In terms of formation, is 442 the easiest to master?
Shortly after England was eliminated from the 20 10 World Cup, various similar obituaries appeared. "This cup once again proves eloquently that 442 is dead," said robbie savage, a football commentator. "You will see a lot of teams using 423 1 in the Premier League and Champions League this season."
To tell the truth, he is right. The names used in our magazines are less and less in English football, but they are not extinct. When the national team coach Hodgson took up his new job, he briefly used 442. After using this model in the game against Ireland in May, 20 13, Lineker said on Twitter: "Using two lines composed of four people is simply going back to the dark ages."
Ironically, these two commentators were once the top stars in leicester city, but in the 20 15-20 16 season, Fox City won its first Premier League championship with the most traditional 442 formation in theory, which puzzled the commentators, as well as the opponents and the authors of those football books.
In fact, it's not just Ranieri's team that does this. Atletico Madrid can become the sworn enemies of Barcelona and Real Madrid in La Liga and Champions League for a whole season, relying on 442. In addition, Leverkusen, Burnley, West Ham, Watford and other teams have also achieved varying degrees of success with this formation.
Atletico Madrid has become a force to be reckoned with in European football with 442.
So, why is this formation that seems to be about to quit the historical stage forever suddenly popular again? How does it work in modern football? Is it still the old 442? FFT (Who else but me? I can tell you the answer. Of course, we will be objective and fair.
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Oppression, oppression!
This Brazilian team can win the world championship no matter what formation it plays.
Like all formations, 442 did not come into being suddenly, but evolved gradually. From the position, it is a variant of 424. 1970 world cup, Brazil used the 424 formation perfectly. However, zagallo's team relies more on individual ability. They have two of the greatest wingers in history, and Pele is wearing a 10 shirt. Brazil can win the World Cup in any formation. Later, the 442 emphasized the whole, and their use of defense was regarded as another form of attack. When it comes to a thousand words, one word is the most critical: stress.
Maslov, a great tactical revolutionary.
In the 1960s, Victor maslov of Dynamo Kiev created the 442 formation. The appearance of this formation is closely related to the improvement of physical fitness, because the nutrition of the players has improved a lot and the training methods are more particular. The main purpose of this formation is to contain opponents' space. The original two wingers retreated to the midfield position, and their defensive tasks were as important as their offensive tasks.
With 442 players, AC Milan swept football in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
However, none of the formations are static. In 1980s, AC Milan led by Sacchi took the 442 to another level. In order to reduce the opponent's space as much as possible, the distance between his defense line and the front line will never exceed 25m, and the Italians also encourage their players to rotate and change positions. If baresi leaves the defence, a midfielder will retreat to fill his position, and if Van Basten appears on the right, Donadoni will fill the center position. This style of play enabled AC Milan to win the Champions League twice in 1989 and 1990.
After the Haiser tragedy, English clubs were banned from participating in European competitions, and Liverpool successfully imitated Sacchi's Milan in the late 1980s. Ian rush led the players to put pressure on each other from the front. "We play like continental Europe," john barnes said at the time. "alan hansen can pass me and I will take his place."
However, the use of 442 in English football is rather old-fashioned, such as when Barnes played for the English national team. "Here," the winger said at the Italy 1990 World Cup, "if Vader or I leave the position, no one will make up for it. If the opposing full-back doesn't press up, the player in charge of defense will have nothing to do. You won't encounter this situation in Liverpool. "
English teams often use two wingers and two pure centers, so they often fall into the situation of "understaffed", especially after the national team competition and the club's return to Europe. The last time a team won the World Cup or the European Cup in a 442 formation was in 1994, when Brazil beat Italy led by Sacchi. Under the scorching sun, Sacchi didn't have enough time for the players to run in as he did at the club, and the tactics that Italians were good at were also difficult. In addition, with the change of offside rules, 442 gradually faded out of the mainstream.
Venables, who is flexible in tactics, used 442 in the European Championship at 1996, and also used 442 in the Champions League at 1999, but Ferguson has always denied this. York and Scholes often switch places, while andy cole often moves to the left, creating all kinds of threats, so you should understand the reasons for Ferguson's denial.
In fact, although we tried to build a tactical system of 423 1, after the tragic exit from the World Cup in South Africa in 20 10, England finally kept in line with the rest of the world, and most Premier League clubs began to indulge in the idea of "not letting the other side occupy the advantage of midfield". We don't want to admit it, but robbie savage said something crucial: 442, as we know it, is really dead.
