I have seen this debate a couple of times in the last few weeks on X. It seems to have stemmed from The Overlap podcast where Roy Keane and Gary Neville said in their time tactics were never spoken about, it was more on the players to react to situations as a team. It has also been mentioned by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who wanted the players to express themselves with more freedom later in his tenure at Manchester United, after signing Ronaldo, Varane and Sancho.
As one user put it better than I could ever regarding Sir Alex Ferguson approach and Roy Keanes comments
“Someone that gave his players trust & freedom to play football & take risks. Understood the players played the game and not him.
Letting them create a natural understanding and ability solve problems through their own creative processes & sócio affection.
Proper manager”
It has also been mentioned as well as Sir Alex Ferguson, Carlo Ancelotti, former Brazil boss Tele are believers in this way of managing and dont hold tactics in as high a regard as some. Wayne Rooney has been quoted as saying the manager (Sir Alex) often told us to sort it ourselves, Graeme Souness famously told many signings ‘if I need to tell you how to play Football I shouldn’t have signed you!’. Ashley Cole said of his days at Arsenal it was often ‘off the cuff’ we just clicked and played naturally.
I find it a fascinating debate and in my opinion, its all open to interpretation, there are definitely a new wave of people especially on social media who seem to over complicate some pretty simple concepts with new terminology to make it sound like they’re a genius. Football will always come down to the players who cross the white line. There is a lot to be admired about carefully constructed tactics in the modern game but I feel it has taken away a lot of individual magic from the game, it has become almost robotic.
As well as the debate itself, I don’t have much time on my hands for Football Manager these days, parenthood and work has taken over a lot of free time, which if it’s ever for gaming I just want to plug and play something, I used to spend hours and hours on the old games.
But the old Football Manager/Champ Man addict is still in me somewhere, as it made me think how would you implement the Ancelotti/Ferguson freedom, go out and play sort of approach on FM? Would you use any instructions, none at all? What sort of player roles would you think would give that responsibility to the plaits on the pitch to make decisions and work together?
Yeah this is the way I feel Football used to be played and how I felt setting up teams on the old games, so much was down to ability of the player and putting them in the right position rather than loads of instructions I know the game has changed and has become very methodical. There are bits of that I like but I love players being free to express themselves and taking responsibility, I will give it a try the way you said some time, clean slate and generic roles 👍🏼