Tactical cycles
I keep coming back to the idea that models reach a natural end once everyone copies them, from gegenpressing outliving its own popularity to the Pep paradigm giving way to an era nobody has defined yet.
The posts
- Opinion End of Pep paradigm and recruitment at top clubs With the tactical era that shaped two decades now fading, sporting heads and managers are far less certain about which direction to build their squads in.
- Longform How Ten Hag's initial success created a ghost The compact block, primitive baiting and vertical attacking that worked in 2022/23 became the end product rather than the pathway, and United never moved past it.
- Opinion Death of gegenpressing Klopp's exit closes the era of gegenpressing as a system in itself, and United under Ten Hag have once again arrived at the tail end of a tactical cycle.