Udinese All-Time Greatest Team

Mitropa Cup winner 1980

Please also see my All-Time World Cup Team Index.

AC Milan, Juventus, Inter Milan,
Roma, Lazio, Torino, Napoli, Fiorentina,
Sampdoria, Geona, Bologna, Parma, Udinese, Brescia.

This is my selection of a 25 member all-time team for the club.  The number 25 was chosen because it is the official squad size for the Champions' League.

Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is an Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a football club.

The traditional team home kit is black and white striped shirt, black shorts, and white socks. They are sometimes called "The Little Zebras" based on their black and white striped shirts. The club broadcasts on channel 110 (Udinese Channel) on digital terrestrial television in north-east of Italy. It has many fans in Friuli and the surrounding areas.

2000 UEFA Intertoto Cup 

Team
GK: Morgan Da Sanctis (Italy)
Morgan Da Sanctis is brilliant keeper, but his international opportunities limited by playing at the same time as Gianluigi Buffon. He only had 6 caps.  He was, however, included in squads for Euro 2008, the 2010 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2012.  From 1999 to 2007, he played for Udinese.  Then, he had another long career with Napoli.  

GK: Samir Handanović (Slovenia)
From 2004, Samir Handanović  was capped over 70 times for Slovenia.  He went to the World Cup Finals in 2010.  For club football, he was best remembered as a top keeper in Serie A.  He was voted the best keeper for 2013 in Italy.   He is one of only three non-Italian keepers to be named Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year, winning the honor twice. He is nicknamed Batman due to his acrobatic saves.

GK: Luigi Turci (Italy)
Turci started his career at native club Cremonese, helping the team promoted to Serie A in 1993. After Cremonese were relegated to Serie B in 1996, he joined Udinese. He moved again in 2002, this time to U.C. Sampdoria. In 2005, he joined Cesena in Serie B for whom he played 62 league games before hanging up his boots in 2007.

RB: Thomas Helveg (Denmark)
The most prominent period of his career was his five years with  AC Milan, with whom he won the 1999 Serie A championship and 2003 UEFA Champions League tournament. He was named 1994 Danish Player of the Year.  He has participated in the 1996, 2000 and 2004 European Championship and the 1998 and 2002 FIFA World Cup tournaments. He also played for Udinese, Inter Milan, Norwich City and Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Thomas Helveg 

RB: Valerio Bertotto (Italy)
Bertotto started his professional career during the 1990–91 season with Alessandria. He joined Udinese in 1993, spending thirteen seasons there, also captaining his side to what is to date their only appearance in the UEFA Champions League, and also becoming the Udinese player with the highest number of matches ever played for the team. He later played for Siena and Venezia. He was capped 4 times.

CB: Edinho (Brazil)
Born in 1955, Edinho played 45 times for Brazil.  He went to three World Cup Finals: 1978, 1982 and 1986.  He was the captain of the 1986 team.  Edinho was also in the team which finished fourth at the 1976 Summer Olympics. He spent most of his career with Fluminense, but also played with Flamengo and Fluminense FC.  In  Europe, he played with Udinese in Italy and Gremio.

CB: Per Krøldrup (Denmark)
Krøldrup started his footballing career at Danish lower league club Aalborg Chang. He went on to play for B 93 Copenhagen before transferring to Udinese in 2001. He played an successful season with Everton before spending 6 seasons with Fiorentina.  Then, he played for Pescara and Olhanense. He was capped 33 times.  He went to the 2004 European Championship.

CB: Alessandro Calori  (Italy)
Calori was a product of Arezzo's youth system. He made his debut in 1985 with Serie C team Montevarchi. In 1991 Calori joined Udinese, where he spent eight seasons.  In 1999 Calori, then aged 33, signed for Perugia, and gained space in the headlines as he scored the winning goal in a 1–0 win to Juventus in the final league week, a goal that unexpectedly let Juventus lose the Serie A title to Lazio. 

CB: Roberto Sensini (Argentina)
Started in 1986 for Newell's Old Boys before moving to Udinese. Sensini moved to Parma in 1993, winning two UEFA Cups, two Italian Cups, and the UEFA Super Cup. He would then have a brief stint with S.S. Lazio, winning the scudetto, the Italian Cup, the UEFA Super Cup, and the Supercoppa Italiana.  He played in the World Cup 1990, 1994 and 1998. In the 1990 FIFA World Cup Final Sensini conceded the disputed penalty kick from which West Germany scored their winning goal.

Roberto Sensini

RB/LB: Luigi Zorzi (Italy)
Known as "Zorzi I", he made his debut in 1935 with Bellotto Sport. In 1936, he joined Udinese with whom he made his debut as an attacker.  He later converted into a fullback.  In 1945, he joined AC Milan.  He briefly served in the armed force during the War.  He also played for Sampdoria between 1946 and 1949. From 1949 to 1956, he again played for Udinese. 

LB:  Marek Jankulovski  (Czech Republic)
Marek Jankulovski's most notable achievements include winning the UEFA Champions League with A.C. Milan and being voted the 2007 Czech Footballer of the Year. He earned 77 caps for the Czech Republic, and represented them at three European Championships, the 2000 Olympics and the 2006 World Cup.

