Sum it up in a few sentences if you don't mind.
I'll try.
Legendary Dutch coach Renus Michels (RM) of 'total football' fame sets out in his book the steps to take to achieve that kind of football, and the type of players and coaching required.
He argues that to really achieve it you have to build it into the club and players from the youth stages all the way up to senior level, with the youth being the most important.
In terms of coaching, mentality is THE most important thing to look for. Next comes technical ability, last of all is physique.
To achieve the final stage of 'total football' (level 3...the levels are invented by the author to simplify the original book) a team may go through two previous stages.
Level 1 is 'backs to the wall football'...maybe something like a Watford played in the prem, trying to achieve some success when your players are basically crap.
Level 2 is counter attacking football. This is based on a solid defence, 2 banks of 4 (defence and midfield) keeping compact and close to each other. This stage is very similar to how we have played for the last few years.
Level 3 is 'total football'. It is a risky way to play, but can dominate teams completely, and is based (among other things) on one touch football, very intelligent use of possession, attacking full-backs, versatile intelligent players, winning the ball back high up the pitch, and a 'sweeper keeper'.
A key aspect of a 'level 3' team is also it's ability to use 'level 2' when necessary. IE, dominating is not enough if you can't also counter attack when you need to, and to be able to vary between these you need high quality and mentally strong players.
The article is basically arguing that Rafa's methods are extremely similar to RM's, and that our play over the last few seasons shows this. Many quotes and examples from interviews of our coaching staff and quotes from Rafa himself are used to show these similarites.
Key similarites are, in particular, the approach to youth and the importance of mentality. Mentality is a word mentioned time and time again by all our staff, and is clearly the thing Rafa looks for most, as did RM.
Now, although we are not there yet, there are also signs (not all mentioned in the article) that we are moving from 'level 2' to 'level 3'. We dominated more teams last season, we played more one touch football, at times we attacked with the whole team from all over the pitch, and Reina is a very, very good 'sweeper keeper'.
The signings this season point even more towards level 3, players like Keane and Barry who are versatile, mentally strong and very good at playing one touch football and keeping the ball moving constantly, but who are also solid when required to win back possession, or keep their positions as required when counter attacking.
Also, the two full-backs are very important, both very attacking, with attacking full-backs mentioned as one of the key aspects of a 'level 3' team.
So, in conclusion, we can see that Rafa is building something special, but we can also see that the task is very difficult, and that we need patience from owners and fans if we are going to see this happen.
The author argues that we won't see the full effect until our young players are really brought through the whole system, namely in about 5-6 years when the likes of Della Valle reach 21-22.
However, we can win things before this point. 'Level 3' is not achieved just by winning one title, but is something more like Liverpool of old, a system or machine of domination that is strong enough to lose players and managers yet still keep on winning.
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I hope that makes things clearer, but there's a limit to how short I can make it and still give you the main points.