The Ultimate Guide to Soccer Formations

What are Soccer Formations? 

Soccer formations describe the positions occupied by players in a team during play and are described in the form of the number of defenders followed by number of midfield players followed by number of attackers.

For example, 4-3-3 would describe four defenders, three midfield players and three attackers.

Outfield soccer positions are still generally broken down into three types; defenders, midfielders and forwards. Go to any soccer website, or look at a FIFA roster, and you'll see players broken down into these three categories.

However, these traditional lines of delineation are becoming less relevant with modern tactics. This ignores the progression of football tactics in recent years, where the pitch is often broken into four 'bands'.

The midfield has been separated into two bands - midfielders are either defensive, or attacking, with some forwards able to drop deeper and play in the attacking band. Strangely, this is essentially a return to the system used fifty years ago, when the W or M formation (see below) dominated the game.

The shift back to four probably started with the success of the deep-lying forward, who played between the lines of opposition defence and midfield, creating what often became a 4-4-1-1 shape.

If the deep-lying forward was supported by wingers, the shape suddenly became a 4-2-3-1, which is a popular formation currently although is really just a version of 4-4-2 which has been popular for decades.

With the deep-lying forward drawing either a central midfielder or a central defender out of position in a three-band system, the obvious response was to 'match' the four bands - whether through matching up with a 4-2-3-1, or a 4-1-2-3 (which in itself is a version of 4-3-3) and then both sides are playing in four bands. 

How have Soccer Formations Evolved over Time?

The Early Days

​In the early days of soccer, formations and tactics were very different to how we recognise them today.

All out attack was often the order of the day and it was not unusual to see teams line up in a 2-2-6 formation with 6 or 7 players in attack to try and ‘outscore’ the opposition.

The 1800s

As the game professionalised in the country of its birth, the UK teams became more astute in their thinking and changed their approach albeit softening they're attacking stance only slightly to 5 players in attack!

In the 1800’s Preston North End in England became the original ‘Invincibles’ team winning both the league and the cup without losing a game by playing this way.

1920s

By the 1920’s a man by the name of Herbert Chapman had introduced a new tactical innovation at Arsenal Football Club by employing an additional defender so they had 3 in defence, 2 x deep lying midfield players, 2 x attacking midfield players and 3 x attackers.

This formation became known as the WM formation and was instrumental in winning four league titles for Arsenal under Chapman. Different teams around the world now started to experiment with their formations and tactics.

1950s

In the 1950’s the country of Hungary produced a national team that swept all before them due to their outstanding players and the way they slotted into their new formation. Playing with 4 x forwards, the Hungarians introduced new thinking by having them swap positions throughout the game into different areas of the pitch so that their 4 x individual players would attack from different angles at different times in the game. This was something that had not been seen before and led to some incredible high scoring victories, most famously when they beat England 6-3 at Wembley (England were generally regarded to be the best team in the world at that time).

These high scoring victories were soon tempered with more realism as tactics and formations evolved and it wasn't long before more defensive line ups were being introduced.

1970s

Brazil won three out of four World Cup competitions between the 1950’s and the 1970’s playing a new formation. They introduced 4 x defenders that played behind 2 x midfielders and 4 x attackers and by playing this way they brought the best out of their highly talented individual players such as Jairsinho and Pele.

By 1970 they were truly dominant in world football and other countries looked for ways that they could compete and ultimately get the better of the all conquering Brazilians.

In the 1970’s the Dutch national team introduced a new way of playing that they called ‘Total Football’. This was a highly fluid way of playing although it started with 4 x defenders, 3 x midfielders and 3 x attackers.

Their philosophy was that any player could play in any one of those positions at any time in the game so long as the teams overall shape was maintained.

This new innovative style would famously take the small nation of Holland to two World Cup finals in 1974 and 1978 although famously they narrowly lost on both occasions despite being comfortably the better team.

The fact that they ultimately lost out to teams that were more defensively minded meant that a more defensive way became ever more popular in the years that followed.

