I met up with some old football mates recently old being the operative word as we were teammates when there were still footballs around that had laces. At that time, many seasons ago, our team enjoyed a modicum of success in West Midlands amateur football and we naturally talked about long lost youth as well as trophy triumphs and the odd league title, plus the more than occasional 'mare.
In between digs at the relative strengths and weaknesses of the individuals around the pub table, we also talked semi-seriously about what makes up a good team; a successful team which stands out above the rest. And whilst we all agreed that quality players in all departments is obviously paramount, especially at the highest level, the key to a side realising its potential is simply…balance. After all, it wouldn't be much good for England to have ten Michael Owens, would it ?'
And there is the very foundation of any team game, a combination of various talents, abilities, not to mention physical characteristics, galvanised into one unit for the benefit of all contributing to the common aim. Put simply when a team functions properly the sum of its parts can exceed that of the whole.
That applies not only on the park but in the dressing room also. Bob Paisley, who knew a thing or several hundred about a successful team, once said: "I've always believed in getting the balance of a team right. You need extroverts alongside the quiet men and the loners." He was right of course, as he invariably was, and the same philosophy still rings true today. All the money in the world doesn't necessarily achieve what Bob, and others, was able to do.
If you look at the truly great teams of the past they had so many different types in their line-ups but they still seemed to galvanise each other. Take Liverpool under Paisley, for example. In nine years at the Anfield helm he won an astonishing six League Championships, three consecutive Milk Cups, three European Cup wins and the UEFA Cup, in 1976 for good measure.
In his teams you had the supreme forward skills of Ian Rush and Kenny Dalglish but Bob also had Kevin Keegan. Although less naturally gifted than Kenny, Kevin worked hard to make the best of what he had and went on to become the only British player ever to be voted European Footballer of the Year.
Joey Jones at full back brought some of the guts and endeavour he learned at Wrexham to embody the defender's maxim 'they shall not pass' and as well as an impressive haul of medals in his all to brief three years at Anfield, Joey went on to win 72 caps for Wales. And one thing I always noticed about Liverpool was the tolerance they showed each other when mistakes occurred, not so these days I'm afraid, in general of course.
You could go on and list great sides that had a balance that exceeded the limitations of the individuals contained therein. Dave Mackay could stop a tank with his tackles but he wasn't the greatest in an aerial battle, whilst Maurice Norman was supreme alongside him and Danny Blanchflower. It was the same when Mackay enjoyed a championship swansong at Derby where he complemented the more elegant Roy McFarland. Again, balance you see.
The point I am trying to make is this, and it is a worthy lesson that can be taken on board whether you are a £100,000 a week player with a top European club or just enjoy a game for the 'Dog and Duck Second XI'. If you are selected in a team then you must have some merit that you can bring to the side, even if you are the only one to recognise that.
Whatever the tactics of your manager, be he Arsene Wenger or the local postman who runs a team for the sheer fun of it, when it comes down to it, success comes when the various parts of the jig-saw that make up a football team, or any team for that matter, fit together and the weakness of one is compensated for by the strength of another, and visa versa,
So the next time you are watching your favourite team try to look a little beyond what is staring you in the face. Who is the 'water carrier' - as Eric Cantona once cruelly described Didier Deschamps before the latter went on to be a World Cup winner - and who benefits from his unselfishness, and who is the egocentric up front who wouldn't be able to showboat and milk the applause for a goal were it not for his teammate who risked life and limb to set him up for the goal.
A modern-day example of this would be that of Claude Makelele whose worth to Real Madrid in bagging top European and domestic honours could not be measured. Now, he's providing the same sort of platform for Chelsea's ball players to do their stuff. It's a question of balance and if we all recognised that a bit more, players, managers, fans, journalists alike then the game would be all that more pleasurable.
