4-2-3-1 seems to be the formation in vogue at the moment. It was used by a number of national teams in the World Cup, most noticeably Holland who used it to great effect. Now a number of Premier League teams are fielding the formation in order to give them defensive strength, a balanced midfield and hopefully, an attacking threat. The formation though, can be quite a negative one, it was proven by Holland in South Africa who used to be one of the great entertainers but were condemed during the World Cup by legend Johan Cruyff as being too negative, and not particularly good to watch. Whilst it does offer defensive strength, it can limit sides in the attacking sense and there are two prime candidates in the Premier League who seem to be suffering from this; Liverpool and Manchester City.
Liverpool have been playing a 4-2-3-1 for a while now, last season Lucas and Javier Mascherano played as defensive midfielders, and whilst many fans believed this was fine in some games, in others it looked like an overly negative formation against fairly limited opponents. Roy Hodgson has largely stuck with the same formation, in their 0-0 draw with Birmingham on the weekend Christian Poulsen and Lucas played defensive roles. Liverpool did not have a good game and in fact it was Birmingham who had the better of the match and it was only due to some spectacular Pepe Reina saves that the Midlands side did not get a goal.
The problem is that while it does offer defensive strength, Lucas and Poulsen are fairly limited going forward and as a result the team does not create a great deal of chances. When Xabi Alonso was filling one of these roles, it was fine because the Spaniard is a fantastic passer of the ball and a creative influence, and in fact when Raul Meireles came on Liverpool looked better against Birmingham. If Hodgson does carry on playing a 4-2-3-1, he might be better off dropping Lucas or Poulsen in favour of Meireles, to give them a more creative influence in one of these positions.
Manchester City have also suffered some disappointing results when playing two or even three defensive midfielders. In the game against Blackburn Patrick Vieira and Yaya Toure played and the result was a 1-1 draw at home, not good enough for a team hoping to reach the Champions League. On the weekend previous to that Man City lost away to Sunderland, and Roberto Mancini started with Gareth Barry, Nigel de Jong and Yaya Toure, all of whom would be regarded as defensive midfielders. When using this trio Toure is pushed forward but it still leaves City with a limited attacking threat in central midfield.
The 4-2-3-1 can be an effective one, Arsenal have started with it this season and have looked excellent so far, but in their version of it, Jack Wilshere has been playing in one of the defensive roles whilst also offering much going forward, unlike those who have been playing in these positions at Liverpool and Man City.
Playing two defensive midfielders is not automatically bad for the team, but it is important that at least one of these players has a creative or attacking influence as well. Xabi Alonso is the world’s best exponent of the deep lying playmaker position, and it was Andrea Pirlo before him, both of these players are capable defensively, but they also play creative roles which gives their team more options. Players like these are hard to find, but Liverpool and Man City might benefit from being a little more adventurous.
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