1980s

Italy won the 1982 World Cup with a defensive team that relied on the brilliance of a sweeper who was a defensive lynchpin in their team playing behind the back line to intervene in opposition attacks.

The philosophy was that you do not lose if you don't concede and so the main focus was to protect the zero that they started the game with. This was married with a focus on lightning quick counter attacks meaning they could soak up a lot of pressure before breaking forward and creating chances to score goals.

Following their success there followed a period where no one team or style dominated world football but more and more people looked to innovate and create their own way of playing.

2000s

This was true until roughly 2010 when the Spanish national team became the dominant force in world football and their domestic champions, Barcelona, started to dominate European competition.

Demonstrating that soccer tactics had by this time gone from one extreme to the other, it was a very fluid formation that often involves playing with no out and out strikers at all.

Since their success the game of soccer has become a wash with even more innovation and new tactical formations than ever before.

Classic Soccer Formations

There are a number of formations, which have been around for a long time, which we're calling classic soccer formations...

A benefit of this formation though is that it doesn't either succeed or fail on performance of the wing-backs. They are important but there are two wide forwards dropping into pockets off the front into key areas for creating chances.

The passing angles created are plentiful, and this formation encourages short, quick passing and a high possession game that is popular with fans.

Centre-backs have options in possession and playing two touch through midfield can see teams progress up the pitch quickly.

Which teams use this formation? Roman giants Lazio and French club Lille play this way.

This formation is often seen as quite defensive but it gives license for the midfield players to get forward into the opposing penalty area.

Which teams use this formation? Toulouse and Lokomotiv Moscow

The back four is pretty standard and as ever in the modern era the full-backs are required to be capable or making contributions both attacking and defensively. The central midfield duo usually consists of a defensively minded player and a playmaker, but this can vary.

The two wide players act more like fluid inside forwards, dropping inside and using their technical skills to create opportunities. This formation supports mobile and technically strong players who can isolate weaknesses in the opposition and exploit them.

The front two often drop in a little deeper to pick the ball up from midfield, although one will usually stretch high.

Defensively this formation looks more like a 4-4-1-1 or a 4-4-2, in attack it ranges from 4-2-4 to 4-2- 3-1.

Which teams use this formation? Brazil often use this formation as do French Champions Paris-Saint Germain, and Spanish team Villarreal.

How to Choose the Best Formation for your Team?

So, is It better to be an attacking team or defensive team?

This is a long-standing argument that really depends on who you ask. Some will say defense wins championships, others will say if we attack and have the ball the whole game then the other team can’t score and you increase your chances of winning.

At different professional clubs, it is often the case that they have developed a traditional style and the supporters of those clubs don’t welcome a deviation away from the soccer tactics that have earned them their reputation.

A modern trend is to be always responding to the way the opposition tries to play and to try to counteract them. Jose Mourinho is one of the most successful modern coaches in the world and has achieved this without having a particular style or ‘brand’ of soccer. His teams alter their approach depending on who they are playing and the associated strengths and weaknesses.

Your tactics in terms of when to attack and when to defend can change game to game based on your opponent, conditions and situation.

The most successful teams are strong both in attack and defense. A common misconception is that the most successful teams are the most attack minded. This is often skewed by the way the media celebrate the attacking skills of the most successful teams.

They are very defensively sound and tactically aware. Next time you watch them play, watch the team’s tactical decision when they lose the ball, they collectively press very high in a particular style to try to regain the ball as quickly as possible and starve the other team of any attacking momentum.

The best approach for your team will be determined by the players you have, the opposition you face and how you want to play.

Whichever way you get your team to play will be determined by the players you have at your disposal. Some will be suited to different ways of playing but not others. For instance, midfield players who are good passers but not strong runners will be suited to the possession type approach much more than the counter attacking style.

You need to decide or experiment to find the style that suits your players the best.

Let’s look at how different soccer strategies will affect your decision about your soccer formation.