DM: Giuliano Giannichedda (Italy)
Giannichedda started his career with A.S. Sora Calcio 1907 in the fourth division. In 1995 summer, he moved straight to the Serie A with Udinese Calcio. In 2000, he won the UEFA Intertoto Cup. 
Giannichedda played with S.S. Lazio from 2001 until 2005. He also played for Juventus.  He stayed with them for the 2006–07 season. He earned 3 caps for Italy.

DM: Cirano Snidero (Italy)
Cirano Snidero was the son of Udinese team bus driver.e  He made his debut with Udinese in the 1947-1948 season in the Serie B. He helped the club to reach Serie A for the first time in 1950.  He was known for his partnership with Augusto Magli.  He was voted in 2012 by the fans of the club as its greatest midfielders. He later played with Alessandria and Pordenone.

Cirano Snidero 

CM: Gökhan Inler (Switzerland)
İnler began his career with FC Basel and later joined FC Aarau and FC Zürich, winning the Swiss Super League in both of his seasons with the latter. After four seasons with Udinese in the Italian Serie A, he joined Napoli in 2011, where he twice won the Coppa Italia. From 2006 to 2016, he was capped 89 times. He served as the Swiss captain.

AM/CM: Giampiero Pinzi (Italy) 
Pinzi began his career with Lazio in 1999. From 2000 to 2015, he played with Udinese.  He spent a plan spells Chievo during those years.  At the end of his career, he played again with them, and then  with Padova and Brescia.  With Italy, he won a bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics.  He also earned a single senior cap in 2005.

RW: Franco Causio (Italy)
Franco Causio capped 63 times.  He was a part of the Azzurri at Euro 1980 and then, the World Cup in 1982.  He played 11 years for Juventus between 1970 and 1981.   During a highly successful period with the club, he won the scudetto six times, as well as winning a Coppa Italia, and an UEFA Cup. He also reached the European Cup final with Juventus during the 1972–73 season.

RM/RB: Martin Jørgensen (Denmark)
For Denmark, Jørgensen earned 102 caps.  He is the only player that has represented Denmark at three World Cups. He has also played at two European Championship tournaments. He began his career at the local club IF Midtdjurs in 1994.  From 1997 to 2004, he played for Udinese.  From 2004 to 2010, he played with Fiorentina.

LW/AM: Zico  (Brazil)
Zico was the best player in the world during the early 1980's.  He came eighth in the FIFA Player of the Century grand jury vote.  He went to three World Cup Finals, but probably best remembered for the 1982 tournament, where the team was known as the best ever tram that never won the World Cup.  He won the Intercontinental Cup in 1981 with Flamengo, a team that was considered among the greatest ever.  He later played with Udinese for 2 seasons.

Zico

LW/AM: Stefano Fiore (Italy) 
Fiore started out with Cosenza in 1992, but known for his career with Parma, where he won two the UEFA Cups.   He later played with Lazio, Udinese, Padova, Chievo, Valencia, Fiorentina, Torino, Livorno, etc. He was capped 38 times for Italy between 2000 and 2004 in period when Italy had many great attacker midfielders.  He played at Euro 2000 and 2004.

FW/RWF: Enzo Menegotti (Italy)
Enzo Menegotti started with Modena, where he played 153 times. He spent a season at Milan, before moving to Udinese in 1952. He was the captain of the team that came second in Serie A behind Milan. He spent two seasons with AS Roma before returning to Udinese in 1959. For Italy, he made his national debut against West Germany in 1955.  He played one more time that year. He was the first player to represent Udinese on the national team. 

FW: Antonio Di Natale (Italy)
Antonio Di Natale is considered to be Udinese greatest player.  He played 5 seasons with Empoli before siging with Udinese in 2004, where his career took off.  He was the Seria A top scorer for two seasons: 2010 and 2011. At the international level, he only played 42 times for Italy.  He was a key player at the World Cup Finals in 2010. He also went to the European Championship in both 2008 and 2012.

Antonio Di Natale 

ST: Oliver Bierhoff (Germany)
Biefhoff scored the first golden goal in the history of major international football, for Germany in the Euro 96 final. The goal defined his career. He played 70 times for Germany between 1996 and 2002.  He also played in Euro 2000, and both the 1998 and 2002 World Cups. He was a later bloomer.  He was playing in Austria and Italy's Serie B until at the age 27 when he joined Udinese.  He would later star for AC Milan.

ST: Lorenzo Bettini (Italy)
Bettini began his career with Brescia, debuting in Serie B in 1950.  He played with AS Roma, Palermo and Lazio before making a name with Udinese where he had two stints. In 1954-1955 season, he finished as the second top scorer behind the Milan player Gunnar Nordahl.  In 1961 he joined Helenio Herrera's Inter Milan, where he played a single season.  He later played for Modena and Alessandria.  He was capped 5 times for Italy B team.

Lorenzo Bettini

ST: Abel Balbo (Argentina)
At club level, Balbo played for Newell's Old Boys and River Plate before moving to Italy in 1989.  In Italy, he played for Udinese, Roma (two stints), Parma and Fiorentina. He played four games for Boca Juniors before finally retiring. He scored a total of 138 goals in Serie A.  For Argentina, Balbo earned 37 caps, and played at the 1990, the 1994, the 1998 World Cups, and the 1989 and 1995 Copas América. 

