the Anglo-Brazilian invention of the 4-4-2

excelent article by Tim Vickery on the invention of the full-backs in Brazil (and their importance for Brazilian football since the 50s), which led to the invention of the 4-3-3 by Brazil, which led to the invention of the 4-4-2 by England.

the questions he answers below are also interesting.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/6494653.stm

Tim Vickery's column is just about the only thing I bother to read on the BBC now - you'd really think they'd be capable of coming up with more interesting articles than they do but they seem to keep covering the same old tripe time and time again

Kevin Nolans is also a good read too.

I have not bothered with Hansen since his article claiming that Rooney should be mentioned in the same breath as Pele and Maradona.

Kevin Nolan's is decent enough but its not something that I eagerly wait for like I do anything written by Tim Vickery

Hate to break Tim Vickery's bubble but AC Torino invented the 4-4-2 system in the 40's.

Was there an English influence over there at the time though?

I don't think it was. The English influence stopped at Milan and Genoa (both of them where English base clubs).

Grande Torino played with the 4-4-2 10 years before the Brazil 1958 World Cup team, and some of their game tactics anticipated by 35 years the Dutch Total Football that revolutionized the game in the 1970s.

This was one of the biggest teams in history. They won 5 back to back titles in the 40's and the Italy national football team starting lineup in the second half of the forties consisted almost entirely of Grande Torino players, which regularly contributed with 8-9 starters. The captain was the legendary Valentino Mazzola, father of Sandro Mazzola (Inter fans should know who he is). It all ended with the Superga tragedy when a plain crash killed all the players and managers.

Cesc wrote:I have not bothered with Hansen since his article claiming that Rooney should be mentioned in the same breath as Pele and Maradona.

Or when he said this in his article from yesterday. He's discussing Gerrard-Lampard:

"If I was the manager, I would stick with them. Before you think about dropping one of them you have got to show me a better alternative and, at the moment, nothing stands out."

I hate Kevin Nolans column, probably the most boring thing in the world.