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442 is dead, 442 is immortal.
442 came back to life.
However, what brought the 442 formation back to life? Sean Deicher thinks he knows the answer. "Five years ago, everyone thought we should play like Barcelona," said Burnley, who led the team to the championship in the 20 15-20 16 season. As you can guess, the formation he adopted was 442. "If you use their tactics against Barcelona, guess what will happen? You can't beat them. "
Most teams crave absolute possession of the ball, partly because cruyff later said that in the 4-4-2 formation, "the numbers are unmatched." Unlike those formations that encourage triangle passing, such as cruyff's 433 and the most popular 423 1 in the 20th century, when the player in the 442 formation can't get the ball, it is as useless as training man-marking. Look at the first European Championship in England in 2000. After kevin keegan took a 2-0 lead against Portugal, their weakness was gradually exposed. They let Figo and his teammates do whatever they want between the two lines, and finally England lost 2-3.
"leicester city's style of play is different from that of England," said paul ince, who participated in the competition. "Albrighton and Mahrez are not wingers close to the wing, but prefer to cut inside. Many teams use full-backs as wingers, such as Tottenham Hotspur, but leicester city likes to shrink defense, and so does their midfield. "
Leicester won the Premier League championship in the 20 15-20 16 season with a 442 formation.
Another key point is that they don't pay attention to the possession of the ball. "/kloc-9 times out of 0 is leicester city's comfortable retreat defense, giving the ball to the other side and attracting the other side to attack." Birmingham head coach Gary lovett says he is now one of the smartest tactical experts in the football league. "The same is true of Atletico Madrid, especially when facing the Western Super League."
The data can also explain many problems. Considering that the Argentine coached Atletico Madrid for four years more than Biragnet coached leicester city, we can also understand that Simone's team is more compact than leicester city's, and the number of goals conceded by Atletico Madrid in the 20 15-20 16 season is only half that of leicester city (18). On the possession rate, the average possession rate of Bedsheet Corps is 49%, and that of leicester city is 45%. These two figures also reflect the essential difference between La Liga and the top leagues in England.
Gary lovett said that 442 is the most difficult formation to use in the world.
The revival of this formation is mainly the activity of "bidding farewell to the high position and rushing to the contraction defense", but other problems still exist. "I dare say that 4-4-2 is the most difficult formation to use, because with the improvement of the game level, those better teams are also better at forming a numerical advantage in midfield." Lovett, former head coach of Burton albion, said that the recent success of the brewer (Burton's nickname) is inseparable from his solid foundation. "Speed and competitive spirit are the key, because you have to cover many areas and you can't make the space too obvious. I have seen a data. In the past ten years, the number of sprints at full speed in each game has increased by 5% in each season. It is precisely because of this that teams like leicester city can effectively adopt 4-4-2 tactics. "
In other words, during the 20 15-20 16 season, Kanter looked like a person playing two positions, and the reason for this feeling may be that it is indeed the case. The French midfielder is among the top tackles and interceptions in the Premier League.
"But more important than the formation itself," continued lovett, a former defender in leicester city, "is to have players who can train hard."
If you think this sentence is just a cliche, please consider the fact that in the 20 15-20 16 season, leicester city had the highest number of tackles and interceptions in the Premier League, and so did Atletico Madrid in La Liga. Watford, another team with a 442 formation, ranked fourth and second respectively in these two figures. But they are also in awe of the shocking efficiency of Fox City. "Shinji Okazaki is the player who has been replaced the most times in the Premier League, but I am not surprised at all, because he started running as soon as he stepped into the stadium." Dini, captain of Watford, said that the Japanese striker scored only five goals in the league without assists, but he was still regarded as the core player of leicester city, which also showed how important diligence was.
However, you can't win the league championship by hard work and good defense. Here, we once again see the difference between leicester city's 442 and Atletico Madrid's 442. "In the traditional sense, especially the 442 adopted by this country, two wingers tried to pass the ball into the penalty area and tried to find a striker who is good at heading like me; Or put a big center at the front and let the tenth player move behind. " Queens park Rangers football director Leslie Ferdinand said. "If you look at Valdi's goals in the 20 15-20 16 season, his headers are not many (two), and leicester city pays more attention to his speed."
The reason for leicester city's success is simple. They are the players who shoot the eighth most and score the third most in the Premier League. In addition, they are very good at set-pieces tactics, and they are lucky not to be troubled by injuries. As Ince said: "If everyone knows what their responsibilities are and has the right staffing, then there is no reason why 442 can't be a competitive formation or even be used to win the championship."
