Quote:
Originally Posted by sterlingice
Baseball has had multiple live ball and dead ball eras. Has such a thing existed in soccer with more and less offense throughout history?
SI
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Early football was much higher-scoring as teams played with only a couple of defenders, little concept of forwards tracking back, and no real pressing. More defensive formations phased in over time, with the 4-4-2 and catenaccio arriving during the 60s (Helenio Herrera's Inter were the poster team for catenaccio well before the 80s) and knocking offense down as they came. The other permanent shift was around the 70s when fitness training reached a level that let teams press for a significant portion of a match, which again was a boost to defense.
Since then it's been more of a cyclical thing depending on the tactical trends du jour and which minor rule tweaks FIFA have made recently, as other people have already covered.