4-6-0 - The formation of the future?

[dww]

I thought I would bump this article as I have had a few thoughts that seem related:

1/ I think that the two finest teams of the last few seasons Manchester United and Barcelona have employed something close to this philosophy. During the CL final I commented to my flat mate that Barcelona's front trio were more like an advanced midfield that a traditional frontline and after the final whistle Fergusson seemed to agree when he dismissed some journalist hyping Messi's suposed new role as a forward by saying that he played more as an advanced midfielder (and that it had been Xabi and Iniesta that had done the real damage).

2/ I was critical of the Barcelona front players against Chelsea. I still think they were out played and are over hyped but I now think that maybe I was judging by the wrong criteria - expecting them to do damage in the way more traditional forwards would whereas judged by the probing, creative standards they did somewhat better and improved their performance against United.

3/ It is notable that both teams that employ this philosophy have more mobile central midfields than we do. Is it possible that in a move to something more like their tactical fluidity we might need to sacrifice Xabi (to my mind ideally by reducing his playing time rather than selling him, another option might be to use him in a holding role instead of Mascher)?

4/ Given that we have Torres, who unlike Berbatov, is good enough to modify the system to have one focal forward does this have an impact on the players we should buy? I've changed my mind somewhat in that a few weeks ago i felt we needed a direct tactical replacement for Torres or another type of player that could be the point of our attack. Now I feel we need to get two players who add pace and goals to the options in what with Torres would be the three behind the main striker but are also capable of stepping up to allow us to use a more fluid 3 (or arguably 4) man attacking unit in his absence.

[Kenneth]

A part of me can't help thinking this is just like corporate management consultancy bollocks where trends are created for the sake of it to keep the bangwagon rolling; "Matix management is the future" - "That was last year, domain specialisation is the key to success" . Old discredited trends are resurected and last year's trend consined to the history books, until someone digs it out again and decides that old school is the way to go. And round and round it goes.

Yes Barca and Utd have adopted an approach similar to that described but Barca were totally outplayed by Chelsea with real strikers. Less to do with tactics, more to do with the personel you employ, like most organisations.

[BrooklynRed]

Given that we have Torres, who unlike Berbatov, is good enough to modify the system to have one focal forward does this have an impact on the players we should buy? I've changed my mind somewhat in that a few weeks ago i felt we needed a direct tactical replacement for Torres or another type of player that could be the point of our attack. Now I feel we need to get two players who add pace and goals to the options in what with Torres would be the three behind the main striker but are also capable of stepping up to allow us to use a more fluid 3 (or arguably 4) man attacking unit in his absence.

YES! This has been the success of the Kuyt/ Gerrard/ Benayoun system IMO. The problem is, as you correctly state, is that when Torres is gone, the system fails because, while the difference in style between Kuyt and Torres is too drastic, we keep the same system in place. If we have two faster, more creative attackers who can combine with Kuyt and Gerrard in the absence of Torres, I think you're on to something. Benayoun was excellent in the "Garcia" role this year, nicking goals etc etc, but we need just that step up in class in this role (and another pacy attacker). Agree 100%.



Now, the question is who? I think David Silva would be good, as we also need more pace on the wing. Dirk is great at hustle but he is pretty slow and rarley beats his man on the wing. Ashley Young would be ideal in my opinion, but he is not available. If we could get Silva and Tevez and keep everyone else, that would be great, but talk about a rotation problem-- I would worry about chemistry being built in time. We don't have a year to get things right-- 2010 is our year! You notice that the Xavi/Iniesta/Messi triumverate in attack was a fixture of the team-- you don't swap them in and out-- if they're fit, they play. I argue the same for Torres and Gerrard, we just need to add one to that attacking line (Kuyt = Henry in this system) who is creative and quality. I think Silva/Torres/Gerrard does the trick, with a Tevez or class attacking option in tow.

The main issue is, of course, the ability of our players to retain posession and beat people off the dribble. Torres does this in flashes of attack. He makes one great move and attacks the goal. He does not hold up the ball that often and play combinations with attacking partners-- he catches up to the ball, spins and goes for it. Gerrard, when attacking, is similar-- he is not prone to sweet, simple combination play. He is muscle and power and drive. Barcelona have a style that works, but so do we. One thing we should not do is overly complicate the system or try to change our identity to match another team-- we were very lucky to find the chemistry with Torres and Gerrard, who compliment one another so well. We could end up subtracting through addition, which is why this summer is so crucial. Forget names and money, find the one or two players who will add the special touch and let's be done with it. We are not far away.

[leftpeg]

Wonder what would happen if you played a 10 man midfield? 0-10-0? Thats the future................

I think that's how they used to play in the 1800s.

[dww]

YES! This has been the success of the Kuyt/ Gerrard/ Benayoun system IMO. The problem is, as you correctly state, is that when Torres is gone, the system fails because, while the difference in style between Kuyt and Torres is too drastic, we keep the same system in place. If we have two faster, more creative attackers who can combine with Kuyt and Gerrard in the absence of Torres, I think you're on to something. Benayoun was excellent in the "Garcia" role this year, nicking goals etc etc, but we need just that step up in class in this role (and another pacy attacker). Agree 100%.



Now, the question is who? I think David Silva would be good, as we also need more pace on the wing. Dirk is great at hustle but he is pretty slow and rarley beats his man on the wing. Ashley Young would be ideal in my opinion, but he is not available. If we could get Silva and Tevez and keep everyone else, that would be great, but talk about a rotation problem-- I would worry about chemistry being built in time. We don't have a year to get things right-- 2010 is our year! You notice that the Xavi/Iniesta/Messi triumverate in attack was a fixture of the team-- you don't swap them in and out-- if they're fit, they play. I argue the same for Torres and Gerrard, we just need to add one to that attacking line (Kuyt = Henry in this system) who is creative and quality. I think Silva/Torres/Gerrard does the trick, with a Tevez or class attacking option in tow.

The main issue is, of course, the ability of our players to retain posession and beat people off the dribble. Torres does this in flashes of attack. He makes one great move and attacks the goal. He does not hold up the ball that often and play combinations with attacking partners-- he catches up to the ball, spins and goes for it. Gerrard, when attacking, is similar-- he is not prone to sweet, simple combination play. He is muscle and power and drive. Barcelona have a style that works, but so do we. One thing we should not do is overly complicate the system or try to change our identity to match another team-- we were very lucky to find the chemistry with Torres and Gerrard, who compliment one another so well. We could end up subtracting through addition, which is why this summer is so crucial. Forget names and money, find the one or two players who will add the special touch and let's be done with it. We are not far away.

I think that is a very important point. It's essentially what I fear with Tevez - I don't see him naturally slotting into the team and altering the whole dynamic merely to add another supposedly top player seems foolish. A key attribute in whoever we bring in needs to be footballing intelligence.