Defensive Soccer Formations

There are examples above of how soccer teams have won famous matches by successfully using defensive soccer formations and tactics. Here is a look at some specific defensive strategies and the formations they are best suited to:

Teams need to understand how they can defend successfully in a variety of circumstances. Some teams, as a mainstay of their defensive tactics, defend early (i.e. going back to the four ‘moments’ introduced by the Dutch, they try to recover the ball as soon as they concede possession to their opponents).

Others may choose to recover their team shape, regroup, and prepare themselves to defend later and deeper. Here we look at the basic principles of these two approaches.

Late Team Defending

Defensive team tactics may be as straightforward as deciding where to first engage and pressure the opponent’s build up play. If you decide that your opponents are highly skilful in possession of the ball and can play cleverly and quickly through a team that lacks compactness, you may decide to defend deeper with the first serious defence against the player on the ball taking place around the halfway line and the pressure coming from your strikers.

The midfield line will organize itself behind this first pressing line, and the back line will likely be positioned on or around the edge of the penalty area.

This would give your team 11 x players between the ball and the goal and would, providing your team is defending well, be difficult for the attacking team to break down and penetrate your defence.

The teams that use this tactic often combine it with a counterattacking style of play and when gaining possession of the ball they spring forward at pace.

Soccer formations that suit Late Team defending: 5-4-1 / 5-3-2 / 4-4-2 / 4-5-1

Early Team Defending

Alternatively, a team may decide to press the opponents as early and high up the pitch as possible when they are in possession of the ball.

This means that when the attacking team has possession in its own defending third of the field they are immediately pressed intensely by your forward players. With the midfield and defending lines pushing forward onto opponents to support the forwards who are pressing, your team retains defensive compactness, but in a higher position on the field of play.

You may choose to employ this tactic if your team is losing the game and needs to regain possession of the ball, or if you believe the opponents will surrender possession if your players sustain pressure for long periods of the game.

Soccer formations that suit Early Team defending: 4-4-2 / 4-3-3 / 4-2-3-1

Group Defensive Tactics

Teams may adopt different defensive strategies and tactical formations and there are any number of different ways of defending that can be applied. In addition to the high or low press described you may wish to consider the following:

Man to Man Marking

Soccer formations that suit Man to Man Marking: 5-4-1 / 5-3-2 / 3-5-2

Zonal Defence

Alternatively, a team may organize themselves using a zonal system. This is much the preferred option of modern teams as they believe it offers greater balance and flexibility to respond to different phases of the game.

This essentially means that players defend against opponents that come into their personal zones or areas of the pitch and pass on opponents who move from their zone into a teammates zone. They are still be required to track opponents who make runs, but generally their job is to defend certain areas of the pitch.

Although it seems that a zonal system may give opponents more time and space in which to receive and distribute the ball, when employed correctly, the opponent should be pressed quickly from the ‘owner’ of that zone meaning your team can press effectively in the most energy efficient way.

Soccer formations that suit Zonal Defence: 4-4-2 / 4-2-3-1 / 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3

Some teams prefer zonal defending and others prefer to employ man to man tactics, but this video below should help to explain the key differences between the techniques:

Individual Defensive Tactics

The individual strengths of your players and in this instance, your defenders will have a bearing on your tactics and the soccer formation you are able to play. For example, you have quick defenders who are good at recovery you may be able to play a high defensive line and a high pressing game.

You might have defenders who are slower but are able to read the game and are comfortable in possession.

You could have players who are very strong 1 v 1 and are capable of slowing down counter attacks with good body positioning.

All of this will affect your decision making when deciding which formation to choose.

Attacking Soccer Formations

The objective of the game is to score goals, but certain variable factors during the match can influence the coaches thinking as to how attacking they should be at any given time.

All of the following are different ways of attacking and scoring goals, your team’s relative strengths with the following will also have a significant bearing on your soccer formation.

Possession Soccer

Keeping hold of the ball draws players from their starting positions, making spaces for killer passes and creating chances.

Formations that suit Possession Soccer: 3-5-2 / 3-4-3 / 3-3-4 / 4-2-3-1 / 4-3-3 / 4-6-0

Counter-Attacking Soccer

Counter attacking tactics can also be used successfully against weaker teams and in two or three quick moves counter attacking masters can go from defending to scoring a goal.

