Football Formations 4-4-2, 4-5-1 and 4-3-3

The 4-4-2 system of play used successfully by teams such as Liverpool, AC Milan and Everton in the mid-1980’s is till the most favoured balanced structure.   Although it lacks flair the 4-4-2 has become the basis for innovation to the modern 4-5-1 and the latest form of 4-3-3.

The most recent shift in modern tactics is the notion that only three bands of players, defence, mid-field and attack exist in a team structure.   There is more recent recognition that each of these bands can be subdivided into smaller groupings so that players can be moved up or down, or to the left or right.

Mourinho’s Chelsea had an orthodox back four with Makelele playing in  front of them for protection, and Joe Cole and Arjen Robben operating both as wingers and as auxiliary midfielders.

Welsh Premier League teams often show variations of the basic 4-4-2, some with creative attacking innovations, others looking very vulnerable in defence.  There is a greater tendency to work towards a new system, than to choose a system which works around the inclusion of the most skilful players.    This has a great effect in team selection both when all players in a squad are fit, and also when key players are injured.

Acknowledgement

Wilson, Jonathan, Inverting the Pyramid, (Orion, 2008).

Author: B. Steer

The trend for results at all levels in football has introduced implications that are alien to many previous concepts held dearly by those involved with grassroots football.   Great changes in attitudes are required among the host of volunteers keeping the game alive, especially those who take part because their own children are involved.

Developing players over a long period is too risky to get short term results and coaches need the best players, properly managed, to win cups and leagues.   Established clubs drawing on local players need to look further afield to strengthen their teams, and club committees need to choose between providing football for members, and producing winning teams.

Keener competition would need more qualified referees to ensure that club officials are not able to show bias towards their players, and adherence to the Laws such as junior football coaches being confined to the technical areas, and not openly criticising officials.

This cultural shock will be hard to bring in to local leagues that are restricted by transfer rules, meaning that unfavoured players will be sidelined for long periods.

The advantage of a more competitive structure at local level is that young players with ambitions for the professional game will have no illusions about what a “results culture” means.   The disadvantage is that the others will find that playing for fun on a regular basis will be termed “recreational football” and lack its present status in the pyramid of the game.

Author: B. Steer

Having been lucky enough to watch 3 matches in as many days around the August Bank Holiday weekend, an interesting point arose in my mind over the use of the offside law in junior football.

A highly contested Welsh Premiership game produced a maximum of eight offside decisions and an Under 16s boys international a maximum of six offsides, whereas a local youth match produced at least twelve offside decisions.

There does not seem a lot of point in coaching junior teams in the offside trap at the half way line geared to club linesmen operating on the old rule (eg ignoring inactive players) when higher grades of football require a more sophisticated approach.

Opposition coaches and alert players will soon get around these defensive tactics, but to avoid the constant breakdown in play, and the inevitable long ball forward (did this used to be called “kick and rush” ? ) a rule modification for junior football could be brought in.

This would mean an extension of the edge of the penalty area out to the touchline and the offside law only applying in an area eighteen yards from the goal-line.   This would mean that passing could always take place in the midfield area of the pitch, but still allow defenders to compress the play around the edge of their own penalty area.

This would simplify the job of club linesmen who would only have to stand in one position, and not run up and down the touchline, often acting as an extra “defender”.

Author: B. Steer

The wet weather of the early autumn, coupled with the financial recession, will only serve to emphasise the gap that exists between youngsters based in such far western outposts as Haverfordwest and Barrow in Cumbria and their urban counterparts.

Lack of low-priced local authority provision of large indoor third generation playing surfaces restricts the development of young footballers in the winter months, with goalkeepers being at a particular disadvantage because of the hardness of gymnasium floors and Astroturf surfaces.

Young players whose parents are not fortunate enough to afford the weekly travelling costs to be coached at Premiership, Championship and League Academies with better all-weather facilities are becoming part of a developing form of football social exclusion, by having to train locally with the prospect of wet weather and pitches which do not simulate match conditions.

Plans to upgrade local facilities for football must quickly take this into account.

Author: B. Steer