In our ever evolving online community, where any Joe, Tim or Reba can start a blog, post, pontificate or reminisce, the lost art of responsibility can evade even the most keenly trained eye. As budding young bloggers dressed all in their khakis attempt the fine art of emulation, a shout to their messianic journo idols, a plethora of newbie soccer fans in America, the UK and anywhere else a laptop can connect to a local wi-fi spot fall prey to their misuse and barbarism of all things football related and the written word.

O.K., maybe the ‘B’ word was a bit harsh, and maybe the whole ‘he who is without sin, cast the first stone’ ideology should hit a bit closer to home, yet the few and the proud, those who refuse to aimlessly destroy a chalkboard or snapshot a match review to cater to their strengths, continue to stand amazed at some of the published jargon that appears each day across the width and breadth of the Internet. Truly fascinating, but who to trust?

While I’ll never slate or scoff at those who pursue their passion or simply wish to better themselves through almighty practice, there seems to be a reoccurring theme among the up and coming, the wanna-be’s and even the snobbish as it pertains to football formations and tactics. As the Zonal Marking‘s and Jonathan Wilson‘s of the world continue to enlighten football fans with their other worldly views on ‘how things work’, the charlatans continue to emerge from underneath their day jobs to plop themselves in front of their MacBooks as overnight experts. The problem: the next Jonathan Wilson awoke this very morning deciding he’d like to write tactics and figured he would pursue this new venture with content and not contemplation.

While there continues to be nothing wrong with the pursuit of the Yankee dollar or the warm, cuddly feeling of seeing ones name in all those bright lights up on high, may we at least clear up one or two minor affairs as it pertains to the use of certain terminology?

First off, it’s no sin if you’re a football fan, passionate or lukewarm, to not be able to dissect and analyze a match as experts do for major publications. The implementation of tactics, the use of various formations and the chopping and changing conducted each and every weekend in the Premier League by experienced managers, in a sense, shouldn’t always be understood by Joe in Tucson. Managers in the Premier League and across Europe spend their entire lives studying the art of football, which makes it just fine if normal soccer fans can’t grasp the idea of if a 4-2-3-1 has advantages over a 4-4-2 and why.

Secondly, those random numbers interspersed with dashes in odd sequences do not define tactics. We may like to think it’s that simple, unfortunately, it really isn’t. Think for a second about your favorite band. Not the newest flavor of the week, but one with a decent enough catalog for the example. For the sake of the exercise, I’ll choose Radiohead.

A match of football that ends 3-1 in favor of your team is their most recent release, 2007′s In Rainbows. Easily accessible, straight forward, brilliant (for you) and definitely worth another listen, or, in your case, another viewing. No need to overly analyze anything, your team was simply better in every position. Their straightforward 4-4-2 was balanced and attack-minded enough to overcome their inferior opponent. They flowed through the full 90 without much resistance, think Arsenal at home in August v Blackpool.

The very next weekend, your team draws 2-2 away when things looked to be going smoothly. Let’s define the draw as 2000′s Kid A, same band, but something slightly different, a change in direction from 97′s OK Computer, worth a deeper look and in need of analysis. The manager chose to take a risk and play one up top with a five man midfield. Now is the time for you to consider how the lone striker fared v a central defensive pairing, or why specifically the five man mid couldn’t retain possession the way you thought they would. What were the assigned roles of the deep-lying midfielder?

This is tactics. Kid A was a brilliant mix of risk and reward.

Finally, your team loses the following week at home 1-0. This loss is 2003′s Hail to the Thief, a tricky outing, positives to be taken, but maybe something was amiss, just maybe the result of some misplaced ideas. While your team lost, they reverted back to the 4-4-2 formation from the first example and the 3-1 win. Wait, 4-4-2 worked earlier, what went wrong? Tactics will help to explain, Hail to the Thief was a transition record shaded in discord. The 4-4-2 may not have worked this time because of the assignments undertaken by the full backs to ‘stay at home’, thus creating little width in your side’s attack.

