"My concern is that we coaches don't arrogate to ourselves the right to remove from the spectacle the synonym of festival, in favour of a philosophical reading that cannot be sustained, which is to avoid taking risks. And in football there are risks because the only way you can avoid taking risks in any game is by not playing."
"There's a right-wing football and a left-wing football. Right-wing football wants to suggest that life is struggle. It demands sacrifices. We have to become of steel and win by any method... obey and function, that's what those with power want from the players. That's how they create retards, useful idiots that go with the system."Unfortunate phrasing but it's what César Luis Menotti believed, he was one of football's true aesthetes. He prioritised skill and entertainment but his teams weren't all-out attack. They were filled with tactically intelligent players who knew where to be and when, influenced not only by Total Football but the 1970 Brazil team. But how did he line his teams up?
The key Menotti teams were the unfancied Huracan team he took to the club's second ever league title, the Argentine team he took to a World Cup and the Barca team he won three trophies with in four months. That team often used a more contemporary 4-4-2 but typically, Menotti's teams lined up in a lopsided 4-1-2-3 with a sweeper and a stopper in defence, a destroyer, a playmaker and a goalscorer in midfield and an attack made up of a conventional winger, a creative wide forward and a skillful number 9 who could also hold the ball up when necessary. You have players who can push up but who are smart enough to know when to drop off and fit enough to do it.
These are the two main templates: Huracan 1973 and Argentina 1978:
So, here's how they compare player by player. I'd say all the positions are stylistically similar profiles with big upgrades in many:
GK (Ibaldo Fillol >>> Joseph-Antoine Bell) Template: acrobatic, quick keeper a touch under six foot who comes off his line a lot. I posted the videos further up but Bell is the closest keeper in world football to Fillol, a keeper who's massively underrated because he's African, he didn't come to Europe until he was in his 30's and he came up alongside Thomas N'Kono, a very good conventional choice for Cameroon (think Clemence vs Shilton).
LB (Alberto Tarantini/Julio Alberto >>> David Alaba) Template: an attacking left back with the tactical nous to play centre back. Alaba doesn't quite have the same maverick streak as these two but he started off as a winger, is currently at centre back and has played mostly in midfield for the national team.
SW (Daniel Passarella/
Jose Ramon Alexanko >>> Fernando Hierro) Template: A physically strong sweeper and onfield leader who scores goals. Hierro won everything with Real, had a great passing range and had a one-in-three record for Spain. They
weren't all penalties either.
CB (Alfio Basile/Migueli (AKA Tarzan)>>> Big Virj) Template: The more conventional defender who acts as cover. Van Dijk is hugely athletic, never gets dribbled past and is basically the ideal choice to play alongside a sweeper who goes up. Have you seen him next to Matip?
RB (Jorge Olguín/Tente Sanchez >>> Berti Vogts) Template: A more defensive counterpoint converted from a central player (CB and MF respectively in this case). Vogts was primarily a right back but also a defensive one who played in the centre of defence for Borussia Mönchengladbach in some
big games.
DM (Américo 'The Octopus' Gallego/Víctor Muñoz >>> N'Golo Kanté) Template: A diminutive, strong, tireless destroyer with telescopic legs who can break up attacks before they get to the defence. Kanté is the literal epitome of this player and probably the best ever example.
MF (Osvaldo Ardiles/Bernd Schuster >>> Luka Modric) Template: Elegant midfield playmaker capable of running the game and setting up goals for the players higher up the pitch. Modric won a Ballon d'Or in this exact position.
AM (Mario Kempes/Carlos Babington >>> Jari Litmanen) Template: A creative, gritty player who can dribble the ball and make runs from midfield to score. His injury record in his later years makes people forget that Litmanen was actually quite a physical player - a six-footer like Kempes - and although he had a superb scoring record, he tended to play behind the front three for Ajax. Perfect fit.
LW ('El Rapido' Oscar Ortiz/
Omar Larrosa >>> Ryan Giggs) Template: A speedy winger who can carry the ball up the field quickly, beat a player and slide a cross in. Giggs at his peak was exactly this kind of player, he wouldn't have been able to score that goal against Arsenal if he wasn't. He's also still top of the all-time PL assist table, about 50% ahead of nearest competitor Cesc Fabregas.
CF (Leopoldo Luque/Roque Avallay >>> Pelé) Template: A skillful centre forward who can hold the ball up and drop off in addition to scoring goals. Menotti actually rated Pelé as the greatest ever, and the role Luque played in the Argentine team was very similar. Avallay played somewhat of a Firmino role in the Huracan team, allowing teammates to play around him like Pelé did in the 1970 side. I picked the more intelligent late career version rather than the goalscoring phenomenon - this centre forward also has to be a playmaker.
RW (
Daniel Bertoni/
René Houseman/Diego Maradona >>> Leo Messi) Template: The attacking centrepoint of the side, a creative dribbler in a free role who's job is to destroy the other team's defence and score goals. Look, Messi is the best ever in this role - even Maradona couldn't fill it in the same way - and he has the tactical intelligence to thrive there in front of Modric.
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