Sharp strikers burst into life when possession is turned over to their team. A good striker will be aware of possession being won and look to get on the outside of their centre-half as invariably the full-back is upfield from the previous possession and there are vacant spaces.

With the right pass, you now have a one-on-one counter attack situation.

Formations that suit counter attacking soccer:
3-5-2 / 4-5-1 / 4-4-2

Direct Soccer

Playing long ball tactics often negates the requirement of having skilful midfield players who can look after the ball but creates the requirement of having a physical striker who can either win first contact headers or get hold of the ball using their body.

It also places the need for other players to cover ground to be able to either run beyond the first striker or join him to make themselves available for the next pass.

A variation of this is to play forward without the expectation that the striker will win or secure the ball but to play exclusively for ‘second balls’ i.e. the ball that drops into midfield from the defensive headers and to compete tenaciously for this and to launch attacks from there.

Formations that suit direct attacking soccer: 3-5-2 / 4-4-2 / 4-5-1

Wide-play

The flanks or wings have always been a key part of attacking football. By shifting the ball wide and stretching teams, you allow a different angle of attack, create pockets of space and often isolate the attacking player on the ball in a 1 v 1 against the defender.

Good wide players will then travel with the ball and engage defenders in different areas of the pitch and / or deliver dangerous balls across the goal to be finished.

Formations that suit wide play: 4-4-2 / 4-4-3

The False 9

There have been a number of central strikers that have suited playing as a false 9, indeed Messi at Barcelona is arguably the greatest example in the modern era, but it was the Spanish national team that really brought it to prominence. They had suffered injuries in the 2012 European Finals and had no fit central strikers but a plethora of attacking midfield players notably Xavi, Iniesta and Cesc Fabregas.

They played with one of their attacking midfield players as a false 9 but would rotate them out of the central striker position and deeper runners would exploit the vacant space to devastating effect.

Formations that suit the False 9: 4-6-0

Set Plays

Formations that suit Set Plays: All formations

Balanced Soccer Formations

The majority of teams want to be able to have a balanced way of playing that is effective in both defence and attack. Leaning too far in either direction can be dangerous and often it is better to have a balanced way of playing and a formation that suits this approach.

Occupying the pitch

A number of top soccer coaches like to be able to look across the pitch from their technical area and see their team occupying the pitch with good distances between them meaning the opposition team are going to need to do something special to break them down.

This is another approach that supports teams that are concerned they are inferior to the opposition and don’t want any of their players to become isolated or exposed especially when they are defending. They like to have players that cover round when their teammates are pulled out of position and by having a balanced formation to start from it makes this task much easier.

Formations that suit Occupying the Pitch: 5-3-2 / 4-4-2 / 4-4-1-1 / 4-1-4-1

Multiple forms of attack

In 2004 Arsenal FC made history by going through an entire season without losing a game and won the English Premier League. Their team was nicknamed ‘The Invincibles’ and is regarded as one of the best teams in Premier League history.

Jamie Carragher who was a midfield player for rivals Liverpool explained what made them such a great team,

“They could beat you in whatever way you wanted to play. If you wanted to turn the game into a fight they had players who could do that better than you. If you wanted to have a soccer match and get the ball down and play they could do that better than you. It didn’t matter what way you tried to play against them they could match what you were doing and win the game.”

Innovation in Soccer Formations

Soccer coaches are always looking to innovate and the spotlight is always being shone on new or reimagined formations.

Here are some examples of how clever tactical thinking and a less popular formation was famously able to make the difference for a variety of soccer teams.

Ajax (1994/95): 3-3-1-3

Ajax of Amsterdam and their coach Louis van Gaal were able to win the European Champions League title in 1995 by playing an unorthodox 3-3-1-3 formation with players that had emerged through their own junior Academy structure.

That season, Ajax also went unbeaten through the Dutch league season and lifted their domestic title.

Van Gaal stretched the boundaries of tactical conventions and consistently played with a 3-3-1-3 formation.