If you’re still following me, the point here simply stated is that a team’s formation can show you a broad view of how they set up and the shape they’ll attempt to keep throughout the match. Tactics are a more specific ‘scrape’ of the formation. If Carlo Ancelotti deploys Ashley Cole at left back in a 4-3-3, that’s a part of the formation. Using Cole’s abilities to get forward at pace and overlap Florent Malouda in midfield was a tactical choice made by Ancelotti. 

Is the metaphor flawless in its execution? Probably not. But while students of the game we all are and strive to be, one should remember that formations can be obvious, tactics can be ambiguous. While it’s essential that the two key terms are defined and used with appropriation, it’s all a bit O.K. if you take the match as it comes. The illustration simply defines a point or two we should keep in mind when reading the latest dissertation from the recently converted. After all, to sit back and relax as the game unfolds in the manner you see fit unquestionably defines the meaning of being a football fan, just make sure you’ve got some Radiohead playing in the background.

Jesse Chula can be electronically flicked in the ear on Twitter here.

The Guardian’s Jonathan Wilson is one of the most influential soccer writers in the English-language world, whose ability to explain the tactical side of the game has changed the way the game is covered. On today’s podcast, the author of Sunderland: A Club Transformed, Behind the Curtain, and Inverting the Pyramid joins us to discuss two other areas of expertise – Eastern European football and African football – as we continue profiling the nations competing in this summer’s World Cup. In this interview, we cover Nigeria, Algeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Cote d’Ivoire as well as Slovenia, Serbia, and Slovakia. We also discuss his latest work, released last week - The Anatomy of England: A History in Ten Matches.

On tomorrow’s edition of the podcast, BBC’s North American football correspondent Sean Wheelock will join us to conclude our experts’ series as we cast special focus on Group C, England, and the United States.

The Guardian’s Jonathan Wilson is best known for his knowledge of Eastern European football as well as his tactical and formation analysis. On this episode of the EPL Talk podcast, the author of Sunderland: A Club Transformed (uk, us), Behind the Curtain (uk, us), Inverting the Pyramid (uk, us) joins us to talk about his writing, the prospects for Eastern European sides in the World Cup, and the impending travels of former Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink.

One programming reminder, the second part of the Claudio Reyna interview will be distributed later today at Major League Soccer Talk.

Don’t forget that the EPL Talk Podcast is the only Premier League interview and analysis podcast available for free. In the past few weeks, we’ve interviewed legends of the game such as Dwight Yorke, Andrew Cole, Steve McManaman, Gary O’Reilly and Robbie Earle as well as experts such as Declan Hill, Simon Kuper, Misha Sher, Andy Brassell, Tim Vickery and many others. Why pay $40 a year to rival podcasts when you can subscribe to the EPL Talk Podcast for FREE featuring interviews with the biggest names in football?

Toward the end of his book Inverting the Pyramid, Jonathan Wilson writes about the changing nature of modern football.  A player he brings up to emphasize this is Michael Owen.  To Wilson, Owen is a relic of a previous era.

“He appears a player left behind by the tactical evolution of the game,” Wilson writes.  “Owen could be one of those players who wins teams the occasional game, but prevents them playing good football (which means that he may prove extremely useful to mediocre sides, or even to a good side playing badly, but rarely if at all to a good side playing well).”

Michael Owen is the prototypical “fox in the box” or “goal poacher.”  He does one thing.  He clings to the last defender, darts onto a pass and finishes.  He once did so very proficiently.  Despite injuries, he remains reasonably productive.  But, how valuable is that skill?

For Owen to affect the game, he needs service.  He needs a midfield dedicated to feeding him.  He sharpens one angle of attack, but simultaneously blunts others.  A team can make Owen successful, but can he make the team successful?

Liverpool did win the Champions League the year after Owen left.

The designated finisher once was an essential position, but how many teams play such a specialist anymore?  Look at last year’s Champions League finalists.

Manchester United did not play a designated goal-scorer.  Berbatov is more of a facilitator.  Goals came from Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney often moving in from wide roles.

