WM formation, named after the letters resembled by the positions of the players on its diagram, was created in the mid-1920s by Herbert Chapman of Arsenal to counter a change in the offside law in 1925.
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15 Facts About WM formation
2.
The WM formation became so successful that by the late 1930s most English clubs had adopted the WM.
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3.
WM formation was one of the earliest playmakers in the history of the game, and the hub around which Chapman's Arsenal revolved.
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4.
The WM formation was used by West Germany during the 1954 FIFA World Cup.
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5.
The WM formation was quickly adopted throughout the world after the Brazilian success.
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6.
The WM formation was dubbed the "kamikaze" WM formation sometime in the 1960s when former United States national team player Walter Bahr used it for a limited number of games as coach of the Philadelphia Spartans to garner greater media and fan attention for the struggling franchise.
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7.
Variations of any given WM formation include changes in positioning of players, as well as replacement of a traditional defender by a sweeper.
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8.
Valeriy Lobanovskiy is one of the most famous exponents of the WM formation, using it with Dynamo Kyiv, winning three European trophies in the process.
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9.
The WM formation focuses on the attacking midfielder moving play through the centre with the strikers on either side.
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10.
The "Christmas tree" WM formation is considered a relatively narrow WM formation and depends on full-backs to provide presence in wide areas.
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11.
At international level, this WM formation is used by the Belgian, French, Dutch and German national teams in an asymmetric shape, and often with strikers as wide midfielders or inverted wingers.
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12.
The WM formation has been used on occasion by the Brazilian national team, notably in the 1998 World Cup final.
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13.
The WM formation was unsuccessfully used by Craig Levein's Scotland against Czech Republic to widespread condemnation.
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15.
Notably, this WM formation was specifically employed as a counter to the challenge of possession football used by the Spanish national side.
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