ST: Vincenzo Iaquinta (Italy) 
At the club lebel, Vincenzo Iaquinta made a name as the offensive partner of Antonio Di Natale while they played for Udinese.  He also played for Juventus between 2007 and 2013.  He played 40 matches for the Italy national football team between 2005 and 2010, scoring 6 goals. He was a part of Italy's World Cup winning team in 2006. He played in 5 out of 7 of Italy's matches in Germany.

Vincenzo Iaquinta 

Honorable Mention
Alexis Sánchez (Chile), Giampiero Pinzi (Italy), Danilo (Brazil), Paolo Poggi (Italy), Sulley Muntari (Ghana), Márcio Amoroso (Brazil), Roberto Muzzi (Italy), Dino Zoff (Italy), Arne Selmosson (Sweden), Bengt Lindskog (Sweden), David Pizarro (Chile), Simone Pepe (Italy) Armando Segato (Italy), Kurt Andersson (Sweden), Luigi De Agostini (Italy), Dino Galparoli (Italy), Mauricio Isla (Chile), Fabio Quagliarella (Italy).

Squad Explanation
-- Antonio Di Natale is probably Udinese's greatest ever player.  He is their all-time leading scorer as well all-time appearance record holder.
-- Morgan De Sanctis' international career was limited by playing during Gianluigi Buffon's peak. Samir Handanović was Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year for 2010-2011 season.
-- Dino Zoff began his career here, but only spent a short time here. He helped to gain promotion to Serie A. I put him on honorable mention.  Instead, I took Luigo Turci who had a longer career with Udinese. He also won the Intertoto Cup.
-- Rightback Valerio Bertotto captained Udinese to what is to date their only appearance in the UEFA Champions League.  He was also the all-time appearance record holder for the club before Antonio Di Natale broke his record.
-- I first took Luigi Zorzi (Italy) who had a long career with Udinese for the leftback position.  Then, I was choosing between Marek Jankulovski and Luigi De Agostini for the second leftback position.  I took Jankulovski because he had a better international career.  Dino Galparoli was also considered for the leftback position.  He had a long career with the club.
-- Zico is probably the most well-known footballer ever played for the club. He was named Serie A Player of the Year in 1984.  He finished second top-scorer for the same season with a single goal behind Michel Platini who played in more games.  Unfortunately, his second season was marked by injuries.  He left after two seasons.  His performance in his first season put him as one of Udinese's greatest players.
-- Zico and Franco Causio were teammates with Udinese while Vincenzo Iaquinta and Antonio Di Natale formed a famous partnership up front.
-- Stefano Fiore earned his first Italian cap while playing for Udinese.  David Pizarro, Roberto Sensini and Thomas Helveg also earned their first with their respective countries while playing for them.
-- With Zico and Stefano Fiore on the team, I do not need David Pizarro, Bengt Lindskog and Arne Selmosson. Instead, I selected four central/defensive midfielders Giampiero Pinzi, Gökhan Inler, Cirano Snidero and Giuliano Giannichedda.   Cirano Snidero was voted as Udinese's greatest midfielder. Gökhan Inler (Switzerland) had a stronger international reputation than the other candidates.
-- Giampiero Pinzi is the third all-time appearance record leader. Besides playing the centre midfielder, he also could play in an advanced position.  He was paired with Antonio Di Natale.
-- Enzo Menegotti was the first player from the club to play for Italy.  I gave him credit for the milestone by selecting him.
-- Oliver Bierhoff was Serie A top scorer in 1996-1997 season for Udinese.
-- Alexis Sanchez was a star player here, but I have Antonio Di Natale, Lorenzo Bettini, Vincenzo Iaquinta and Abel Balbo ahead of him.  Antonio Di Natale and Vincenzo Iaquinta are icons of the club while Balbo was Serie B top scorer while playing here.  Alexis only scored 20 goals for the club.  So he only made honorable mention.
-- Udinese came second in the 1955-1956 Serie A season.  It was their highest ever finish.  Lorenzo Bettini was a hero of that season.
-- Fabio Quagliarella also only made honorable mention because I have the other players ahead of him in his position.

Formation

  

Football Fundamentals: The Tite Front Defense

The defense du jour against modern spread attacks is what is commonly known as the “Tite” front. Over the past couple years, you’ve seen Big 12 teams run it increasingly often, and SEC and other teams start to incorporate variants of the look more often as well as they begin to deal with an increasing number of spread formations. But what exactly is the “Tite” front? Like any front, say, a 4-3 Under, it isn’t necessarily any one thing. You can have single-high, two-high, or even three-high safeties. You can attach your overhangs differently. And with Tite, it may even mean different box numbers. And of course, there are multiple techniques that can be employed along the way. This post is a primer to the Tite front. At the end, I’ll link some of the better articles that get into greater depth for those interested, but for now, we need to understand the basics, so that we can understand how to attack it.

Front

Let’s start with what is at the core of the “Tite” front. That is, the defensive line is aligned with defensive ends in a 4i-technique (inside shoulder of the OT) and the Nose is head up on the Center. Everything we talk about in this post is centered around this idea.

When talking about great run stopping formations, likely the first thing that will come to people’s minds is the “Bear” formation (46 defense). It was used (i.e. invented) most famously by the Buddy Ryan coached Chicago Bears teams. At the time, it had its own intricacies that aren’t employed as often today (such as the Jack LB lining up on the outside shoulder of the TE and the Charlie LB lining up on his inside shoulder), but at its core, it put a big dude right over the center and two other big dudes right over the guards. Of course, this was only an iteration of the “5-2 Eagle” Defense. And basically what the “Tite” front is, is an Eagle defense adapted to the modern, spread game. Virginia Tech adapted this technique to pull a massive upset of Ohio State in 2015.

