THE DAGGER (a super tactic)

Ah yes, one of those uber tactics, the Dagger - as pinched from Under Pressure but available all over the shop - is one of those systems that you would never see in real life (though it is believed Keegan would happily use it) yet finds favour in any good CM simulation. It isn't hard to see where it's coming from either, is it? With only two recognised defenders on the field, the weight of your players is in midfield, and the bulk of these occupy reasonably advanced positions. Thus the philosophy of the Dagger is to pin the opposition back by sheer weight of numbers, with effective support from central midfield and a strong DM. Brilliant eh?

This tactic asserts that you only actually need two central defenders because the majority of opposing teams play two outright forwards, presumably as part of a 4-4-2 formation in obeisance to Sven Goran Eriksson, who knows. He just knows. This is usually a fair point. In the Moukoko! tactic, the central of the three defenders (i.e. the one not charged with marking a striker) is often the lowest rated as he is kind of a spare man. The case could be made that he may be taken out of the equation. And besides, you have that all-important defensive midfielder to keep things ticking over. Obviously, your man here has to be a God amongst men, as he will be charged with picking up tricky midfielders from the other side.

Into central and attacking midfield then, and where you hope the game will be won. Your five fellas can cover ground easily enough here, so there's no need for all those messy arrows. Here you are constructing the kind of unit that would make Ossie Ardiles wet himself in sheer excitement, but a clear need is for your blokes to be fairly pacey. Finally you have your front two who must be rubbing their hands at the prospect of such a bloated support crew.

You can tell at a glance what the one big, poke a finger up yer bum concern is here, can't you? That's right, it is of course the lack of width in your formation. Against sides like Liverpool, whose strength runs through the centre like a modern skyscraper (did you get that one, architecture fans?) you ought to have few problems, but imagine your plight against a team that can use the flanks effectively, like Manchester United. Sir David will have all the time in the world to get in his venomous crosses from the right. Giggs won't have to cut in from the left until he's more or less up your khyber. And this is what I discovered when airing the tactic for its 10-match testing period (you see the work and research that goes into this? Eh?).

Something else I found though, which surprised me, was the lack of goals that ensued from employing the Dagger. With midfield as congested as Hell's suite for dead football chairmen, games turned out to be turgid affairs, where the ball rarely roamed into either side's danger zones. This was the predominant feature, and it led me to the conclusion that this tactic was best suited for sides that need to force a goalless draw. Despite this George Graham has never been known to favour it.