{"id":197092,"date":"2025-10-08T08:37:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T08:37:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/197092\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T08:37:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T08:37:18","slug":"which-footballers-defied-a-managers-tactics-and-what-were-the-results-soccer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/197092\/","title":{"rendered":"Which footballers defied a manager\u2019s tactics \u2013 and what were the results? | Soccer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt\u2019s clear that regardless of personnel, Ruben Amorim will not shift from his 3-4-2-1 even if the pope were to force him<\/a>,\u201d notes Paul Vickers. \u201cThis got me thinking: has there ever been a case of players actively defying a manager\u2019s instructions, not by downing tools and giving up, but by taking up self-devised, alternative tactics and positions that they consider better suited to their abilities and the needs of the team? And what was the outcome of any such defiant player self-management in terms of the immediate result and then the subsequent fate of the manager and the players?\u201d<\/p>\n

A cracking question, to which we\u2019ve received plenty of answers, so let\u2019s proceed directly to The Insubordination Files.<\/p>\n

Brazil v Uruguay, World Cup final round, 1950
\u201cIn the moments prior to the last match of the 1950 World Cup, effectively the final, the Uruguay coach Juan L\u00f3pez informed his team that their best chance of surviving the powerful offensive line of Brazil would come through adopting a defensive strategy,\u201d writes David Ekstrand. \u201cAfter he left, the captain Obdulio Varela stood up and addressed the team himself, saying \u2018Juancito is a good man, but today, he is wrong. If we play defensively against Brazil, our fate will be no different from Spain [6-1] or Sweden [7-1].\u2019 Varela then delivered an emotional speech about how they should defy the odds and not be intimidated by fans or the opposing team. The speech, as was later confirmed, played a huge part in the outcome of this legendary game<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roma v Chelsea, Inter-Cities Fairs Cup first round, 1965-66
\u201cIn 1965, Terry Venables ignored the instructions of Chelsea manager Tommy Docherty in a second leg European tie against Roma,\u201d writes David Warriston. \u201cEl Tel instructed Marvin Hinton to play as a sweeper instead of following the Doc\u2019s plan for Chelsea to play their normal domestic system. The 0-0 result was fine \u2013 Chelsea went through 4-1 on aggregate \u2013 but within a year Venables was transferred to Spurs with a clash of personalities being a factor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Benfica v Manchester United, European Cup quarter-final, 1965-66
\u201cThere was the famous instance of George Best\u2019s half time apology to Matt Busby (\u2018Sorry, boss\u2019) in a European Cup match at Benfica,\u201d writes Geoff Wignall. \u201cContrary to instructions to keep things tight, with United protecting a 3-2 lead from the first leg, Best ran riot and United were 3-0 up after 14 minutes. End result: 5-1, 8-3 on aggregate.\u201d<\/p>\n

George Best had even greater success against Benfica in the 1968 European Cup final, helping Manchester United to a 4-1 win at Wembley. Photograph: Hulton Getty<\/p>\n

Borussia M\u00f6nchengladbach v FC Koln, DFB-Pokal final, 1972-73
\u201cIn the 1973 German Cup final, Borussia M\u00f6nchengladbach were up against local rivals Koln,\u201d begins Alex von Fintel. \u201cGladbach and Germany legend G\u00fcnter Netzer was off to Real Madrid at the end of the season and had been left on the bench for what he had hoped would be a victorious farewell. Despite the fans shouting his name, and his team hanging on with the score 1-1, manager Hennes Weisweiler didn\u2019t bring Netzer on. So before extra-time Netzer went to the linesman and took care of things himself \u2013 coming on and scoring the winning goal!\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the great Uli Hesse, Netzer had originally declined to go on at half-time and then changed his mind before extra-time. There\u2019s more detail in this ESPN article<\/a>.<\/p>\n

France (2006 and 2010 World Cups)
\u201cFrance were pretty dire in the first two games of the 2006 World Cup, which was probably down to the hapless management of Raymond Domenech,\u201d opines Tom Parternoster-Howe. \u201cFortunately, just about the only decent thing Domenech did in his time as coach was to persuade Zinedine Zidane, Lilian Thuram and Claude Mak\u00e9l\u00e9l\u00e9 to come out of retirement in 2005, ensuring France\u2019s qualification. Draws with Switzerland and South Korea in their first two games in Germany left France needing a win against Togo to qualify. At some point \u2013 either before the Togo game or the last-16 match against Spain \u2013 the players stopped listening to Domenech and started organising things for themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cZidane was rumoured to be the driving force behind this, and if you see his coaching career, it seems highly plausible. The results and performances improved significantly. Victories over Spain, Brazil and Portugal took France to a final against Italy, and we all know what happened there. It\u2019s fair to say that Zidane used his head throughout the tournament. It worked out pretty well for Domenech too; his contract was extended to 2010. There was another player mutiny there, but that one didn\u2019t work out quite as well, probably because the behavioural matters overrode the tactical.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ajax v Manchester United, Europa League final, 2016-17
Manchester United beat Ajax 2-0 in Stockholm to win their second trophy in Jos\u00e9 Mourinho\u2019s first season at Old Trafford. The second goal, scored by Henrikh Mkhitaryan just after half-time, came as a result of Ander Herrera going rogue. Mourinho had instructed Mkhitarayan to stay 30 yards from goal when United won a corner, mainly because his pace would help stop any Ajax counter-attacks at source. But he had been booked in the first half, so Herrera \u2013 whose role was to stand in front of the goalkeeper \u2013 told Mkhitaryan to swap places when United won their first corner of the second half. Mourinho started to chunter, wondering what was going on \u2026 until Mkhitaryan hooked Marouane Fellaini\u2019s header into the net to make it 2-0. Herrera explained his logic after the game to Mourinho, who later called him \u201cone of the smartest players\u201d he had managed.<\/p>\n

