Link: Football's Greatest Managers #1 - Helenio Herrera
Football's Greatest Managers #2
Viktor Maslov
"The Father of modern football" - Jonathan Wilson
Enigmatic, pragmatic, misunderstood — Viktor Maslov was one of the greatest tactical minds to ever grace football, but his achievements and contributions remain largely under-appreciated.
The man who laid the foundation to modern football!
Playing Years:
Born in 1910 in then Soviet Russia, Maslov’s early childhood was surrounded by the gloom of war and revolutions tearing up apart the country and the continent. With the culmination of the Great War and the Soviet Civil War, football in the country returned to its former state and the opportunity to play for RDPK Moscow presented a stepping stone for Maslov’s career. A couple of years later, the young midfielder crossed the divide as RDPK’s city rivals, Torpedo came calling. He made his name as an unspectacular yet efficient midfielder with an eye for a pass. In his time as a player, he captained the side between 1936 and 1939 before finally hanging up his boots in 1942, at the age of 32.
Early on the path to greatness:
Maslov’s longstanding desire to be the commander at the touchline finally came into fruition as he took over the reigns at Torpedo shortly after his retirement. There was little in the way of success and after a disappointing six year stint, he was relieved of his duties and what followed was a largely unsettled period wherein Maslov swapped three clubs in six seasons. His failures prompted him to take time off and in 1957, Torpedo came calling again.
Invention of the 4-4-2:
"'Football is like an aeroplane,' he said. 'As velocities increase, so does air resistance, so you have to make the head more streamlined." - Maslov
The early 1960s represented the peak in popularity of the 4-2-4 formation, Russian clubs having adopted the system in their droves following the USSR’s success with it at the inaugural European Championships in 1960. Maslov, however, had studied the Brazilian 4-2-4 at the 1958 World Cup and had recognized the importance of bringing one of the forwards back to create a three-man midfield when required. Though there would be no dearth of attacking impetus as a result of the two wing forwards and the two center forwards, the visible flaw of the formation was the gaping holes left down the wings between the half-backs and the wing-forwards.
To counter this flaw, Maslov proposed tinkering the formation by instructing one of his wing forwards to drop deep into central midfield when not in possession of the ball to render balance to the team. In implementing his system at Kiev, the Russian went one step ahead and instructed both of his wing-forwards to drop deep, making a flat bank of four in midfield and thus narrowing down the open spaces on the wings.
Thus came about the 4-4-2, the blueprint of English football. Maslov’s modified system found the right balance between defense and attack and transitional play became easier considering the number of bodies in midfield. Football was moving from reliance on individual brilliance to efficient use of all resources available.
Using the 4-4-2 to devastating effect, Maslov’s Dynamo side dominated Soviet football during the late sixties as they stormed to the 1966, 67 and 68 Soviet titles as well as the 1966 Soviet Cup. Maslov, almost single-handedly, had shifted the balance of power in Soviet football from Moscow to Kiev, success almost literally following his physical passage across the vastness of the USSR.
His Dynamo side dominated football in the Soviet Union for a major part of the 60’s as they won consecutive league titles between 1966 and 1968 alongside a couple of domestic cups.
Invention of Pressing & Zonal Marking:
Off the field, Maslov put particular emphasis on his players’ nutrition and dietary routines to ensure that his team remained fit enough to challenge for top honours on a regular basis. As the conditioning and strength of his players increased, the Russian introduced the system of pressing with the primary motive of not allowing his opposition any space and time on the ball, as was the trend back then.
Maslov’s teams would harass and hound the opposition in possession, but their system was good enough that players covered those pressuring the man with the ball, using their supreme fitness to block up gaps that might otherwise have been exploited. Dynamo Kyiv’s change to pressing and winning the ball back higher was a key development, as before Maslov, teams tended allow their opponents space and time on the ball whereas Maslov’s instigation of pressing denied players this time and space and led to the game based more on fitness and tactical awareness that can be seen in practically ever league in the world today.
With an increasing emphasis on total organisation in all areas of the field, the hallmark of Maslov’s Dynamo became the team’s ability to over-man across the pitch, negating opposition movement with the brilliance of their positioning and the aggressiveness of their pressing.Jonathan Wilson writes:
“Their (Dynamo’s) midfield was hunting in packs, closing down opponents and seizing the initiative in previously unexpected areas of the pitch.”
The Dynamo of the 60’s were among the first sides in football to integrate team-work in building in a perfectly cohesive unit that hunted in packs and not on the brilliance of an individual. The team pressed and defended zonally to negate the threat posed by the roaming center forward of those times ala Nandor Hidegkuti. Maslov famously proclaimed the vices of a man-marking system –
“Man-marking humiliates, insults and even morally oppresses the players who resort to it.”
Maslov’s introduction of the tactic of pressing and squeezing the opposition high up the pitch was the most important tactical change in a generation. The change revolutionized the way football was played yet curiously enough took time to catch on. The change became a key component of the way Michel’s Ajax played and similarly set Arrigo Sacchi’s Milan apart from the pack but it was really not until the 1990’s that the tactic of pressing and squeezing the game high up the pitch fully caught on.
Off field innovations:
Yet Maslov’s innovations were not limited simply to on-field strategy, the masterful coach was also a pioneer in the field of sports nutrition and conditioning. Dynamo were noted for their superior levels of fitness under his management and, obsessive about even the smallest of details, Maslov introduced strict dietary plans to maximise the physical potential of his squad.
Legacy:
Maslov's 4-4-2, was later modified by Sir Alf Ramsey who dropped the wingers for additional midfielder (dubbed "Wingless Wonders")as the English lifted the World Cup in 1966.
Maslov’s tactic of pressing the opposition was later adopted by Rinus Michels as he built his all conquering Ajax of the 70’s and by Arigo Sacchi who used it to perfection in making his Milan the undisputed champions of the continent.
His tremendous work in the domestic scene of the Soviet Union reflected in the way the national team set-up. USSR implemented the zonal marking and pressing systems in their defensive play and are believed to be among the first ones to do so. Football aesthetics may point a finger at Maslov for stemming the attacking rendezvous of the late 50’s and early 60’s by the introduction of pressing the opposition but there remains little doubt that the Russian’s theories having survived the test of time, remain one of the cornerstones of modern tactical thinking.
Titbits:
Valeriy Lobanovskyi had been a talented left-winger, an individualistic player who ultimately fell out with Viktor Maslov, but went on to become a great manager of his own. He took Maslov's foundation and progressed it to perfection at Dynamo.
