New Feature

Hit the "Players of the week" tab to see our newest feature. Every week we will have a statistical analysis of who impressed us most this weekend!

The Evolution of the 4-2-3-1 and how Germany is spearheading it

One of the lasting remnants from the Sir Alex Ferguson legacy in football is the 4-4-2. Ferguson favoured the formation in the face of many teams around him switching. Football in general has evolved from the 4-4-2 which dominated throughout the 90’s. The 4-2-3-1 has been around for a long time, especially in variations such as the 4-5-1 and the 4-4-1-1. The formation allows for a degree of flexibility and change both in and out of possession and also depending on the characteristics of the personnel playing it.

Like most systems the 4-2-3-1 has had to re-invent itself. Over the years the way in which it is utilised has been re-formed depending on its user and depending on how oppositions have adapted to it. This year and particularly in previous seasons successful sides have followed the same particular blueprint for success in midfield. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and many others have all followed the same template for a midfield trio.

                                                Tackler                                                  Passer

                                                                               

                                                                                Playmaker                          

The blueprint allows for small changes. Barcelona for example prefer for the triangle to be flipped and for the tackler to provide a pivot behind the passer and playmaker. This has been seen over the years with Sergio Busquetts role behind the passer Xavi and the playmaker Iniesta. In most cases this is the generally used midfield blueprint for success. Variations have taken place however in the characteristics of the personnel filling these roles. Chelsea value large physically imposing tacklers (Essien, Mikel) whereas there is now a market for smart ball winning midfielders with very impressive workrates. Recently Germany has been producing these types at a premium. Sami Khederia, the Bender twins (Lars & Sven), and Roman Neustader are amongst these types.

Germany in recent years has also revolutionised the role of the Number 10 or the playmaker in the 4-2-3-1 system. What is scary for international opponents of Germany is that Germany have 3+ possibilities of world class players that they can play in this role and yet every player offers a threat in a different way. The role of the number 10 has moved on. Typically British football has always been so 4-4-2 minded that it has lacked genuine number 10’s being produced and perhaps now this is a major contributor to our national teams struggling.

In the past few years in the Premiership only Steven Gerrard has stood out as a player who can play in this number 10 role. In the Benitez side that came close to challenging United for the title, the Englishman struck a great understanding with Fernando Torres which allowed him to play this role so well. It in turn led to Gerrard’s best season in English football in terms of goals scored. Gerrard was given license to go beyond Torres and drive into opposition boxes as well as create from behind. Benitez favoured a tight, industrial, counter-attacking version of the 4-2-3-1 and this led us to see the best of Steven Gerrard.

Manchester United 1-4 Liverpool line up

The current German trio of players operate the role slightly differently. Less movement goes on beyond the striker, instead clever space orientated play goes on in the hole. The obvious advantage of the number 10 in the hole is the difficulty in the opposition to pick up these players. Does the defence come out to close down the number 10? Or does a defensive minded member of the midfield drop to keep an eye on them?

Now at Arsenal, Mesut Ozil established himself at Real Madrid as arguably the best in the world in the hole. Nicknamed the assist master, Ozil’s clever play and movement from the hole allowed players like Cristiano Ronaldo to really flourish.

This is the Real Madrid line up as they travelled to Mallorca on the 28^th of October 2012. They came back with a 5-0 win.

Ozil started centrally for Madrid but he does not tend to stay there. He is given almost a free role as he comes searching for the ball. The amount of wandering Ozil does into different positions is shown below by the positions he is in when he receives the ball. He does not seem to favour one flank over the other or make predictable movements. His movements are equally distributed over both flanks and receives a lot of passes deep. His movements to vacate the central area of the pitch are very useful as it allows Ronaldo to come centrally into the open space or else cut in from the left onto his favoured left foot.

 The vast amount of movement Ozil made at Madrid gave defenders a real conundrum. They could either choose to follow him and risk being dragged out of position, allowing the likes of Ronaldo more time and space. The other option was to hold their positions leaving Ozil unmarked and as a result of this he would often receive the ball in dangerous areas where he could hurt teams, gaining his assist master reputation.

The current kings of Europe Bayern Munich have an altogether different number 10. Whereas Ozil is about movement and assists Toni Kroos is the master of the pass in the role. He is developing a fine reputation as perhaps the most tidy player in Europe when played in the hole. He combines with the likes of Schweinsteiger and the two Bayern wing backs to make sure Bayern keep possession. We analysed another 5-0 victory, this time for Bayern vs Hannover on the 24^th of November 2012.

Kroos starts in the hole but his movement is away from goal. The shaded area around him illustrates the zone in which he mostly operates from.  The German plays with his back to goal more often than not, ensuring that Bayern retain and recycle possession. One of the key elements to Bayern’s play is the wide men. They possess real quality out wide with Ribery, Muller and Robben on the wings and Lahm and Alaba backing them up. Below is Kroos’ passing chalkboard from that game.

 Notice the left channel and the amount of attempted passes through that channel between the opposition centre back and full back? This type of pass is for a wide man like Ribery or an overlapper like Alaba and in the end provided very fruitful for Kroos gaining him an assist and setting up a number of shots. Kroos operates a lot deeper than other number 10’s and is more instrumental in the build up play.