Samuel Eto’o and Leo Messi scored a number of goals for Barcelona, but both play far more versatile roles, Eto’o will at times play on the wing, and defends.  Messi plays on the right.

Neither Man U nor Barcelona played a goal poacher.

If looking for a designated forward, most Premier League fans would choose Didier Drogba or Fernando Torres.  Both players finish, but they also are big, strong and fast enough to attack from multiple angles and create space.  Their technical ability and vision allows them to facilitate teammates.

The one manager who dared press Owen, point out his weaknesses, and encourage him to expand his game was Kevin Keegan.  Rather than accept the message, Owen stubbornly blamed Keegan for ruining his confidence.

Teams need forwards to do more than score goals.  Judging them solely by the number of goals, hardly says anything.  Unless, we are all crowning Nicholas Anelka the best striker in the Premier League.

It’s not necessarily that Michael Owen has declined, but his skill-set does not fit the modern game.  The question, then, is why Manchester United bothered to sign him?

Just try and take this from us. I dare you...

Jonathan Wilson, the inimitable scholar of tactical mechanics with his recent Inverting the Pyramid: A History of Football Tactics (a book I included in a piece on tactical reductionism for this website) has made a very convincing argument why English Premier League clubs have come to dominate the Champions League in the last four seasons.  And while he doesn’t come out and say it—probably because he didn’t want to get accused of trotting out that old canard—the devil is in Wilson’s meticulously researched details: Top Four Dominance.

Here we go again, you’re forgivably thinking.  Wilson says there are three interrelated reasons why English clubs have run rampant in the Champions League: money, relative competitiveness, and “domestic hegemony.”  Of the first, he argues one of the reasons England has come to dominate Europe is the annual CL qualification of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool, and the regular allotment of Champions League TV fees between them.   But while that point may seem obvious, Wilson believes that money is most important not in balance sheets or debt-to-asset ratios, but in the one area of business Big Four supporters have never been comfortable with crediting for their success: record-breaking transfer deals.

So, if buying the best players with the most money is essential to success in Europe, what then is Wilson on about with the importance of “relative competitiveness”?  He’s not speaking of Everton or Villa’s ability to challenge the big boys in the Premier League, but rather the ability of Big Four clubs to maintain a healthy balance between European and domestic demands, contrary to “the commonly expressed belief that it is beneficial for sides to be either so far ahead or so far behind in their domestic title race that they can concentrate on the Champions League.”

Wilson notes that in six out of the last ten Champions League finals, winning sides kept up their domestic title chases right up to the end of the season (so I guess whether or not Liverpool can win in Europe while challenging for that league title may be the only sort of “competitiveness” EPL watchers will get to “enjoy” for the next few years).  This sort of competition is good because it keeps Top Four clubs versatile and balanced without threatening their domestic hegemony, what Wilson defines as the gap in points between the Big Four and the rest of league and the third important factor in European dominance.

So, in short, the ugly truth is the Premier League is tops in Europe not because it’s the “Best League in the World™” but because it has four sides that regularly qualify for the Champions League, spend a lot in transfer deals to get the best players, manage to push for both the CL and the league in a balanced way without compromising their competitive edge, and regularly increase the relative gap in points between themselves and the rest of the league because they regularly qualify for the Champions League, can buy the best players and etc. etc. etc.

It’s basically the league equivalent of Groundhog Day; all Wilson’s done is give us the itinerary.

Depending where you live in this crazy world, it might be almost impossible to find soccer-related gifts in your local stores whether it’s for you or your loved ones. But the Internet is a great aggregator, bringing you a treasure trove of choices. Here are ten recommended soccer items to add to your wish list whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or any other holiday:

1. Inverting The Pyramid: The History Of Football Tactics. The first-ever comprehensive history of football tactics has already been critically acclaimed after being named to the short list for Sports Book Of The Year Award in England. Written by Guardian journalist Jonathan Wilson, the book is a must-read for fans interested in tactics. Order it today.
2. Boot slippers. Yes, slippers that look like football boots in the colors of Liverpool, Manchester United and other clubs and even countries like Argentina. They’re the perfect accompaniment for those early Saturday mornings when you watch the Premier League with coffee in hand.
3. England home shirt. With Fabio Capello having kicked England up the backside, now’s the time to fit yourself into a stylish England home shirt with being snickered at by those football fans who support Brazil, Italy or Argentina.
4. Bloody Confused. The book by Chuck Culpepper is fast becoming a must-have in the collections of soccer fans who follow the Premier League. Bloody Confused tells the true story of how an American sports journalist moves to England and falls in love with the fascinating game as well as an unlikely club. Order the book today. Or listen to my interview with Culpepper.
5. Fulhamerica T-shirt. With Clint Dempsey leading the charge, the number of Americans at Craven Cottage are dwindling but the American love affair with Fulham is still alive and well. Support Dempsey and the memories of Americans McBride, Bocanegra and Johnson with the Fulhamerica T-shirt.
6. Real soccer scarf. There’s something about football scarves that has more of an appeal than replica football shirts. Maybe it’s the tradition. Or perhaps it’s the pleasure of wearing something so comfortable wrapped around your neck or face in your club colors? Whatever the psychological reason, a scarf is a wonderful gift — especially those from Ruffneckwear that are high quality, made from the best materials and delivered with great customer service.
7. Worldwide Soccer Manager. Everton announced last week that they signed a deal to use Football Manager (aka Worldwide Soccer Manager in the States) to scout players, such is the value and authenticity placed on this game. Go one up on real football managers by ordering the game yourself.
8. Show your true colors. Every follower of the Premier League needs to have a replica jersey of a favorite team or a club you admire. Instead of searching around the Internet from store to store, the EPL Talk Shop offers the widest selection of Premier League shirts for all 20 EPL clubs. Visit the shop to browse the selection of shirts.
9. Slingbox. It’s incredible that I don’t hear Slingbox mentioned that many times in soccer circles. It should be on the tis of the tongues of most soccer fans. Simply, it allows you to watch your TV set from anywhere around the world. So if you’re on the road, at work, on vacation or in a different room in your house and you have access to your computer or Blackberry, you can log into your TV and watch live games as if you’re there — or watch games you’ve taped on DVR. The possibilities are mindblowing. Read my review of it from Euro 2008, or go ahead and learn more details about buying it.
10. EPL Talk T-Shirt. If you’ve enjoyed reading EPL Talk during the past year and you want to show your support, please order an official EPL Talk T-shirt. The shirt reads “For Hardcore Soccer Nuts Only: EPL Talk” and features an image of several players in a defensive wall covering their crown jewels. The shirt is 100% cotton, made by Hanes (excellent quality) and will soon be a collector’s item (only a few shirts remain before they’re all gone forever). Size L. Order today for $15.99 delivered to your door (in the United States).

Visit more holiday and Christmas gift ideas for soccer fans including stocking stuffers, gift certificates and soccer gear for you and your loved ones.

Other than a few soccer blogs and a handful of literate newspapers, there isn’t a plenitude of intelligent football writing available. But there is one last bastion that we can continue to depend on and that’s football books.

A good way to find out which books to buy are to find the ones nominated for the William Hill Sports Book Of The Year. The 2008 nominations have been announced and they include the following football books:

• “Black And Blue: How Racism, Drugs And Cancer Almost Destroyed Me” by Paul Canoville, who was Chelsea’s first black first-team player when he made his debut in 1982.
• “A Cultured Left Foot: The Eleven Elements Of Football Greatness” by Musa Okwonga.
• “Bamboo Goalposts: One Man’s Quest To Teach The People’s Republic Of China To Love Football” by Rowan Simons.
• “Inverting The Pyramid: The History Of Football Tactics” by Jonathan Wilson

The winner will be announced on November 24. But in reality, all of the above books are winners. If you’re looking for a perfect Christmas present for the football fan in your house, order one or more of the above books online. Some of them are available via Amazon.com for readers in North America.