This is fundamentally important, because zone schemes can’t get first level doubles on the way to the second level LBs. The second level is well protected, allowing them to get downhill or flow to the football. And pulling guards from the backside can be difficult because the interior DL can just attach themselves to their butt and follow them to the play. What you lose in pass rush off the edge, you gain by dominating interior gaps and protecting your second level, filling everything on the inside and spilling the ball to the edge defenders.

There are several ways of maintaining gap soundness with this front. The DEs will basically always be responsible for the B-gaps, what Coach Alexander calls “the holy grail for modern spread offenses”. This leaves the NT. Seth Galina talks about how to set the nose, and in simple terms there are several ways to do this.

• Toward/Away. Have the Nose Attack toward or away from RB alignment (this is easiest for the NT to execute as there is no post-snap decision, but can be difficult for instance if the offense is in a pistol formation). This can help you protect a specific LB by having the NT responsible for the A-gap in that LB’s direction (preventing an OL from releasing to him) or can making you stronger at the point of attack, depending on what your priority is as a defense

• Lag-technique. This means the Nose will “lag” behind the first step of the center. This does not mean the NT is slanting (and therefore potentially freeing the C from releasing to the 2nd level), instead, he is maintaining contact with the Center with his hands and impeding his path to the second level, while maintain a presence in the A gap opposite the Center’s first step.

• Push-technique. This is effectively the opposite of Lag-technique. You will attack the Center at the snap, pushing with your playside hand (and pulling with your backside hand) to allow you to win the A-gap in the direction of the Center’s first step.

• Two-gap. This isn’t as sound for a Tite front as it is a classic 2-gap 3-4. That’s because, with fewer box bodies, it is essential that the box defenders fill the interior gaps without being staggered. Two-gapping can cause hesitation in the LB’s read, and leave you open to getting gashed.
• Slant. Also looked down upon because you don’t really control the center. If you are turning and simply trying to penetrate an A-gap, you are also freeing the Center up to release to the LB. By doing so, you can cause a stagger in the defense, and without other interior bodies in the box, that can be catastrophic. 

Box Defenders

Casual fans look at me with a sort of suspicious side-eye (I assume that’s how they look at me, I dunno, we’re on the internet here) when I tell them, historically, if a defense was going to add an additional DL to the field, they would simply move the MIKE down, often to a NT position.
The MIKE was a run stopper, he was a gap plugger, he often worked from the 2^ndlevel but if he wasn't working at the 1^st level, then he’s late. While modern football isn’t so cut and dry, and the MIKE has a lot more sideline-to-sideline responsibility, the idea remains fairly true in the Tite formation.

When people think run defense they think large numbers of DL, they think significant box numbers. When someone talks “Tite” front and sometimes they only have 4 true box defenders and 3 down linemen, it can be difficult to understand how fundamentally it’s a strong run defense. But the reality is, it’s difficult for the OL to get to the second level, and with the MIKE filling down you’re able to form a wall along the LOS that plugs all interior gaps.

There are what I would consider three main types of “box” looks that work from the Tite Formation. First, let’s look at the 4-Man box. This utilizes a single MIKE stacked behind the 4i-0-4i. The best example of this scheme is Iowa State. Of course, only having a 4-man box allows you to do a lot of different things with your secondary. Most importantly, though, is that your four interior gaps are filled.

Next is the 5-man box, which is probably the most common form a Tite. This leaves the MIKE and WILL in 30-techniques nominally (although they can shift due to formation strength if the offense is in 11 or 20 personnel) or pass strength (trips). This additional box defender helps defenses account for QB runs (the offense can add gaps with the read option or leading with the RB) and helps account for pulls or other methods of changing/adding gaps post snap.

The last one I’ll categorize is what is known as “Mint” in “Saban-ese”. Many lump this in with the 5-man box look with the overhang walked down (to form a 6-man box), but I like to differentiate it. While it still maintains a 4i-0-4i front, it will often walk-down a Jack LB on the edge or in a 3x3 split, creating a quasi-Under front, and presenting a hard edge to the offense rather than a soft edge. This, likewise, makes it a stronger defense for rushing the passer.

To respond to heavier sets, 11 personnel or 20 personnel, teams will often shift into Mint, or shift their entire front to look more like an Under.

Overhangs

The idea of the Tite front is to plug the interior gaps and spill everything to the overhangs. An “overhang” defender is one that aligns outside the formation, typically coming close to splitting the difference between the offensive EMOL and the closest receiver (known as an "Apex" technique). They typically align 4-5 yards off the LOS. In this way they serve several purposes. Due to their pre-snap position, they are extremely difficult to reach or edge, and in this way they can “box in” the offense. These overhangs will play everything outside-in, and by starting farther from the OL, it means they can effectively play everything in an inward direction, limiting the “conflict” the offense can put them in because they don’t need to be able to both widen and constrict (because they start wide). People think “spread offense” and they think taking advantage of all the sideline-to-sideline width of the field. The Tite formation overhangs counter that by forcing the run game into a small box. Without the basic ability to add lead blockers or stretch the fronts width via the use of 3, 4, 5-man surfaces (blockers attached to one side of the center), the defense is using the offense’s spread out pre-snap formation against them, and actually forcing them into a tighter space (in terms of running, anyway).