Frank de Boer, Danny Blind and Michael Reiziger were often used as the 3 x defensive players behind the sitting midfielder, Frank Rijkaard. Further forward in midfield were two of either Edgar Davids, Ronald de Boer and Clarence Seedorf. Van Gaal then had the immensely gifted Jari Litmanen operating in the channels behind the front three of Finidi George, Marc Overmars and Patrick Kluivert.

It was a very unconventional way of playing but one that delivered great success and Van Gaal was widely regarded as a tactical genius for his innovative style and would go on to manage both Barcelona and Manchester United.

Australia (2006): 3-6-1

Another Dutch coach, Guus Hiddink was the Coach of the Australian National team that reached the 2006 World Cup knockout stages before narrowly losing out to eventual champions Italy.

Australia excelled with Hiddink employing the unique 3-6-1 formation and managed to reach the World Cup Finals for the first time since 1974. Having six men in midfield, deployed in two banks of three, enabled Hiddink to facilitate tactical fluidity as he could adjust the shape to suit their attacking and defensive needs as they arose in the game.

Mark Viduka was usually deployed as a lone striker, but he was supported by a trio of attacking midfielders – Tim Cahill, Harry Kewell and Jason Culina. The formation helped Australia have high possession stats during their World Cup campaign. They managed 55%, 56% and 58% against Japan, Croatia and Italy respectively, even managing to gain 47% of the ball against a vastly superior Brazil team.

Reaching the knockout stages of the World Cup was an immense achievement for Australia, a nation where soccer is a minority sport, but their journey showed that different tactical thinking can be very effective.

France (1984): 4-2-2-2

Michel Platini and coach Michel Hidalgo led France to victory in the European Championship Final against Spain in 1984.

They achieved this using another unconventional formation dubbed the ‘Magic Square’ and with the outstanding players they had at their disposal their team is widely regarded as having one of the greatest midfields in footballing history. Coach Michel Hidalgo constructed a midfield of outstanding creativity and strength with the quartet of Jean Tigana, Alain Giresse, Luis Fernandez and the magnificent captain Michel Platini.

With Fernandez occupying the deep lying holding role, Tigana, Platini and Giresse all had the freedom to display their remarkable playmaking qualities. Tigana would regularly drop in beside Fernandez to ensure France’s back four were receiving sufficient cover giving the formation the look of a square and giving it the name by which it is still remembered.

Working in tandem, the talented quartet acted as both the engine room and creative hub of the triumphant France side. Platini scored a stunning 9 goals in 5 games to help propel his nation to European glory.

Spain (2012): 4-6-0

Following an injury crisis to his squad Spanish coach Vicente Del Bosque hardly used a striker in the 2012 European Championships but still managed to win the tournament.

His team gave rise to the ‘False Nine’ formation, using it to perfect effect as they won the tournament playing football that their opponents simply didn’t understand and could not contend with.

Del Bosque’s tactics helped propel Spain to unprecedented levels of success, as they won both the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012 and the false 9 formation was used to devastating effect. Cesc Fabregas performed the role of the false 9 with great skill.

Do Formations Make A Difference?

Absolutely, Yes!

There are many examples of how teams have used different tactics and soccer formations to upset the odds and defeat stronger opponents.

Steaua Bucharest vs Barcelona 1986 European Cup Final

For instance in 1986 Steaua Bucharest, an army team from behind the iron curtain in Romania famously beat the much vaunted and vastly superior Barcelona team in the European Cup Final.

The final was played in Seville in Spain and the 60,000 crowd at Sanchez Pizjuan stood firmly behind Barcelona. The overconfident Spaniards underestimated the Romanian army team, backed by Valentin Ceausescu, the son of dictator Nicolae.

Steaua played a highly defensive formation against the talented Spaniards closing down the match with a blanket screen of five defenders and four in midfield. The game remained goalless for 120 minutes as the Romanian’s played for the lottery of the penalty shootout. By the time it came the physically and mentally shattered Barcelona players were in no state to focus on their kicks and Bucharest’s keeper Helmut Duckadam performed heroics by stopping all four of Barça's penalties.

