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My Favourite Formation (4-2-3-1)

In football there is no ultimate formation. There are a number of questions you have to ask yourself when choosing

what formation you would like to play. Are the players in your team suited to the roles and responsibilities you are

asking them to carry out? What are the strengths and weaknesses of your formation in comparison to your

oppositions formation? How adaptable is the formation if you are winning/loosing. These are the types of questions

a good Manager/Coach should be asking themselves when choosing their starting eleven, and what formation they

would like to play.

Having said that, each Manager/Coach will have a preferred formation they would like to play if they could. The

formation I am very intrigued by at the moment is a 4-2-3-1 formation. I feel this formation (with the right

personnel) has many advantages. I feel it has a good balance between attack and defence, it allows the player on the

ball to have many different passing options, and if carried out correctly, makes it very difficult for the defending

team to mark a number of different players. This formation also allows a number of your attacking players to receive

the ball in between the oppositions defence and midfield line where maximum damage can be caused.

Roles and Responsibilities

GK

In a 4-2-3-1 formation you need a GK who is comfortable with the ball at his feet. The GK should be able to play out

from the back when he receives a back pass. They should also be a good reader of the game as they will need to be a

sweeper for any potential through balls the opposition try.

Full backs

You are looking for two athletic full backs who are capable of getting up and down the pitch throughout the game

providing options for their team. They should be comfortable with the ball at their feet when attacking and have a

positive attitude to beat an opposition player when they are high up the pitch. They also need to be a very good

defender in a 1v1 situation as they will sometimes have no support from the wide player in front of them.

Centre Backs

Your CBs roles and responsibilities in this formation does not really change from any other formation you play. They

need to be good readers of the game, physical, good in the air, and have good positional sense. They will however

like every player in this formation need to be comfortable in possession of the ball, and happy to pass the ball

forward to their centre midfielders.

Centre Midfield/Defensive Midfield

The two players who play in this formation have a massive responsibility for the team. Both players need to be very

confident with the ball at their feet. They will be required to go and get the ball of their defenders and look to keep

the ball throughout the game. Their decision making of when to keep the ball and when to try a more penetrativepass to their attacking midfield is vital, as if they lose the ball in this position the team is extremely vulnerable to a

counter attack. They should also be more defence minded as they will need to be disciplined and hold their position;

they will not have the freedom the attacking midfielders have. At least one of the players should be especially good

at breaking up the oppositions possession of the ball where possible.

Wide Players

Although I have called these wide players they do not necessarily have to be wide players. These players should

have the freedom to come inside of the line and try to cause damage or to stay out wide and try and beat their

fullback. These should be intelligent wingers who try to find pockets/space in between the oppositions defence and

midfield. They should have good athleticism and capable of beating their fullbacks with pace and trickery. They

should also have the opportunity to work of either flank. This will keep the defenders guessing as they will be able to

dribble inside their fullbacks onto their stronger foot. This will also allow your fullbacks to provide you with width by

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overlapping if your wingers decide to go narrow. Although they are predominantly attacking players they will have a

very important defensive role by stopping their fullback getting passed them.

Attacking Midfield

This is your playmaker. This is the player who will cause damage to your opposition with their intelligent passes and

the positions they take up. This should be a player who can score goals, and be the creator of goals. They should be

extremely comfortable in possession of the ball, capable of working in tight areas, and not afraid to try an eye of the

needle type pass. Their main aim is to take up positions in between the oppositions defence and midfield line. Thiswill cause all sorts of problems as defenders will not want to come and mark him, and midfielders will struggle to

keep an eye on him as he is working behind them.

Centre Forward

This is a very important role in the team as this player can make or break your formation. You require your centre

forward to be an excellent target man for your team. They should be capable of holding a long ball up and waiting

for support while having their back to goal, and also a threat running in behind. The centre forward should be trying

to link up with the attacking midfielder as much as possible. They should have good strength, speed, good hold up

play, and intelligent runs.

Below is a diagram showing the red team using a 4-2-3-1 formation agasint a blue 4-4-2.

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The diagram below better describes what I mean when I have said about the attacking midfielders playing in

between the oppositions defence and midfield line. The yellow squares shows the areas you would like youre

attacking players to be taking up when your team is in possession.

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This picture shows how your central attacking midfielder can really cause some damage. As you can see red player

10 as taken up a position in between the lines. By doing this a blue defender will not want to go and mark him in fear

of leaving space in behind. The 2 blue centre midfielders will have a decision to make whether to mark him and leave

the more defensive centre midfielder free (red player 8), or to press the red centre midfielder (player 8). As you can

see if you can get the ball to your attacking midfielder in between the lines you have now created a very promising

position in a 4v4 situation.

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If like stated in the previous comment the blue central midfielder (player 8) does decide to mark the red attacking

midfielder (player 10) you are then looking for your two defensive midfielders to work the ball out to your full back.

If done quickly the full back should have a lot of space to now go and attack. By the red player 11 being narrow in

this situation this has caused the blue right midfielder to come and mark him, leaving the red player 3 lots of grass to

attack at pace.

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In this situation the blue right midfielder (player 7) has decided to go and try to stop the red left back (player 3) from

getting the ball. This has now left a nice pocket of space in between the lines for the red player 11 to take up. Once

player 11 receives the ball, they need to be positive and drive forward. You are then looking for you centre forward

to make an arced run in behind. This will then allow you central attacking midfielder to attack the space the centre

forward has just left.

These diagrams are just a couple of examples of the different options the team has when in possession of the ball inthe middle. I strongly believe that if you have players who are comfortable on the ball and can take up intelligent

positions it will cause the opposition all sorts of problems. They will not know whether to go and mark, to drop off,

who to let have the ball and who to try and stop getting the ball. These problems are all caused due to the

formations flexibility. You are allowing your most attack minded and creative players the freedom to take up

positions where players do not want to go and mark in.

I hope you have found this article somewhat interesting and has maybe provided you with a few ideas for yourself.

Below is a premiership all star 11 playing in a 4-2-3-1 formation that I have selected. Let me know how you would try

and combat this team..

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My Premiership 11 in a 4-2-3-1 formation

Joe Hart

Nemanja Vidic Thomas Vermaelen

Micah Richards Ashely Cole

Jack Wilshere Michael Essien

Daniel Sturridge David Silva Nani

Robin Van Persie

For my premiership 11 I believe I have chosen players whose natural attributes best suit the roles and

responsibilities required for playing in a 4-2-3-1 formation. You may ask how have I left players like Wayne Rooney,

Luka Modric, Theo Walcott and Steven Gerrard out of my team? The reason they have not been selected is I believe

there natural game would not suit them playing in this formation as much as the players I have selected. I am not

saying these players could not play in this formation, I just believe they are more suited to other formations.