“Clichés are very useful for regularly appearing football pundits who have little to no knowledge of the modern game. Take television’s Glenn Hoddle, the man who believed prior to last summer’s World Cup that England’s best XI had Gerrard and Lampard in a double pivot. Actually it probably wasn’t even a double pivot, I think it was Four Four fucking Two. Pundits like Hoddle rely on clichés to sound like they know what they’re talking about and use them liberally across the footballing encyclopedia from transfer assumptions to formational prejudices. So I’ve started to expose these clichés (and the pundits who peddle them) with the only position on the field that seems to do any defending nowadays: The center back.” 8 by 8