In a special mailbag edition of our newsletter, Jonathan Wilson answers your questions on playmaker keepers, weird player huddles and Declan Rice
As we enter a tactical reaction period to structured pressing; do you think we’ll see the development of the “Quarterback Keeper?” Will the Pep Guardiolas of the world have midfielders breaking from the back running post patterns while fullbacks run a curl?
– David
I’ve no idea what those terms mean but I assume they’re from American football? If so, I wouldn’t fixate on them; while it’s certainly possible for sports to draw inspiration from each other, they very rarely map precisely on to each other. Will players start moving in different patterns to now? Possibly, but football is 150 years old; there is very little new under the sun.
This is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from the Guardian US at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Have a question for Jonathan? Email soccerwithjw@theguardian.com, and he’ll answer the best in a future edition
