Sir Alf Ramsey's England 1966 // World Cup WINNING 4-3-1-2

ALF RAMSEY’S ENGLAND 1966 TACTICS

Analyzing Sir Alf Ramsey's Wingerless Tactics: A Revolution in English Football

Sir Alf Ramsey's tenure as the manager of the England national football team in the 1960s marked a watershed moment in the sport's history. One of the most intriguing aspects of Ramsey's tactical approach was his innovative use of wingerless tactics, a strategy that challenged conventional wisdom and ultimately led England to glory in the 1966 FIFA World Cup.

Traditionally, wingers had been an integral part of football formations, providing width to the team's attacking play and serving as key providers of crosses into the box. However, Ramsey, a visionary tactician, saw the potential for a more dynamic and versatile system. He believed that by dispensing with traditional wingers, he could create a more compact and defensively solid team while still maintaining attacking potency.

Ramsey's wingerless tactics were built around a fluid and interchangeable front line, with players encouraged to drift inside and exploit space between the opposition's defensive lines. This approach required players with exceptional technical ability, intelligence, and positional awareness, traits that Ramsey carefully cultivated within his squad.

One of the key beneficiaries of Ramsey's tactical revolution was England's star player, Bobby Charlton. Deployed in an inside forward role, Charlton was given the freedom to roam across the attacking third, linking up play, and unleashing his lethal shooting from distance. His versatility and adaptability epitomized Ramsey's vision of a wingerless attack.

Another crucial component of Ramsey's system was the overlapping runs of the full-backs, who provided the width that traditional wingers would typically offer. Players like George Cohen and Ray Wilson excelled in this role, bombing forward to support the attack while remaining diligent in their defensive duties.

Ramsey's wingerless tactics reached their pinnacle during the 1966 World Cup, where England's cohesive and disciplined performances captivated the nation. The team's ability to control games through intelligent positional play and swift counter-attacks was a testament to Ramsey's meticulous planning and astute tactical adjustments.

In the final against West Germany, Ramsey's tactics were on full display as England secured a historic 4-2 victory after extra time. Charlton's dynamic movement and decisive goals, combined with the tireless running of the full-backs and the astute midfield play, overwhelmed the opposition and delivered England's first and only World Cup triumph.

Sir Alf Ramsey's wingerless tactics represented a seismic shift in footballing philosophy. By challenging conventional norms and embracing innovation, he not only revolutionized English football but also left a lasting legacy that continues to influence the game to this day. His tactical acumen and strategic vision remain a source of inspiration for coaches and players around the world, underscoring the enduring impact of one of football's greatest pioneers.

How to emulate this tactic in Football Manager 2024

Formation: 4-1-2-1-2 Diamond narrow

Encourage fluid movement and interchangeability among players.

Team Instructions

In possession

Mentality: Balanced against stronger teams. Positive against the rest, it helps to maintain a solid defensive shape while posing a threat in attack.
Playing Style: Focus on possession-based football with quick transitions and direct passing when attacking.
Width: Fairly Narrow to encourage players to drift inside and create overloads in central areas.
Passes: shorter (if you want to retain possession even more, use much shorter combined with a slightly higher tempo instead of a higher one)
Tempo: High tempo to keep the opposition defense on their toes and exploit spaces quickly.
Crosses: low
Work ball into the box
Overlap left and right: the two wing-backs overlap and provide width, they are the only players who can do it in a wingerless system
Run at defense: England players liked to dribble the opponent defenders if they had a chance to win one vs one

In transition

Counter: launch fast counter-attacks
GK passes to the wing-backs and throw it long

Out of possession

Mid-block
Higher defensive line
Trigger press: more often
Prevent short gk distribution (with two forwards it’s much easier to do than with one forward)
Get stuck in
Step up more: use off-side trap more

Player Roles and Tasks

Banks: goalkeeper, defend, no instructions
Cohen: Wing-back, attack, no instructions
J. Charlton: central defender, defend: pass it shorter, mark tighter, close down less (to avoid he presses too high and leaves spaces open behind him), take fewer risks. Jack Charlton was the most defensive of the two center-backs so he did not move from his position and stayed back to cover his teammates, while Moore could venture forward and help build the play.
Moore: Libero-defend: pass it shorter, dribble more. Moore often carried the ball forward and helped to build the play, with the instruction dribble more I replicate his movement to carry the ball forward. Luckily in England nowadays we have a player like John Stones who is perfect for this role.
Wilson: full-back, attack, no instructions. A bit more defensive compared to Cohen, if we use a wing-back, we will see our player playing like a winger and staying always forward, with a full-back we can play safer, he will not forget to cover in defense.
Stiles: anchor, defend, no instructions. A nightmare for the opponents strikers, in the match against Portugal, Eusebio could not play as he wanted because Stiles anticipated all his moves. His role can’t be anything but an anchor.
Ball: box to box midfielder, support: stay wider, cross aim the near post.
Peters: mezzala, support: cross aim the near post.

Ball and Peters were the real innovation of Ramsey’s wingerless tactic, they were very young and ready to listen to their manager and learn their tasks, something that older players would have not accepted (Ramsey used to play a 4-3-3 with two wingers before but they would not have accepted to play narrower). Even in a narrow diamond formation, the two central midfielders should be able to cover the wider spaces. When we talk about central midfielders who are also good in covering wider spaces, the first role that comes to our mind is a mezzala. Mezzala is an italian word that means “central winger” (it is made by two words, mezzo means center of the pitch and ala means winger). Players who have good dribbling, ball control, passing and technical skills like a winger but also must have good mental skills, vision, off the ball and decision making because they must take the right decision in the right moment without impacting team balance. I chose the mezzala role in support for Peters (left central midfielder) with the instruction to cross to the near post. Why? Because in that team, Hurst always positioned himself there to receive crosses.

For Ball’s role, even if at the beginning I wanted to choose the mezzala (support), after studying many analyses of 1966 England tactics, I read that Ball was a typical box to box midfielder who was always running back and forward. A box to box midfielder is, to make it simple, a more balanced mezzala who, in attack, helps the strikers and moves into the box to receive the ball or he can also shoot from outside the box (so he must have a good shooting value), while in defense, marks the opponent’s most talented players (usually a trequartista if there is one) and tries to win the ball back as soon as possible. Since he also has defensive tasks and marking tasks, he must have good values in marking, strength, quickness and stamina.

B. Charlton: attacking midfielder, support, no instructions
Bobby Charlton was a genius in attack but could also drop deep to form a four midfielders line when defending, that’s why I chose the support duty for him, so he can balance attack and defense.
Hunt: pressing forward, attack, no instructions. He did not have only scoring tasks, he also could drop deep or follow the opponent defenders to press them,
Hurst: advanced forward, attack, no instructions.
Hurst was the scorer, he positioned him close to the near post and waited for crosses or tried shooting from different positions as soon as he could. His only task was to score goals.

Tested with England, won all the remaining UEFA Euro Qualifying games with great wins against Italy (4-1 and 6-0) and won the UEFA Euro Cup in the final against Italy (again!) 3-2 after defeating France too.