Long throws: the origin story<\/p>\n

\u201cLong throws are all the rage these days,\u201d begins Ed Warren. \u201cWho, if anyone, pioneered the use of the long throw into the six-yard box?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am old enough to remember Ian Hutchinson launching throws into the opposition box in the 1970s with his windmill arm technique,\u201d writes Pete Tomlin. \u201cChelsea\u2019s winning goal in the 1970 FA Cup replay was scored by David Webb from one of his throws.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother early proponent of the long throw was Bobby Woodruff, who played for Wolves, Cardiff and Newport. There are reports of his \u2018feared long throw\u2019 in the mid 1960s. In the 1970s the BBC ran a televised competition to see who had the longest throw. Woodruff reached the final but was beaten by Malcolm MacDonald.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, the earliest reference to long throws that I have found goes back much further. Apparently in the summer of 1933, when Bill Shankly was still a young player, he used to practice throwing balls over a row of houses, asking the boys of the village to retrieve them for him. This helped him to develop what was described as his \u2018unique long throw-in\u2019. He later placed great importance on training throw-ins when manager of Liverpool.\u201d<\/p>\n

An even earlier early-season pitch invasion<\/p>\n

In last week\u2019s Knowledge<\/a> we looked at early-season pitch invasions, with Oldham Athletic (19 August 2023) the clubhouse leader. Not any more!<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a huge pitch invasion when Preston scored a late winner to beat local rivals Blackpool in the Carabao Cup in 2013,\u201d writes Jeff Stephens. \u201cThis was the second game of the season, played on 5 August.\u201d Amid the chaos a steward was trampled by a police horse<\/a> and a number of people were arrested.<\/p>\n

Lads, it\u2019s 5 August. Photograph: Clive Brunskill\/Getty ImagesKnowledge archive<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a recent Portuguese league game, Porto were reduced to 10 men against Arouca when Martim Fernandes was sent off after 48 minutes. Porto then scored three goals to win the game 4-0. Has this ever happened before?\u201d asks Pedro Barbieri.<\/p>\n

We had a similar question in 2021, when Bayern Munich won by the same scoreline against VfB Stuttgart \u2013 except all four of their goals were scored with 10 men. Here\u2019s a snippet of what we said back then.<\/p>\n

We haven\u2019t been able to top Bayern\u2019s 4-0 win, but there are still plenty of examples worth mentioning of 10 men overcoming 11. Let\u2019s start at Stamford Bridge in April 2006. The leaders and champions, Chelsea, had dropped five points in the previous three games and were in danger of being caught by Manchester United. They were in even more trouble when, after going a goal down, they had Maniche sent off. The response was awesome. With Didier Drogba at his most unplayable, Chelsea\u2019s 10 men battered West Ham 4-1<\/a>, and went on to win the title at a canter.<\/p>\n

There are two other comebacks that spring immediately to mind. Yugoslavia were 3-0 down against Slovenia at Euro 2000 when Sinisa Mihajlovic got himself sent off. A fairytale win for Slovenia, who were playing their first game at a major tournament, looked inevitable. Maybe that was the problem: when Yugoslavia got one back, Slovenia started to panic, and the match finished in a pulsating 3-3 draw<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Savo Milosevic celebrates after scoring the equaliser for Yugoslavia in the 3-3 draw with Slovenia. Photograph: PA Images\/Alamy<\/p>\n

Read more\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n

The Knowledge<\/a>Can you help?<\/p>\n

\u201cOn Saturday, Jeremy Ngakia scored twice for Watford to take his career goals total to three from 116 senior club appearances,\u201d begins Peter Skilton. \u201cExcluding players who scored only once, has anybody with 100+ appearances managed a higher percentage of their career goals in a single match?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMircea Lucescu played for Romania against Cyprus in 1966, and then managed Romania against Cyprus in 2025, 59 years later. Have any other people in football history participated in the same fixture more than half a century apart?\u201d asks Ben.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo games and 27 days after West Ham won 3-0 at Nottingham Forest, they sacked the winning manager (Graham Potter) to replace him with the losing manager (Nuno Esp\u00edrito Santo). Has that ever happened so soon after the initial match?\u201d asks David Sims.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiverpool won seven games in succession and have now lost three in a row. Has a team won more than seven in a row to be followed by three successive defeats or more?\u201d asks George Jones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s clear that regardless of personnel, Ruben Amorim will not shift from his 3-4-2-1 even if the pope…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-197092","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-soccer","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}