The Complete 1-4-2-3-1: Seven Phases of Play — A Tactical Playbook with Emphasis on the Full-Backs in Today's Game

Twenty years on the grass. Twelve clubs. Seven countries. One formation taken apart, phase by phase. The Complete 1-4-2-3-1 is a tactical playbook from UEFA PRO Licence holder João Janeiro — mentored directly by Johan Cruyff and shaped by two decades of professional coaching. This is not a theory book. Every diagram, drill, and decision in here is something used in real matches with real players, refined across leagues, cultures, and competition levels. The book takes the world's most-used modern formation apart through the seven phases of play: build-up, pressing, offensive organisation, defensive organisation, attack transition, defence transition, and set pieces. Special attention is given to the role that decides modern football — the full-back. The position has shifted from defender to playmaker, from touchline runner to inverted pivot, from chalkboard afterthought to tactical lever. The book reflects that. What's inside: - Seven full chapters covering each phase of play, with movement diagrams, principles tables, and coaching cues - Eighteen training drills with diagrams, coaching cues, common errors, and progressions — organised by phase - Four full-back case studies drawn from real match adjustments - A complete match-day decision tree covering pressing block, build-up adaptation, set-piece priority, in-game changes, and result management - A practical training-week microcycle (Tactical Periodization) with two scenarios depending on rest-day position - A chapter on opposition analysis — the honest version, not the analyst-army version - Six short essays on coaching philosophy, written from the touchline rather than the lecture hall This book is a guide, not a manual. The drills are examples — to be analysed live, on the grass, and changed in the moment when the session asks for it. The core of the book is something else: to understand the system inside a model, and the importance of the full-backs in the modern game. Build your own drills around those ideas. For UEFA candidates, club analysts, academy coaches, and any coach who can't stop thinking about the game. Read more