The Catenaccio(1947)

In 1947, Nereo Rocco became the new coach of Triestina, a small club in
Italy's Serie A. Triestina was then only barely surviving in the league.
Rocco's catenaccio system saw Triestina shooting up to second in the league
later that season.

Catenaccio at its most attacking is played with a 1-3-3-3 formation. The most
important part of the catenaccio was the focus on defence. Though not as
outright defensive as the verrou, this defensive alignment was also important
-- it led to football's darkest era (in Italy, anyway) when sterile, goalless
matches were produced.

Three of the fullbacks had man-to-man marking duties, and the deep
centre-back, the solitary "1" behind the defence, would be the libero, the
free man. This libero would have no marking duties, and would patrol the
backline to cover up in case a fullback made a mistake. Almost all of the
game was spent with long balls probing the defence, or sending only the
forward line to attack, so that there would be enough players left to defend
if a counterattack from the opposition developed. At its most defensive, a
catenaccio team can even play with a 1-4-3-2 or 1-4-4-1 formation.

Advice on the catenaccio: Catenaccio was a very wary, cautious form of play
and is not recommended except when you are David against Goliath... but then
again, if you already have your own rather successful style, stick to it.
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