Whenever a seemingly talented team falls on hard times, the topic of discussion will invariably turn to potential fixes, both quick and otherwise. Tactics are one of the more frequently debated topics in the former category, and it’s easy to understand why — changes to strategy and formation don’t require new players, coaches, or front office personnel and when a team isn’t playing up to its potential it’s a tantalizingly simple solution.
It’s also quite easy to overstate their importance. The single biggest contributing factor to success is talent, and it’s not particularly close. Genuinely bad teams aren’t going to suddenly become good by switching from a counter-attacking 4-5-1 to a high-pressing 4-3-3, and genuinely good teams aren’t going to plummet down the table by going in the opposite direction.