The other advantage of the overhangs is that they can easily be involved in the pass game. Because they are split off the formation, they do not need to be tight to the LOS in order to box everything inside. Rather, they have time to react and fill forward to any outside run threat. This allows them to play off the LOS. By splitting the difference between the OL and the next receiver, they naturally put themselves in the passing lanes of a lot of “quick-game” concepts. They are also naturally in position to get depth/width in their zone drops. By quasi-detaching them from the box, you allow the defense to focus on speed rather than strength, because of the limited “wash” they have to fight through. All this leads to defenders better prepared to defend the pass, by being in better position pre-snap, and being more athletic post-snap.

The downside of the overhangs is that, while they are in a position to play both run and pass, they are also in no-man’s land in terms of being flexible in terms of the types of coverage they can run. What I mean by this is that their position pre-snap does not lend itself to man coverage. Because they have essential run fit responsibilities (and everything breaks down in the front if they don’t perform that task well), their eyes need to be in the backfield; their pre-snap position requires them to be inside the receiver, which doesn’t allow them to re-route anything other than quick, inside breaking routes. They are often limited to zone drops. We’ll get into a little how you can manage a cover 0/1 out of the Tite front, but for the most part, that aspect of the defense is limited.

Secondary

There are three basic secondary options that can be incorporated with the Tite front. We started with the 4-man box run by Iowa St, which they pair with a 3-safety look. This allows the middle of the field safety to often be a downhill defender, involving himself in the run game, typically to add another defender to the C-gap to help contain the spill from inside-out (especially out of a Cover 2 shell). Again, because of the position of the overhangs, the defense is typically going to run some sort of zone coverage. Theoretically, you can run almost any zone coverage out of this look with secondary rotations.

But it’s difficult to run man, because any man coverage is going to necessitate the deep safeties be matched up against the slot without any re-route and without great ability to get a quick pass rush.

Next is the 2-high look, which is probably most common. Given the 2-high pre-snap alignment, most coverages out of this are going to be 2-high zones (this includes almost all Cover 4 variants, so it isn’t that you are necessarily limited to spot drop basic zones). Like any defense, you could rotate into a Cover 3 look, but because of the position of the overhangs and safeties, it is difficult to rely on man coverage without moving the overhangs out closer to the slots.

The one way you can really run man coverage is out of a single high safety look. This allows you to move the outside safeties effectively down onto the slots and play them in man coverage. The danger here is that the front isn’t necessarily in great position to pressure the QB, which can make running Cover 1 difficult. In order to pressure the QB, you need to move the overhangs further inside and treat it more like a 3-3 stack with blitz exotics, but you have to be careful because fundamentally as a front, you are heavily relying on those overhangs to maintain the C-gaps still. Blitz too tight or don’t loop  fast enough, and you can easily get beat to the edge with only man coverage behind it.

Over course, you can still run your zone looks from this as well, so you aren’t limited to man coverage.

You can run some bracket man coverages out of Tite a bit, but it can be difficult because of the run responsibilities of the overhang. He is fairly limited in the “inside bracket” role he can play, and he can’t play really any vertical threat, so by running “bracket” you are really only taking away inside breaking quick game, which especially with a lack of pressure up front, can leave your back end exposed.

While what we are focusing on in this article is the 4i-0-4i front with overhangs, one advantage to the Mint front is its ability to quickly stem presnap into a more traditional nickel type front. Because the Jack is a hard edge, he can defend the run a bit different. With the 6-man box, the WILL can be used as a C-gap defender if needed, allowing the “overhang” to shift out to the slot pre-snap, and allow the coverage to really be any of the often preferable pattern match (RIP/LIZ) type defenses that many teams run.

Why is it called “TITE”?

You know, man, football coaches find a lot of weird ways to spell things. I don’t really know the true origins here. My main theory is that TITE was used by some in the community as a defensive line technique: “Tackle Inside Tight End” or “Tackle Inside Tackle” (TIT doesn’t sound as nice) or “Technique inside T/TE”. That makes some sense. But also, look in most playbooks, and when calling out the position of the Tight End, or the split of the WR, or whatever else a coach may use the word “tight” for, and more often than not, in the playbook it’s spelled “Tite”. Play sheets and diagrams are small spaces where there is a benefit to a word being one letter shorter.

Or someone just thought it looked right.

Elsewhere

Coach Alexander has put together some great stuff on Tite Formation already:

The 3-4 Tite Front

Playing Dime as Your Base Pt. 2 – The Front

Attacking the Tite Front

THSCA Football Lecture – Kirby Smart (2018) – Mint Front

MQ Quick Hits Ep. 10 – The Tite Front

Tite Front Tag

Ian Boyd Has looked at the Tite front several times

Trying to run on the tite front

Unlocking the mysteries of college football’s new favorite defense

And Seth Galina has put together a nice list of articles

How defenses are countering spread offenses by packing themselves in Tite

Setting the Nose in the Tite Front

Using RPO’s to defeat the Tite Front

Coach Vass Podcast

One of the best (or best) defensive podcasts looks at the Tite Front

One-high Tite Front

Twitter folks

Technique for 4i vs OZ

Coach Mac going Stack to Tite

“Camp Rules” to Zone Read Fit

Lille OSC All-Team Greatest Team

Winning the Double in the 2010-2011 season

Please also see my All-Time World Cup Team Index.

