Spel gidsen & Digitale inkt

Review (EN): Souljah 4-2-3-1

11-07 13:18, 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 2 – 0 AlbinoLeffe
Modena 2 – 2 Vicenza
Vicenza 6 – 1 Rimini
Vicenza 2 – 0 Grosseto
Treviso 0 – 1 Vicenza

Benefits

+ The results.

We played five and lost none. Never a bad thing, really. Four wins and one draw, an 80% win ratio. We scored an average 2,6 goals a game and conceded a mere 0,6 goals. Pretty decent results really.

+ The striker is dropping back quite a lot.

I’ve noticed my striker, in most cases Ricardo Zampagna, dropping back a lot. He doesn’t stay upfront but drops back into midfield, thus creating space for his team-mates. He’s generally followed by at least one defender, which creates space for either the wingers or the attacking midfielder to exploit. Allow me to elaborate with a screenshot.

Now as you can see, our striker is dropping back from his forward position, luring the defender #4 along with him. Defender #4 stops however, encountering midfielder #10. The defender moved forward though, disrupting a successful potential off-side trap. Zampagna, #17, then receives a pass by a winger and launches his team-mate #10 with a great through-ball. Defender #4, lured out of position by the striker dropping back, disrupts a successful off-side trap. Nice. I like this creative use of a striker.

+ The wingers are swapping sides.

My wingers, in most cases Davide Matteini (natural left footed) and Mattia Marchesetti (natural right footed), were regularly swapping sides. This has several benefits. It confuses opposing defenders, especially when they’re using man-marking. An added benefit is the fact that players who cut inside can use their stronger foot to fire towards goal, kind of like players like Overmars and Figo do and used to do.

Downsides

- Probably not suited for lower league teams.

Players swapping sides a lot requires talented players, or it won’t work. The same goes for an attacking midfielder who makes such penetrating runs. You really need some quality players for this to work, so this won’t really work for smaller sides who have less talented players in their squads.

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

Not really criticism towards the tactic itself and the way it functions, just a repeated little rant by yours truly. We’ve had a lot a of these 4-3-3 / 4-5-1 tactics already and formation-wise, there’s not a lot of difference between the lot of them. It works, there’s no doubt about it, but it’s not original.

- You lack a spearhead upfront.

With your main striker dropping back quite a bit, you seem to lack a spearhead upfront at times. Someone to just hold up the ball and allow your midfielders and wingers to move in and continue the attacking movement. The striker dropping back has its advantages and its disadvantages. This happens to be a disadvantage.

Conclusion

A good tactic. Solid and reliable. Gives you a decent amount of goals and a pretty sturdy defence. Also, an original approach to the whole lone striker idea. The formation may not be original, but the way the lone striker is implemented is original. All in all, this is a very reliable and good tactic.

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