Regardless of the criticism Giovanni Trapattoni has been getting over the last two years in the Ireland job, there is no question that he will still go down in history as one of the greatest coaches of all time.
His list of achievements is staggering: league titles in four different countries, the European Cup with Juventus and 10 league crowns in all.
But one of the main gripes in Ireland with the veteran Italian is his tactical rigidity and reliance on a out-moded 4-4-2. But has it always been that way during a 40-year management career?
Juventus
A long-time Milan player, Trap’s first coaching job was at the San Siro. But the first time he truly established himself in management was at Juventus.
Arriving in Turin in 1976, he remained in the role for the next decade overseeing a golden era which six Serie A titles, two Coppa Nazionale, one European Cup and two UEFA Cups.
Trapattoni’s Juve won two league titles in his first two years, but it was the early to mid-80s that saw the apogee of their success.
Aided by great players like Michel Platini, Zbigniew Boniek, 1982 World Cup Golden Boot winner Giuseppe Rossi and current Ireland assistant boss Marco Tardelli, Trap stuck with tradition by using an Italian sweeper system which in some variants vaguely resembles a 4-3-3.
Known as Zona Mista, this was an upgrade on the extremely defensive catenaccio system pioneered by Helenio Herrera at Inter Milan in the 60s and was used by most Serie A sides at the time.
The interesting to note here is that Trap valued the role of the playmaker. Of course that position has evolved from the time of Platini and Liam Brady particularly in European football and is not quite as static.
After spells at Inter Milan, Cagliari, Bayern Munich and Fiorentina with varying degrees of success, Trap – a legend in his homeland – was given the reins of the Italian national team.
But the Azurri suffered early exits in the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004. In the former, Italy were robbed by refereeing decisions - to put it mildly - against the co-host nation South Korea in the last-16.
That particular tournament was quite weak in the latter stages so one can only guess whether Trap would have led his country all the way to glory in the Yokohama final.
However, having said that Italy were lucky to emerge from their World Cup group, picking up just four points.
Italy’s default formation during the 2002 showpiece was a 4-3-1-2 with Francesco Totti playing as a trequartista behind Christian Vieri and second-striker Alessandro Del Piero. With Del Piero capable of dropping deep this could shift to a 4-3-2-1 when out of possession.
Behind Totti, there was an ultra-defensive line of three workman-like midfielders in Damiano Tomassi, Cristiano Zanetti and Gianluca Zambrotta (whose career was mostly spent at right back).
The same 4-3-1-2 was used at Euro 2004 with the exception of deep-lying playmaker Andrea Pirlo which gave Italy greater attacking impetus but one less piece of defensive protection in midfield as they crashed out in the group stages. Yet again however, one must note that Trap did value the role of the player in behind the striker in Francesco Totti.
The next interesting point in Trap’s football odyssey would be his single season at Benfica in 2004/05 which yielded the iconic club’s first league title.
Although it is said that Trap used a version of catenaccio during his Lisbon stay, what he actually used was a 4-2-3-1 formation which in effect is the default formation for most top club and international sides.
Nuno Gomes led the line in this formation with Nuno Assis playing in the No 10 role behind him. But it was hardly revolutionary as it has been the most common formation in Portuguese football over the past decade.