Olympique de Marseille, Paris Saint-Germain
Olympique Lyonnais, AS Monaco, Nantes
Saint-Étienne, Girondins de Bordeaux.
South France
Players born in the Overeseas Department and former French Colonies
French Black Players 
French Algerian
French Players Capped by Other National Teams
France at USA 1994

This is my selection of a 25 member all-time team for the club. The number 25 was chosen because it is the official squad size for the Champions' League.

Lille OSC was founded as a result of a merger between Olympique Lillois and SC Fives during the War. Both clubs were founding members of the French Division 1 and Lillois was the league's inaugural champions. Under the Lille emblem, the club has won three league titles in 1946, 1954, and 2011 and six Coupe de France titles, which is tied for fourth-best among clubs. Lille and Red Star F.C. are the only French clubs in the competition's history to win the Coupe de France in three consecutive seasons. Lille's most successful period was the decade from 1946 to 1956 when the team was led by managers George Berry and André Cheuva.

1946 League Champion

Team
GK: Philippe Bergeroo (France) 
Bergeroo started his career with Bordeaux in 1971.  Between 1978 and 1983, he played with Lille.  He then played for Toulouse FC from 1983 to 1988.  He played 3 times for France. He was a member of the French squad in the 1986 World Cup and the team that won the European Championship in 1984.

GK: Bernard Lama (France)
Lama left Guiana in 1981 to come to France to become a professional footballer.  He started with Lille, but also played in Brest and Metz.  In 1992, he joined PSG, where he found stardom.  He won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1996.  After a brief career with West Ham and Rennes, he retired.  Capped 44 times.  He was mainly a backup throughout his NT career.  He was on the team that won the WC in 1998.

GK: César Ruminski (France)
Ruminski joined Le Havre in 1947 from SC Douai. He helped to gain promotion in  1950. They finished third in the Division 1 championship, the following year, one point behind the winner, the OGC Nice. In 1952, he played for Lille, which was the peak of his career. In 1953, he won the Coupe de France, and in 1954, the Championship.  He played for France 7 times. He was selected for the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland.

RB: Jules Vandooren (France)
Vandooren played with Olympique Lillois between 1927 and 1939.  He won the league title in 1932-1933 season, the first ever professional title in France. Later, he played with Red Star FC and Stade de Reims as a player-coach. Then, he played with Arago Orléans (1943-1948) and finally at SM Caen (1949-1952) at the age of 43 years.  He was a part of France in the 1934 and 1938 World Cup Finals. 

Jules Vandooren 

RB: Mathieu Debuchy (France) 
Debuchy started his senior career at Lille, where he won a Ligue 1 and Coupe de France double in 2010–11. He played in Ligue 1 for 10 seasons for Lille. He joined Newcastle United in January 2013 and stayed there for 18 months. He played for Arsenal from July 2014 until January 2018.  He earned 27 caps, playing in the Euro 2012 and the 2014 World Cup Finals.

CB: Adil Rami (France) 
Adil Rami began his career playing for amateur club ES Fréjus in France. In 2006, Rami ascended three divisions after signing with Ligue 1 club Lille OSC. He was a part of the team which won the league and cup double in the 2010-2011 season. He also played for Valencia, AC Milan, Seville, etc. Rami was capped over 30 times for France.  He was a member of the France squad that won the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Adil Rami 

CB/DM: Jakob Friis-Hansen (Denmark) 
Jakob Friis-Hansen began his B1903 in 1983.   He moved to Lille OSC in France in 1989, in which he stayed for six seasons.  In 1995,  Friis-Hansen joined French club FC Girondins de Bordeaux.  He also played for Hamburger SV. He played 19 times for Denmark.  He went to the Confederation Cup in 1995.

CB: Cor Van der Hart (Netherlands)
Cor Van der Hart became the third Dutch player in history to play board and one of the first professional player in Netherlands when he joined Lille in 1950.  Before that, he played for Ajax.  Widely considered one of the best Dutch defender in history.  He had 44 caps, but the cap total largely was limited because the KNVB suspended all players that left the country to play professional football. 

CB/RB: Guillaume Bieganski (France)
Guillaume Bieganski was a French player of Polish descent.  He joined Lille OSC in 1951, where he played until 1959.  He was a part of their league champion team in 1954. He played for RC Lens from 1959 and 1963.  He then played for US Forbach from 1963 and 1965, and US Marignane between 1965 and 1968.  For France, he played 9 times between 1953 and 1961. He went to the 1954 World Cup Finals in Switzerland.

Guillaume Bieganski 

LB: Marceau Somerlinck (France)

Marceau Somerlinck's career is inseparable from the history of Lille. In 1935 , he  joined Sporting Club fivois.  In the 1943-1944 season, he was forced to join Lille-Flanders created by the Vichy government.  Instead, he joined the Lille OSC, a club formed by the merger of SC Fivois and Olympique Lille.  From 1945 to 1957 , Somerlinck won the French Championship twice.  He also won 5 Coupe de France, a record that still stands.

DM: Roger Carre (France)
In his career, Roger Carre played with Roubaix (1943-44), Lille OSC (1944-50)and Racing Club de Lens (1950-54).   With Lille, He won the French Ligue One in 1946, and three straight Coupe de France in the 1940's.  It was Lille's greatest period in history.  He was capped twice for France between 1947 and 1949.

