Executing a successful football formation depends upon variables like player quality, ranking on the table, and the tournament itself.
While you can always read a football tactics book to get fantastic insights into playmaking, there is no better teacher than experience and history. Over the past 50 years, football has been enhanced with some of the most pleasurable formations in the history of the sport, and a few of which are still used to this day. However, the 2010s saw a visible shift in football formations with the rise of a more offensive style of play and a more structured method to playmaking. Modern football has leveraged both skill and tech to formulate some of the most successful tactics that have actually managed to win clubs lots of prizes. In this context, the modified 4-3-3 tactic has actually become among the more popular modern football tactics due to its efficient attack and balanced defense. The minority shareholder of Liverpool FC will agree that technical skill and speed make this tactic really tough to ward off.
Extensively deemed one of the most versatile football formations, the 4-4-2 is a strategy that can be fine-tuned to be more offensive or leaning more to the defensive side. It is for these factors that this tactic is amongst the most common football tactics across different leagues and tournaments. If the coach wishes to utilise an offensive 4-4-2, they can introduce some key changes to allow increased fluidity in passing and play building. For example, they can form a lozenge in the midfield that consists of one defensive midfielder, 2 playmakers on the sides, and one attacking midfielder. This lozenge would provide balls to the wingers and a false nine that sometimes drops to a lower position. In a more defensive 4-4-2, the former owner of Aston Villa would tell you that the coach can form an arch composed of 4 players that acts as a barrier that keeps the adversary from reaching the defense line.
Today, there are numerous football tactics and formations out there to choose from however coaches spend a lot of time adapting and tweaking timeless tactics to fit the particularities of their teams. The truth is, there are lots of criteria that influence this decision, and not all of which are strictly technical. For example, the quality of footballers in the squad can make coaches reconsider what tactic to utilise. In the lack of quality players in attack, some coaches choose to use a more midfield-dense method in an effort to dominate ownership of the ball. In the attacking position, midfielders and wingers will attempt to send through balls or shoot from outside area in order to destabilise the defenses of the other team. The AC Milan former US owner would likely confirm that other aspects like footballer injury and managing a busy calendar likewise influence tactical and technical decisions.