5-0’ seem to be the pattern and the final analysis comes from last season’s match between Borussia’s Dortmund and Monchengladbach. Keep an eye on the shaded area around Gotze.

Dortmund start with the now Bayern man Mario Gotze in the hole for them. Dortmund have a real goal threat in Lewandowski but he is missing for this game so an extra something is needed up front. Below is the passes received by Gotze during the game. Correlate the received passes with the shaded area on the Dortmund line up. Gotze totally vacates this area during the game. He does not take up a central position at all. Gotze’s strength in the game is coming from a central area to the flank, a role that wasn’t too dissimilar to Wesley Sneidjer in the Inter Milan team in 2010.

 This is very dangerous for the opposition as Gotze is then able to combine with Marco Reus and Kuba on the flanks. Reus finishes the game with 2 goals. Doubling up on the wing backs, coupled with the dangerous pace and trickery Gotze and Reus possess can cause defences a whole host of problems.

The scary part about this German side is that Lewis Holtby, Max Kruse, Julien Draxler and a few others have still to be majorly tested at international level, yet the signs are present that these players can be just as talented as the three mentioned above. Germany have a plethora of talent and nobody sums up the transformation of the 4-2-3-1 as well as the Germans. 

The Best Still To Come From Dortmund

With the Champions League season about to get under way, a look at last seasons runners up, who we might not have seen the best of yet.

Its amazing to think that Dortmund finished last season trophy-less. They failed to defend their German crown being replaced by Bayern as kings of Germany and were also piped to the European crown by the Bavarians. Despite this, Dortmund enjoyed an amazing surge in popularity and recognition that was long overdue, having impressed no-end two seasons in a row prior to last year. Only now however after failure is Klopp receiving the plaudits he deserves for building such a talent ridden squad on a budget  smaller than many other European rivals.

There is an air of optimism surrounding Dortmund, last season they came so close, but instead of having finality about it, (all good things must come to an end.) There is instead a new breath of fresh air for Dortmund. A real feeling that last season was just the beginning of something successful. Not many clubs could lose in the Champions League final, lose their league crown and lose their best player yet come out the other side appearing stronger.

One key element of this is the fact that Klopp has built a young squad, rather than a team whose best days are behind them. Dortmund are yet to reach their potential best. Of the side that started the Champions League final only the Goalkeeper Weidenfeller was over the age of 30. They lost their key player in Mario Gotze, but this is nothing new to Klopp. In the last 3 seasons he has lost his best player every summer. Sahin, Kagawa and then Gotze all left the club, one has returned (on loan) and there is an inevitability that a return is imminent for the other.

A similar situation to loosing Gotze was when Spurs sold Modric two seasons back. Instead of replacing him with one like for like replacement they instead replaced him with a few players which in turn gave the side more variety and choices. Something similar has happened in Klopp’s strategy. One of Gotze’s strength was his ability to play both wide and centrally behind the striker. Henrikh Mkhitaryan was purchased after a very impressive season both domestically and on the continent, and he looks to fill the void left by Gotze centrally. In addition to the Armenian (as seen in the first game of the season) Klopp can also push players higher up the pitch. In particular Ilkay Gundogan graduated from the central of midfield to the apex of the midfield triangle with prodigal son Nuri Sahin coming in. Aubemeyang had a stand out season in Ligue 1 last year and Klopp brought him in as competition for Lewandowski. This was a smart move because Julian Schieber hasn’t really challenged the Pole effectively. Like Schieber, Aubemeyang also gives Klopp wide options with his blistering pace and his goal scoring exploits.

Blaszczykowski continues to impress with his craft and incredible workmanship out wide, he finished last season with 12 assists. Despite this Kuba has never really been valued as high on the continent as he has to Dortmund fans, but there is absolutely no doubting his importance to Klopp’s side. No other player sums up the equilibrium between ability and work rate so valued by Klopp than Blaszczkowski. Groβkreutz is another who has similar qualities, he is a natural left winger by trade but has effortlessly filled in the right back slot made vacant by Piszczek’s injury.

Dortmund has received another boost out wide with the youngster Jonas Hofmann. The youngster changed the game when brought on against Eintracht Braunschweig scoring and then winning a penalty. The 21 year old graduated from the Dortmund youth team after being purchased from Hoffenheim and has bolstered their options out wide which is their strongest area of attack.

Dortmund are four games in domestically and have maximum points. They sit on top of the Bundesliga as Bayern have dropped two points. The appointment of Guardiola invigorated an already energised Munich but one minor drawback is that Guardiola has made changes to the style of play. Changing a winning formula may cause problems and may result in a few dropped points here and there. Dortmund have kept a formula and a style which has proven that it works for them and they have added to it, strengthening in a number of positions as mentioned before. Klopp also added the former Milan defender Sokratis to his ranks from Werder Bremen to give more of a challenge and more options to his backline.

Having strengthened smartly and well, the upcoming Champions League campaign is filled with both expectation and optimism for a young Dortmund side gaining more experience at every turn. They made a huge pre-tax profit as a result of last season’s so should disaster strike Klopp has resources in January. With all these variables added up, for the North-Rine based club and perhaps for European football in general, the future is bright, the future is black and yellow.