DM: Albert Dubreucq (France)
Born in Lille, Albert Dubreucq  played for his hometown team, Lille OSC, winning the Ligue One in 1946 and two Cups of France.   He was transferred to Racing Club in 1953.   In 1957, he  became a player-coach at CA Paris.  In 1952, he was capped twice.  His debut was against Sweden on March 26, 1952 for a friendly match.  He also played for RC Strasbourg, Red Stars and Stade français.

DM: Gérard Bourbotte (France)
Gérard Bourbotte played mainly at Lille OSC.  He had two stints with the club.  In his first stint (1952 to 1957), he was champion of France in 1954 and won the Coupe de France in 1955 (where he scored two goals in the final).  In his second stint (1963 to 1968), he helped the club to win the Ligue Two in 1964.  

CM: Rio Mavuba (France)
Rio Mavuba's father was Mafuila Mavuba, a footballer who played for Zaire at the 1974 World Cup.  He was born in a refugee boat without any nationality.  He became a French citizen in 2004. He spent most of his professional career with Bordeaux and Lille, winning the 2011 national championship with the latter.  With France, he was capped 13 times between 2004 and 2014.  He went to the 2014 World Cup Finals in Brazil.

Rio Mavuba

RW: Yvon Douis (France)
During his career he played for Lille OSC (1953–59), Le Havre AC (1959–61), AS Monaco (1961–67) and AS Cannes (1967–69). He earned 20 caps and scored 4 goals for the France national football team between 1957 and 1965, and played in the 1958 FIFA World Cup, in which France finished third. Douis scored in the third place play off against West Germany at Sweden 1958.

RM/CM: André Strappe (France)
During his career, Andre Strappe played for Lille OSC (1948–58), Le Havre AC (1958–61), FC Nantes (1961–63), and SC Bastia (1963). He scored 116 goals in Ligue 1 and won the league tournament in 1954 with Lille. He is Lille's second all-time leading scorer and also the second all-time leading appearance leader. He also won the Coupe de France in 1953 and 1955 with Lille, and again with Le Havre in 1959. He was 23 times for France. He went to World Cup in 1954.

André Strappe 

AM/CM: Yohan Cabaye (France)
From 2004 to 2011, Yohan Cabaye played for Lille OSC.  He was a key player as they won the Double in 2011. He later played for Newcastle United, PSG, Crystal Palace, Al-Nasr Dubai SC and Saint-Étienne. At under-19 level, he won the 2005 UEFA European Under-19. From 2010 onward, he played 48 times for France.  He started in four of France's five matches at the 2014 World Cup Finals. He also went to Euro 2012 and then, Euro 2016 hosted by France.

Yohan Cabaye 

LW: Jean Vincent (France)
With Lille OSC (1950–1956), Vincnet won Ligue 1 champion in 1954 and the Coupe de France in 1953 and 1955.  From 1956 to 1964, he played for Stade Reims, winning Ligue 1 champion in 1958, 1960 and 1962, and Coupe de France in 1958. He earned 46 caps and scored 22 goals for the France national football team, and played and scored in the 1954 World Cup, the 1958 World Cup, and the 1960 European Football Championship.

FW/LW/RW: Gervinho (Ivory Coast)
Gervinho began his career at ASEC Abidjan and Toumodi F.C., before moving to Belgium in 2004 to play for the now-defunct Beveren. Between 2007 and 2011, he played in the French Ligue 1, initially at Le Mans and then at Lille. He was sold to Arsenal in 2011, and moved to Roma in 2013. In January 2016, Gervinho moved to Hebei China Fortune F.C. He has made 80 appearances for the Ivorian national team, scoring 22 goals. He played in 2010 and 2014 World Cup Finals.

FW: Jean Lechantre (France)
Lechantre was born in Belium.  His nicknamed  was "the little Belgian".  He started with at the Lille Olympique, and then, he played for the Lille OSC, in which he won the French championship in 1946 and the Coupe de France three times. He finished his career at the CO Roubaix-Tourcoing which he coached during the 1959-1960 season. He was capped 3 times for France.

AM/FW: Eden Hazard (Belgium)
At the time of writing, Eden Hazard has already earned 100 caps and led Belgium to the semi-final of the World Cup in 2018.  At the club level, He played for Lille in France for 8 years. He signed with Chelsea in June 2012, where he won two Europa League in 2012 and 2019. He won both FWA and PFA Player of the Year for the 2014-2015 season in England.  In 2019, he joined Real Madrid.

Eden Hazard 

FW: Bolek Tempowski (France)
Born in Poland, Bolek Tempowski began his carweer with Valenciennes in 1938. With Lille, he was the Champion of France in 1946, wining Coupe de France three times.  He also played for Strasbourg, Montpellier  and Stade Guyotville in Algeria.  he was capped once for France in 1947.

ST: Moussa Sow (Senegal)
Sow played for Stade Rennais between 2004 and 2010.  In 2011, he joined Lille, where he won the Double in 2011. He was the league's top scorer with 25 goals and made the Team of the Year. He joined Fenerbahçe in 2012. Born in France, he chose to play for Senegal. From 2009 to 2018, he had 50 caps.  He played in the 2018 World Cup Finals.

