Oswald: "There is no W system in Germany"
Walter Bing | 30/10/1935

December 4, the day of the big match between Germany and England, is slowly approaching. In the German press, discussions around the tactical problem do not stop. Mr. Hans Saalbach — whom we know as the organizer of the press service for the World Cycling Championships in Leipzig — spoke vehemently in Berlin's "12 Uhr Blatt" in favor of Mr. Nerz's system.

— This system —,  he said, — is an English system and we do not believe that its first promoter, who is none other than Mr. Nerz, can ever forget that the origin of the "W" method, — that the German football has adopted, is in England and that we will thus have to return to our starting point.

The variable system.

In what, then, rests the value of the German methods which will have, within four weeks, to undergo their most severe test in London?

Mr. Oswald, one of the football coaches of the Reich, kindly explained to us how he sees the game of the Germanic eleven:

— We replaced the English system, which grouped the fronts in the shape of a large W, by a system that we could call "WM". If our attack forms a W, on the other hand, we have placed the centre-half between the two full-backs and our defense team thus forms a capital M with the keeper behind them. Tactical effect: the half-backs mark the opponent's insiders, while the centre-half becomes the shadow of the opposing centre-forward. The two "back" finally watch the wingers of the enemy attack.

» But this system is by no means rigid and immobile. It must be played in an elastic and variable way. It often happens, to give you just one example, that we play with four forwards in the attack or that we change the forwards between them. In short, Mr. Nerz adapts his system to the demands of the day. And this is what he will undoubtedly make understand to our eleven, before the departure for London

And we leave Mr. Oswald thinking: "Long live the system without a system!"