We`ve come a long way from where we were in the past few seasons. Tactics, mentality and formations have changed drastically over the years. So what tactics suit us the most as a team? What formation should we play? Should we pick players based on the formation or the formation based on the players available?
How many at the back?
The good thing about Mauricio is that he`s been more flexible this year than ever before, especially over the last 3 months. And it`s not a coincidence that it`s corresponded with our best form under him. He shifted to 3-4-2-1 or a 5-2-2-1 or whatever you would like to call it. And the team started to look unbeatable. It`s a formation Conte is using and surely working well for his team as shown by their league position. The main thing about this formation is its deceptiveness. It seems like a defensive formation at first but it`s actually one which really helps the team attack. Effectively the team has almost 7 players involved in the attack, whereas 4 at the back would probably give you 6. But the number isn`t the main benefit over here. It is the added assurance at the back which gives the attackers more freedom. The mental help an attacker gets when not having to worry about the defense is immeasurable. The Central midfielders move forward knowing they have 3 defenders standing behind them. And whoever has played football surely knows how much of a benefit it is to not having to worry about losing possession. And we all know our play revolves largely around retaining possession. Also one benefit is that the wide play improves considerably. The wide two of the three Centre backs largely play as Full backs with the Wing backs playing almost as Wingers. With all this the 2 attacking midfielders float and get into spaces.
It occurred to me during a recent attack in the game against WBA that all players played at a position best suited to their attributes, at least theoretically. Rose and Walker with their pace and energy as wingers, because they the have freedom as well as discipline. During the McAuley own goal both of them were in the box on the same side of the field. I`ve hardly ever seen any set of fullbacks do something like that. What more? Eriksen dropping in front of the defense dictating play and Alli hovering around the box ready to make the perfect run. They`re playing to the skill set they`re best equipped with. Most importantly it suits Mousa Dembele. All these years the biggest problem managers have had with him was to find his best position and his best role. I think we`ve finally found it. When we play 4 at the back Mousa has to do a lot of covering up along with Wanyama. I`m not saying it suddenly becomes easy for him in a 3 at the back system. But it certainly puts him at least 10-15 yards ahead on the field, and that`s where he can be lethal. When he beats two men at the half-line with the easy he does we`re all in aww, but seldom does anything good come out of it as almost half the pitch is still in front of him. When he`s a position further ahead, he creates havoc, a single drop of his shoulder can put defenses into panic. We could argue then that he should play as a number 10 maybe, but the shield and possession retaining skills he provides makes him of more value as Central Midfielder.
But the formation isn`t completely flawless as shown by Pep`s City. Crowd the space between the defense and midfield and it`s not as merry as it seems. But I think Poch realizes that, and also is flexible enough to change it when required. Right now it seems as he`s playing the formation to fit the players available. I don`t know if that`s a good thing. But it`s working for us. Personally I would go for 3 at the back against parked buses and 3 or 4 against the bigger teams depending on the players available. The good thing is we seem pretty smooth in the transition from one formation to other. Just shows the versatility of players and the work going on in training.
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