Who's to say we would have got spanked if we tried to play properly? Like a reporter said, when have they ever lost 8-0?
The term proactive football means a number of things, among them denying the opposition the opportunity to score. Sitting back gives the opposition every chance to score and gives yourself none.
Even the All Whites in South Africa played with 3 up top so they had a valid and dangerous outlet. Furthermore, once they had stretched the field they sough to play through Elliott in midfield. That dangerous Norway team of the 90's sat deep and hit long balls to a front 3. Even though they were defensive they were proactive
Quite simply, no one plays like this any more. Watch Saudi, Iran, Costa Rica etc at the World Cup, they will set up properly and they all have a plan to win matches even though they are so so so much weaker than the tournament favorites. And yes, within their formations playing styles etc they will be cautious, but they will do this by doing things like instructing the full backs to hold and the central midfielders to keep shape. Costa Rica play a back 5, but watch the full backs bomb forward and they often play a high line
Like mike above, i'm worried that this philosophy is going to be implemented nationally. Who's to say Fritz wouldn't have played this way if we were up against world class opposition last week?