The Neo-4-3-3

For my first post I thought I’d discuss what has become one of the most successful formations of the modern game. It’s a little bit complicated to describe in the standard numerical format. It is a 4-3-3, but it’s also a 4-5-1 and a 4-1-2-2-1. I’ll refer to it as a 4-3-3 from now on.

Here you can see how the formation lines up.

This is the formation used by many of Europe’s top sides for the last 5 years or so.

Chelsea, Manchester United and Barcelona are very prominent examples, and in part Liverpool and Arsenal have followed suit. Spain also used this formation in the Euro final.

As you can see the defense is essentially a traditional flat-back-four. The full backs (2 & 3) however, are used in almost a wingback role, offering support to the attacking wingers (7 & 11). For this reason top sides who use this formation have paid lots of money in recent years to find very athletic fullbacks. The signing of Dani Alves to replace the ageing Thuram at Barcelona is a prime example. But also Cole and Bosingwa at Chelsea, Evra at Man Utd, Sagna at Arsenal fill this role. These players are among the fastest in their leagues and they need to be; during the transition from attack to defense, they must recover their defensive position from very high upfield.

This has traditionally worked with two fliers on the wings. Chelsea have tried and tried to find these players, Mourinho signed a rash of players in his time, none of whom really cut it. Duff, Wright-Phillips, Robben, J. Cole, Malouda. Ironically, it is the only player who lacks pace that has been successful in that position for Chelsea. At Utd Ronaldo has of course defined this role, but other players have had limited success, specifically Nani. Barca might have had the strongest side for this formation however, when Ronaldinho was at his peak playing the #11 role, and Messi on the opposite flank (7), both marauding down the wings, with the ability to go outside or cut in. It is role for pacey, tricky wingers, and they must love playing it as they get away with little contribution defensively.

The key to this formation is the central defensive midfield player (4). A role defined by Makelele, although he wasn’t the first, and certainly not the last. All major sides looking to use this formation have paid over the odds for their destroyer, but when you consider that he must do the work traditionally done by two players you can understand why. There is no room for a missed tackle when you are the sole player in that penultimate line of defense. This was a role held as I mentioned, by Makelele, but also Mascherano, Viera followed by Flamini, Yaya Toure. It could be to their extreme detriment that Arsenal did not replace Flamini in this year’s transfer window. Manchester United have known the importance and difficulty of finding this key player since Roy Keane retired. Currently they rotate Hargreaves, Carrick, Anderson and O’Shea in that role. It is a hard-working, no-nonsense job; break up attacks and keep possession with an easy pass.

This allows for more free reign from the attacking midfielders (8 & 10). And affords the luxury of one or two players who wait for the ball to come to them; a Riquelme type, someone who can make that killer pass for a lone striker, or perhaps round the corner for the pacey winger to latch on to. At Barca this was Deco, now succeeded by Iniesta. At Liverpool Gerrard linked up so well with Torres during his debut season. Fabregas is of course the Arsenal talisman, and Chelsea have used Lampard, who will now take on more responsibility after the arrival of Deco.

The other necessity is a strong front man, a player who can toil away on his own. Drogba, Eto’o and Torres have been the finest examples of this in recent years. Although Tevez has been very effective when used in that role also.

The true beauty of the formation, as I touched upon, is it’s flexibility. By dropping deep the two wingers can create a 5 man midfield. By pushing on they create a 3 man attack. You can rotate the forward line until you have a 4-4-2, the 7 or 11 dropping back and the 8 or 10 moving out wide.

I believe this formation is an innovative result of the superior athleticism in the modern game. Now that a few elite players exist who can dominate midfields single-handedly (such as Mascherano) players like Riquelme, who were in the past over-run, now have the free role to perform their artistry and it is making for some thrilling football. I don’t expect this trend to die out. Rather that it will gain steam, as teams like Spurs and Man City and Villa all look to transition into this formation.

Do you think there are any problems with this formation? Do you prefer a different formation? Let me know your thoughts and feel free to digress.

Tags: 4-3-3, 4-5-1, Fabregas, formations, Iniesta, Mascherano, Messi, Riquelme, Ronaldo, Torres