I wrote in an earlier World of Soccer Newsletter about one of the innovations we had in our tactics when I became a young, first-time manager/head coach at Plymouth Argyle in the 70's (Click here to read).

We put in place at Plymouth the "Monty!" - named after John Cleese's Monty Python.  This is what we would do. After conceding a free kick, 30 yards or so from goal, the shout would go up - "Monty!"  Our back line would drop back into a flat line maybe to the penalty spot - or even deeper - to a place not considered smart defending in normal circumstances. Players would be shouting "Monty! Back here!" "Monty! Pick up!"d

As the free kick player was approaching the ball - a split second before the kick was taken - we would move out en bloc.  9 times out of 10 we'd catch the other team offside.  If the whistle did not go Jim Furnell - our keeper - was instructed to come out to catch the high ball. It worked every time and we would get a little ripple of applause from the Home Park Fans. It looked as if we knew what we were doing.

Guess what? We never did the "Monty!" on the road. Chances were we would have ended up with a "Full Monty!" and exposed our back sides. Not that I'm saying referees and their assistants are "homers," but we weren't taking any chances.

During my second year at Argyle (1973/74) we played against Bristol Rovers in an evening game at Home Park, Plymouth.  Bristol Rovers had a dynamic duo up front - Alan Warboys and Bruce Bannister.  They were nicknamed Smash & Grab.  The tall, tough Warboys did the "smashing" and the smaller, quicker Bannister did the "grabbing."  They scored 40 goals between them in that 73/74 season.

On this particular night the Rovers got a free kick about 30 yards out.  We didn't choose to use the "Monty!" on this occasion.  Perhaps we should have.  Alan Warboys came up and hit the ball around the outside of the three man wall and into goal at the near post.  Jim Furnell, our very good and experienced goalkeeper, was left "painting the sky."  It didn't look good.

After the game I asked Jim about the goal.

"I didn't see the ball until it came round the wall and couldn't get to it from my center goal (where he could see the ball) position," was Jim's response.

I asked, "What if we hadn't put in a wall?"

"I would probably have caught it," he said.

"Well, we will never have a wall in again if the wall is to be outside the penalty area," was my statement.

Jim and I agreed.  If a goalkeeper cannot save a ball from 27 or so yards out of goal with a clear sight of the ball, that goalkeeper probably should not be playing in goal.

And from then on, until moving away from team coaching in the mid-90's, we never did and it only cost us one totally fluky (pinball wizard-style) goal in Olympic Qualification play in El Salvado.

Mind you!  I had to do some convincing of goalkeepers as I moved through teams and goalkeepers. But a little competition on the practice field with shots at goal from 27-yards did the job.  Most of the shots went high over the bar as the kickers tried to power the shot in.

So that was over a decade ago.  Fast forward to 2008 with the high-tech ball and the ability to swerve and dip the ball.  Would the no-wall outside the penalty area still work?

I'm saying, "Probably, Yes!"

What a wall does, in addition to screening vital sight lines for the goalkeepers, is to provide a template and aiming devise for the shooter, who needs to get over and/or around the wall and inside the post and under the bar.  I'm suggesting that a wall actually assists the shooter from 27 yards or more out from goal.

But then I'm not playing goal anymore.  Nor am I coaching a team in critical must-win situations.

What do you think?