ST: Jules Bigot (France)
Jules Bigot joined Olympique Lillois at the age of 18 in 1933.  He made his first team debut first as a winger and then as a center forward. He holds the record for most goals (10) on a match, during his game against AS Saint-Etienne.  He also played Olympique de Marseille and AS Saint-Étienne. From 1936 to 1945, he played 6 times for France.

ST: Jean Baratte (France)
Jean Baratte started his career at the Olympique Iris Club Lille. He spent most of his career at Lille OSC with which he was French Champion in 1946 and 1954 , and winner of the Coupe de France in 1946, 1947, 1948 and 1953.  He was their all-time leading scorer. He also played for AS Aix-en-Provence and CO Roubaix-Tourcoing.  From 1944 to 1952, he played 32 times for France, scoring 19 goals.

Jean Baratte

Honorable Mention 
Mickaël Landreau (France), Noureddine Kourichi (Algeria), Ignacio Prieto (Chile), Pascal Cygan (France), Marcel Adamczyk (France), Jocelyn Angloma (France), Franck Béria (France), Bernard Gardon (France), Joseph Jadrejak (France), Dimitri Payet (France), Nicolas Pépé (Ivory Coast), Dagui Bakari (Ivory Coast), Kader Keita (Ivory Coast), Michel Bastos (Brazil), Christophe Landrin (France), René Bihel (France), Jean-Marie Prévost (France), Per Frandsen (Denmark), Jean Makoun (Cameroon), Djézon Boutoille (France), Erwin Vandenbergh (Belgium), Florent Balmont (France), Jean Lechantre (France), Mike Maignan (France), Zeki Çelik (Turkey), Jose Fonte (Portugal), Jonathan Bamba (France), Benjamin André (France), Reinildo (Mozambique) and Burak Yılmaz (Turkey).

Squad Explanation
-- During the 1940's, Lille OSC won the league title in 1946 and winning 3 Coupe de France.  From the 1940's, I have the following players selected: Jean Baratte, Jules Bigot, Bolek Tempowski, Jean Lechantre, Albert Dubreucq, Marceau Somerlinck and Roger Carre. 
-- Lille OSC continued its successes.  They won the league again in 1954.  I selected the following players from that team: César Ruminski, Gérard Bourbotte, Albert Dubreucq, Jean Vincent and Yvon Doris.  Jean Baratte left the season before. He is their all-time leading scorer as well as a member of their 1946 league champion team.
-- Lille OSC won the Double in the 2010-2011 season. I selected the following players: Rio Mavuba, Yahan Cabaye, Adil Rami, Gervinho, Ed Hazard, Mathieu Debuchy and Moussa Sow. Mickaël Landreau also made honourable mention.  Sow was the league's top scorer with 25 goals that season.
-- Most players on this team came from the two Golden periods of the team.  Philippe Bergeroo, Bernard Lama, Jakob Friis-Hansen and Jules Vandooren are the exceptions.  Vandooren actually played with Olympique Lillois before it merged with SC Fives to become Lille OSC.
-- Philippe Bergeroo and Bernard Lama are the two obviously choices for goalkeepers. I toyed with the idea of rewarding Mickaël Landreau for winning La Ligue title, but César Ruminski also won the 1954 version. Julien Darui who was considered to be one of France's greatest keeper only spent a season here. Mike Maignan is also an interesting prospect at this moment, but he is too young now.  He helped the club to win Ligue 1 in the 2020-2021 season.
-- The rightback position has two good candidates Jules Vandooren and Mathieu Debuchy.  Joseph Jadrejak, Jocelyn Angloma and Franck Béria also made honourable mention.  Jocelyn Angloma is the biggest name on the list, but he only played 3 seasons here.
-- Jules Vandooren played for Olympique Lillois before it merged with Sporting Club Fivois to form Lille OSC.  With him, Olympique Lillois won the first ever French professional league title in 1933.  Jean Baratte also started his career at the Olympique Iris Club Lille.
-- Cor Van der Hart became the third Dutch player to move abroad to become a professional football player when he joined Lille OSC.  Denmark's Jakob Friis-Hansen spent 6 seasons with the club.
-- Marceau Somerlinck played for Sporting Club Fivois when it merged with Olympique Lillois to form Lille OSC.  He won 5 French Cups with them.  He is also their all-time appearance leader for Lille OSC.
-- Eden Hazard won two straight Player of the Year for "Trophées UNFP du football".  No other Lillie player could match that.
-- Lille has a number of good footballers from Ivory Coast: Gervinho, Nicolas Pépé, Dagui Bakari and Kader Keita.  Gervinho made the squad because he was one of their star players at the 2011 title.
-- Kennet Andersson (Sweden) only spent half a season on loan here, but he made a name at the 1994 World Cup Finals while registered as a player with Lille. However, he did not make my honourable mention, but he is worth a mention here. Joe Cole also spent a short time here on loan. 
-- Dimitri Payet (France) was seriously considered. He was named in the UNFP's Ligue 1 team of the season in 2013 while playing for them.

-- After Lille clinching the 2020-2021 La Ligue title, I edited the team.  I added Mike Maignan (France), Zeki Çelik (Turkey), Jose Fonte (Portugal), Jonathan Bamba (France), Benjamin André (France), Reinildo (Mozambique) and Burak Yılmaz (Turkey) to honorable mentions.  Except Maignan, none of whom has played long enough for the club.  I do not follow Ligue 1.  So the task of editig this team will be tough.

Formation