The final result was 2-0 for Steaua Bucharest in the penalty shootout and it was an incredible upset inspired by a masterclass of tactical strategy.

Brazil vs Uruguay 1950 World Cup Final

There are few shocks greater in world soccer than the World Cup of 1950 when another tactical masterstroke proved decisive.

In the deciding game of the tournament, which was still decided on a league basis rather than a final in 1950, hosts Brazil needed only a draw against Uruguay to be crowned as Champions.

With a world record crowd of 200,000 behind them, and having swept all before them in the competition to that moment they were firm favourites to dismantle an inferior Uruguay team and win the World Cup.

The game began as form predicted, with Brazil attacking against the Uruguayan defensive line for the majority of the first half. Many of the other teams that had played Brazil in the tournament had tried to ‘outscore’ them playing an open style. This hadn’t ended well and good teams like Sweden and Spain had been crushed 7-1 and 6-1.

Uruguay changed from the standard 2-3-5 formation with the wide players dropping deep and one of the 3 midfield players screening the defence. Uruguay’s star player Varela man marked Brazil’s main threat Ademir to cancel him out and effectively make it a 10 V 10 game.

Despite Brazil having an incredible 17 attempts on goal in the first half the Uruguayans managed to maintain their defence and reach half time scoreless. They’d thought in detail about how to respond to every situation in the match. Although they took the lead early in the second half, the increasingly nervous Brazilians were thrown out of their stride by Uruguay’s tactics.

When Brazil scored the first goal of the match Uruguayan player Varela took the ball and disputed the validity of the goal to the referee, arguing that Brazil’s Friaca was offside. Varela drew out this argument, going so far as to demand that the referee listen to him through an interpreter.

By the time the conversation had ended, the crowd had calmed down and Brazil’s momentum from taking the lead had died. Varela took the ball to the center of the field, and shouted to his team, "Now, it's time to win!”

Uruguay managed to take control of the game overloading players on the right side of the pitch to take advantage of the weak defenders down Brazil’s left side.

Juan Alberto Schiaffino scored the equaliser in the 66th minute and then Alcides Ghiggia, again attacking down that one side of the field scored another goal, with a low shot that went just under goalkeeper Barbosa with only 11 minutes remaining on the clock.

The crowd 200,000 crowd was virtually silent after the second Uruguay goal until English referee George Reader signalled the end of the match with Uruguay winning 2–1.

The size of this upset is hard to do justice to. In Brazil, many newspapers refused to accept the fact that they had been defeated; famous radio journalist Ary Barroso retired, and some distraught fans even went so far as to commit suicide

Brazil's white shirts with blue collars that were worn in the final game were, in the wake of the defeat, criticised for being "unpatriotic" and it was decided those colours could never be worn again.

In 1953, a competition was held by the newspaper Correio da Manhã to design a new outfit, with the rule being that it must incorporate the colours of the national flag. Eventually, the competition was won by Aldyr Garcia Schlee who came up with the design of yellow shirt with green trim, blue shorts and white socks that was first used in March 1954 against Chile and has been used ever since. All the result of some astute tactical thinking by the Uruguayan team!

What are the Best Ways to Train Soccer Formations?

How Many Soccer Formations Should you Train?

The simple answer to this question is as many as you think you need to beat the other team! It isn’t practical though to learn lots of different formations because the chances are your team will struggle to learn them all well.

It is much better to be able to execute 3 or 4 different ways of playing well than 9 or 10 to an average standard.

You might want to work through 4 different options based around the way you would like to play and the strengths you have as well as the types of teams you are likely to come up against.

What is the Best Soccer Formation?

As a personal opinion, it’s hard to get away from the 4-2-3-1 formation which offers an excellent and secure defensive set up with the 2 x defensive midfield players perfectly complimenting the modern way of playing soccer.