In other words, although other coaches have bigger and better players from Biragnet, their machines are not as smooth as those of the Italians, or even far from each other. So the discussion can be over.
The present statement is impeccable, and perhaps there is only one fatal flaw: leicester city didn't call 442 at all.
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Formation is not the problem, players are the key.
"Each system reaches a certain height like two formations, with and without the ball." Lovett said, so those teams have two strikers when they take the ball, such as Leicester City (Valdi and Shinji Okazaki), Atletico Madrid (Gleizman and Torres, or carrasco), Burnley (vauxhall and Gray), not to mention Watford (Dini and Igalo). Without the ball, it becomes another situation: a striker will retreat to a deeper position and directly face the midfield behind the opponent's position, and the formation of the team will become 45 1.
Igalo and Dini, the arrow of Waterford 442.
Or take leicester city as an example, you might say that they didn't really attack. Look at the position of their players in all Premier League games. Their full-backs rarely insert assists, and Kanter and Shuishui only occasionally complete the forward insertion. As for the wingers, they often cooperate with retreating Shinji Okazaki. It seems that their formation is more like 423 1.
Similar disputes will appear in all formations. Without the ball, the diamond midfield of 442 can be turned into a parallel position, and it is not as complicated as rocket science to adjust the offensive 433 to the defensive 45 1. "The most important thing is that the team should be a united whole," lovett said.
"When you write tactics on paper, you can make a system as simple as it or as complex as it. But if the player can't execute your tactics, you can't play. "
One of the most striking examples is the 20 10 World Cup 1-4 defeat to Germany. After the game, Alan Shearer called Capello's team "not a real team", while Savage wrote a eulogy of 442. In this case, the former conclusion is obviously closer to the truth. How else to explain it: Uruguay also won the third place in that game with the changeable 442?
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The future of 442
What will happen to foxes and their legendary formations in the future? "The first thing is to keep what they already have." BBC football commentator Christopher Sutton said at the end of the season. But is this sentence right? Indeed, a large part of the success of Atletico Madrid and leicester city can be attributed to the perfect adaptation of the players they introduced to the 442 system itself.
And Simone can almost prove that leicester city's incredible achievement will not be a short-lived success as long as you make the new players feel less self after joining. Atletico Madrid won the La Liga championship in the 201314 season with a similar 442 formation. In the same season, they also reached the Champions League final in Lisbon. 20 16 Milan champions league final, only five people were one of the teams two years ago.
"leicester city has to do now is to move forward a little bit. Now other teams will shrink their defense and wait for opportunities to defend and counterattack while limiting their opponents' space. " Lovett said.
"Almost all the teams didn't play their own style, and finally the champion was sent to them." Rio Ferdinand said of leicester city's Premier League champion, believing that no one will make the same mistake again in the 20 16- 17 season. But will they really attack? We can imagine Guardiola and Mourinho saying, Hey, man, let's play like leicester city.
The person who should have the most say in this matter is the person who swept the 442 formation into the historical garbage dump six years ago. "I don't think it's possible," robbie savage said in an interview with FFT magazine. "When you coach a team like Barcelona or Bayern, you don't need to understand leicester city and think,' This is how the ball should be played'. Guardiola's football philosophy is based on ball control, and leicester city's most threatening moment is when they don't have the ball. Few teams have players as fast as Valdi. On the other hand, Mourinho is a head coach who is better at defensive counter-attack. He may choose Mashal, La Herford and other players. "
"This is far from a revolution. Lovett thinks: "Tactics always change. "When I first started playing football, almost all teams used 442 tactics, while in Derbyshire and leicester city, we played 352, and later other teams also learned this. In the 20 16-20 17 season, the mainstream may return to 442, but it may become popular in another year. "
Ferdinand agreed, saying, "I think many managers will still like to have one more player in midfield, but I think the greatest thing about leicester city's success and his return to 442 is that it proves that you don't have to spend millions of pounds to bring in those big-name stars. The most important thing is teamwork. With this, everything is possible. "
Savage is actually quite right. .....
Savage said: "Besides, if leicester city falls into the relegation zone in the 20 17 season and is eliminated soon after the start of the Champions League, it doesn't mean anything. After all, they won the Premier League title, which no one can deny. "
At least on this point, we have reached an understanding.