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 28th 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 24th 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.
