Then Mainz manager Thomas Tuchel invited the Spielverlagerung writers to meet them in 2012, and when Martin Rafelt recounted the story of the meeting, one line stuck out to me. Tuchel asked them to share their ideas, but “just be creative, be crazy.”

Martin Rafelt speaking on The Byline (minute 3:15):

[…] He was really open, very interested. ‘Tell me about this, tell me about that. Okay, really really nice.’ And he wanted to get some ideas from us. He was like, ‘Guys, send me a page with just ideas that you have—what to do in professional football, what’s not being done. Just be creative, be crazy,’ like he specifically said the words ‘be crazy; it can be crazy, and send it to me.’

That made me think about how we discuss football online and how we watch football.

We aren’t employees at the club we are discussing. The suggestions we make won’t have an effect on how that team performs the next week. We won’t lose our job if we have a bad idea or a series of bad ideas. That is the risk for a member of their staff when they think far outside the box.

We have no pressure on us.

For those of us on the outside, why do we put down those that suggest new ideas that may seem “crazy”?

Why are we watching games and not looking for the more creative solutions to problems?

Every new tactical evolution stems from a “crazy” idea, but we have to wait till someone is crazy enough to try it in a match. We could be sitting here, rapid fire, creating those ideas today. Why aren’t we?