The natural dispersal of players enables the ball to be kept for long periods of possession relatively comfortably and it is a good formation for playing to a range of attacking strengths whether it is counter attacking

The Popularity of the 4-2-3-1 Formation

It is the most widely used formation in international soccer at present for the reasons above and most of the top clubs in the world have been using variations of 4-2-3-1 (itself an extension of 4-4-2) over the past decade.

For example in the European Champions League, with the exception of Barcelona and Manchester United in recent years, all finalists have used a 4-2-3-1.

Turning 4-4-2 into 4-2-3-1

The idea of playing the second striker off the front became particularly popular in the 1980’s as there was a number of famous players who liked to play in this way. One of them, Diego Maradona, virtually single handedly won the 1986 world cup with his incredible skills and throughout the tournament defenders struggled to get to grips with him from the deep lying position he occupied.

Traditionally, central defenders enjoy the battle of having a forward playing up against them and by dropping off it immediately gives them a decision to make, do they follow closely and leave the space behind them vacant or do they hold their position and let the other player have the ball with no pressure?

It was only a matter of time before teams started to support this by allowing their 2 x wide players in their standard 4-4-2 formation to stay high and then anchor midfield with the 2 x central midfield players thereby turning the formation into 4-2-3-1.

This has seen a shift in the way modern central midfielders play and the quality of holding midfield players has improved whilst the number of box to box midfield players i.e. those who cover as much ground as they can all over the pitch has declined.

The efficiency and the compactness that the 2 x holding midfield players provide make them a vital screen to the back four and provide the scope for full-backs, who have largely become the players that now cover the most ground, to join in at the top end of the pitch.

Very often the 2 x central midfield players determine how the team will play and what do they do from their own keeper’s possession is usually a good barometer of this.

A team that are trying to play progressively up the pitch will often see the 2 x centre backs split wide, the 2 x full backs push high and the 2 x central midfield players join with the attacking midfield player to form a rotational triangle designed to get the player at the base in possession on the half turn ready to play forward.

Alternatively a team might miss out their 2 x central midfield players and go more direct up to a number 9 with players around them.

The central attacking midfield player is often the most creative player in the team, playing between the lines and finding space in pockets off the front 2.

The 2 x wide players are needed to stretch the pitch as much as possible and the full backs support with either overlaps or underlaps (i.e. getting past the wide players on either the outside or the inside).

The central striker is needed to stretch the pitch as long as possible in possession creating the pockets for the attacking midfield players to get on the ball. It often helps if the striker has physical attributes that support them doing this.

The 2 x central defenders often play as they would in most other formations.

A Solid Foundation – the Strength of 4-2-3-1

The 2 x defensive midfielder players allow little space between themselves and the defensive line or the next midfield line making it hard for the opposition to play through them.

This provides great security to the back four and often prevents teams playing directly up to their central striker due to the additional screening. They can also support in wide areas without being stretched and it supports the full backs with making forward raids.

These 2 x players are often the focal points for build-up play and look to keep the ball with safe passing.

Turning Defence into Attack – Getting Full Backs Forward

In recent years, the role of the full back has changed. Constantly teams will push one if not two full backs beyond their wingers who often shift inside to create the space outside them.

This helps to get greater numbers forward in attack but can leave space to exploit on transition in behind, something the use of the 2 x midfield players can help to cover.

Full backs in a 4-2-3-1 have to be physically capable of covering the ground needed to make contributions at both ends of the pitch.

The Attacking Three

The roles of the 3 x advanced midfield players can vary but also require the ability to cover a lot of ground.

They often rotate in and out of position to support build up play and get themselves on the ball in pockets off the front. They will link with each other or into the front man to create good possession high up the pitch and create opportunities.

They also need to get themselves into the penalty area to threaten the goal themselves.

The Role of the Central Striker

The centre forward often known as the point striker, must stretch the pitch as long as they can to provide the spaces for the 3 supporting midfield players. It often helps if they have physical attributes to support them with this, whether that is strength or pace.

The ball is bounced into them often and so they need to be adept with their back to goal and have an appreciation of their teammates around them. They also need to get themselves into the box for the next phase after joining in the build-up.