Spel gidsen & Digitale inkt

Reviews (EN): Parasite 4-3-3

10-07 10:35, door Guido

The team

I’ve chosen to manage Vicenza in this test. I’m intending to do more of these reviews, all of those with Vicenza, so tactics can be compared with each other. Vicenza are a mid-table side, predicted to end 12th in the Italian Serie B. There were no specific instruction to bear in mind.

This is the team I will be using for the opening fixture.

The results

Vicenza 3 – 0 AlbinoLeffe
Modena 0 – 0 Vicenza
Vicenza 3 – 0 Rimini
Vicenza 3 – 0 Grosseto
Treviso 1 – 1 Vicenza

Benefits

+ The results.

Taking into account I had three injured first-team players after the first two matches, and five players injured after the first three games, things look pretty good. A nice goal-scoring record and the defensive record was very impressive. Unfortunately we had no strikers to field for the game against Vicenza, which was lost due to a lack of fire-power upfront and no-one to hold up the ball properly. Still, very, very good results. Five played, three wins and two draws, an average of 2,0 goals scored and 0,2 conceded. A very impressive set of results.

+ Curbed arrows on the wingers.

Ever since Haz (credit where it’s due…) came up with this idea to overload a defence, we’ve been seeing it more and more in the newer tactics. In effect, in attack, using these curbed arrows creates a 4-3-3. Similar to my own arrowhead-trident formation, the wingers look to get involved in the middle as well as out wide. However, because they’re making runs to join the lone striker, they’re effectively second and third forwards as opposed to roaming wingers. Pippins has, much like Conte and several others, basically utilised said idea in his own tactic and it’s basically just working extremely well.

+ Decent defence.

A mere one goal conceded, which is probably due to an excellent defence. You need two tall defenders at the back and one defensive midfielder with good aggression and stamina right in front of them to pick up any loose balls, this gives you a good, sturdy and reliable defence.

+ Plenty of space for your wingbacks.

This tactic works different then Conte’s Kite. Rather then keeping the spaces between the lines small, this tactic extends the spaces between the lines, creating larger gaps but also stretching an opposing sides defence. The wingbacks are given plenty of space to exploit gaps in defence.

As you can see, this space generally gets pretty well exploited by wingbacks making runs forward and crossing the ball in. This automatically leads me to my next point.

+ Decent amount of chances.

I really can’t complain about the amount of chances this tactic has given my boys. Generally, ten to twelve chances was a minimum. Nothing spectacular, but rather decent.

+ Excellent Set Piece offence.

Six goals were scored from Set Pieces, so either indirect free-kicks or corners being slotted home by Vicenza players. That’s 60% of the goals scored by the team, a very high percentage.

Downsides

- Another 4-5-1 / 4-3-3.

Not really criticism towards the tactic itself, just a little rant by yours truly. Yet another 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 tactic. I had recently tested the Kite 4-3-3 and now I stumble across an almost similar tactic and various other 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 tactics to chose from. Originality should not be a factor in these reviews, but I figured I’d mention it anyway.

- Strength can be a weakness.

We’ve seen this picture before… Let’s look at it again.

Notice where the wingbacks are positioned? And remember, they’ll be making forward runs as well. Imagine what would happen if a pass got intercepted and the other side sets up a counter-attack. You’d have no defence on the wings what-so-ever. None… Sure, it works well for offensive purposes, but it really leaves you exposed to a fast break-away.

- Very dependant on Set Pieces.

So 60% of your goals were scored from Set Pieces. This makes you very dependant of these Set Pieces. If a team has a proper tall defender at the back marking your main man, you’re royally fucked. This would dramatically decrease your chances of ever scoring a goal.

Conclusion

It’s a pretty decent tactic, it really is. Defence is looking very sturdy in the centre, even if it is a bit exposed on the wings. As long as your central defenders keep winning their duels, it doesn’t matter if you’re exposed down the wings. If your central defenders start losing their duels, things turn nasty and you need a class goalie. Fortunately, Vicenza had one. Apart from that, you are a bit dependant on good Set Pieces to grab a win. It’s a good tactic, but it doesn’t stand out of the field of 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 tactics out there.

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