adopting more ‘European’ tactics. This is the context for why Fernando Diniz has been such a revelation with his Copa Libertadores’ winning Fluminense.

But just what are content and form elements? 

STYLE OF PLAY DISCUSSION

When discussing a team’s style of play we often notice aspects that stand out and differentiate them from other teams, particularly ones who express similarities in terms of formation, player profiles, etc. 

*For example, Arsenal and Manchester City are two teams who have a lot of similarities. Both generally use a 4-3-3 formation with some similar roles. At times both use an inverted left back for example. Or wingers that stay wide and excel in 1v1 situations. Both of these teams attempt to control the game in all phases of play. And both are renowned for keeping the ball for extended periods of time. 

CONTENT ELEMENTS

Content elements make an impression on, and lead to interpretation from, the viewer. It’s all of the descriptive language used to try and get at the essence of what the team is about.

The content elements are what we latch on to when we watch the game. Regardless of our perspective, watching any given team makes us feel something. When we get a feeling watching a team, we are responding to the content elements within their style. 

Think about the teams that you’ve enjoyed watching or that serve as a reference for you. For me it’s the great Arsenal teams from the early 2000s synonymous with Arsène Wenger. This quote from current USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter offers a great description of the content elements of those Arsenal teams:

"The way his [Wenger] Arsenal team played was amazing – a game of speed, precision and movement. As I think about what excites me now as a coach, a lot of it is based on the movement and fluidity of that Arsenal team.” (https://www.coachesvoice.com/cv/arsene-wenger-arsenal-invincible/)

The ‘speed, precision, and movement’ are some of the key content elements of Wenger’s style of play. I still put on videos of Arsenal’s best plays from a decade ago because I enjoy watching the style so much. 

For another example, we have Guardiola. From Marti Perarnau’s book Pep Confidential:

“I hate tiki-taka. Tiki-taka means passing the ball for the sake of it, with no clear intention. And it's pointless.”

Purposeful passing, dominating all phases of the game, minimizing risk at all times. These are some of the content elements of Pep’s teams. When we think of his teams, these same content elements (among others) consistently appear. If you watch any of Pep’s games you see a team that is always trying to control the entire game. There is little wasted ball or player movement. And his teams are notorious for doing anything and everything to avoid giving the other team any kind of opportunity. 

These may seem like pretty good descriptions in and of themselves. And truly, they do get at the kind of values the coach has imparted to the team. 

But I also mentioned form elements. So what are those?

FORM ELEMENTS

Form elements are the way in which the content elements come to life through the actual game play. While it’s well and good to speak about ‘speed, precision, and movement’, from that description alone we have no idea what the team is doing on the field consistent with those words. 

Let’s take Wenger first. What are some possible form elements to his teams? 

“You see that a guy never loses the ball, so you look at the number of times he passes the ball forward,” says Arsène Wenger. “You can get to the point where you can say, ‘I prefer the one who loses the ball a bit more but tries to play it forward.’” (https://arsenalcolumn.wordpress.com/2010/06/06/speed-of-passing-remains-key-for-arsene-wengers-side/)

Always look to pass forward, keep the ball on the ground, minimal touches, constant off ball movement to maintain possession and look for openings, accelerate play once opposing midfield line is broken. 

While there could be other elements as well, these are some of the ones that stick out to me the most. As you can see, these all pertain to the way in which the team is actually taking action on the field. 

Let’s take a look at Pep:

Under Guardiola, however, the team became more disciplined with a greater focus on possession and a disciplined and aggressive pressing style. The leader in defence was Rafael Márquez who created chances from the back with his long balls.^[202] He often played a high defensive line with the full backs (particularly Dani Alves) pushing high up their respective sides while relying on the passing of Xavi and Andrés Iniesta to retain possession and employing a pressing style without the ball.^[203] During striker Samuel Eto'o's time at Barcelona, Lionel Messi was deployed on the right hand side, though following his departure Messi largely played in the centre forward role in a false nine capacity.^[204] Pep Guardiola was quoted by Thierry Henry as "asking for discipline in possession of the ball in the first two-thirds of the pitch, and then giving players the freedom (and accountability) to finish it off in the last third of the pitch" in his time with Barcelona.^[205] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pep_Guardiola)

The ‘discipline in possession…in the first two-thirds of the pitch’, ‘freedom…to finish it off [the play] in the last third of the pitch’, and an ‘aggressive pressing style’ all refer to content elements found in Guardiola’s style of play. I would also highlight moving the ball to move the opponent and using possession as a defensive tool. Again, there can be others, but for me the above go a long way toward describing Guardiola’s style as you see it on the field. 

Personally I had never really thought too much about this distinction regarding style of play. And from the books that I’ve translated and read from Ferenczi, one of the biggest contributions I feel he makes is defining terms and pointing out distinctions that often go ignored. 

SUMMARY

To summarize: The values that the coach wants the team to demonstrate on the field. The values inherent to the culture where the team is from. Both of these influence the content elements of the team’s style of play. These ideas are what the viewer can appreciate about the team from a 10,000 foot view. 

The form elements then, are the ways in which you can describe the team’s play on the field, in a general sense. What do they do with the ball and off the ball most frequently? Are they aggressive in the way they attack? In the way they defend? Do they wait for mistakes or try to ‘checkmate’ the opponent? Do the players use more or less touches? These kinds of questions get at the root of how the team brings their style to life on the field. 

By combining these two sets of elements you have a much more complete picture of the team’s style of play. It’s not just short passes and 1v1s out wide. And it’s not just dominating the game in all phases. It’s both the impression (subconscious interpretation of the team’s values) and the actions on the field that come together to give each team it’s own unique signature.

BONUS

For your viewing pleasure here are some highlights of a classic Arsenal team as well as last season’s City team. Some elements I described above can’t be seen well in these videos, which mostly show the few passes leading up to a goal, but see if you can identify some content and form elements to describe the style of play!