Tactical analysis: Can Manchester United switch to a 4-3-3 formation? (2023)

No word in football has become more irritating than "double pivot". It's right up there with "low blocks" as terms that weren't part of the lexicon a few years ago but are now overused and often misused. they try to look smarter.

Over time, the term has become heavily associated with meaning "playing with two defensive midfielders". Yes, the way Louis van Gaal and David Moyes played it meant two defensive midfielders, but mostly it doesn't work that way.

Just because you're playing a double pivot doesn't mean you can't run forward. No coach ever said, "Oh, they're anchored just to sit deep." It doesn't work that way and people who watch the game and analyze it well realize that you have different roles in the team. You don't always have two midfielders sitting down to protect the four defenders, that's not the case.

These are not my words. Those are the words of Scott McTominayas he wrotethe athlete. McTominay is one of the reasons United fans are everywhere on the double axis. Makes up half of Pivot 'McFred',which is too averagea mid-table if you're serious about fighting for Premier League titles.

Partly because of this, United need to sign a high-profile midfielder this summer. Given the abundance of good attacking midfielders United currently have in their squad, many fans would like to see United switch to a 4-3-3 formation with the addition of a defensive midfielder so they get the best out of Paul Pogba and can Paul. pogba Bruno Fernandez.

This is not FIFA and in real life this team would be hilariously outclassed. That's not to say United can't play 4-3-3, but the formation itself is far more complicated than just a 'defensive midfielder plus two box-to-box guys'.

There are several ways to play a 4-3-3 with the success United had when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer came on for the first time and Pep Guardiola's 4-3-3 with 'free eights' are the two at most frequently mentioned. Both share the same principles but fulfill them in different ways.

A cautious cheer erupted on Twitter on Friday when ESPN's Rob Dawson reported that Solskjaer was looking to change the team's configuration to a 4-3-3 this season.

I'm a bit skeptical here. ESPN isn't exactly the most reliable source and Solskjaer has been very careful in setting up the club so that all levels of the academy play in the same way as the first team to help players prepare for the next level. Since arriving at the club, he has brought all the teams into the 4-2-3-1. However, this does not mean that this is ruled out, especially for the use of a rotational formation.

So it never hurts to ask yourself, "What if?" Looking at what United currently have in their squad and assuming they sign a quality midfielder, can they switch to a 4-3-3 player? What kind of players would you need in each location for each variant?

ultimately if youit couldneed to make the change? Would it really do them any good?

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's interim 4-3-3

When Ole Gunnar Solskjaer joined the club in December 2019 he put the team on the 4-3-3 and we all know how the club fared in those first few weeks.

The problem with 4-3-3 is that you still need to protect your midfield and that formation wasn't much different than the 4-2-3-1 that Ole would field early next season.

Marcus Rashford played up front with Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard and Jesse Lingard playing skinny men. Full-backs Luke Shaw and Ashley Young would push forward to provide width.

In midfield, Pogba, Ander Herrera and Nemanja Matic would start in a triangle, with Pogba free to move further out. He often ended up de facto in tenth position.

However, when Pogba pushed, we often saw Herrera fall alongside Matic in midfield. A double spin!

The key to this formation was balance. Ashley Young provided width down the right flank, allowing Jesse Lingard to push in and take care of the number 10's defensive duties, much like he did the dirty work of a box-to-box midfielder for England at the 2018 World Cup played break counterattacks and hide Nemanja Matic's lack of speed. The formation 'worked' because two people filled Pogba's defensive roles.

Fast forward to today. Assuming United sign the defensive midfielder, they still need someone to fill Ander Herrera's spot.

Bruno Fernandes plays a similar role when he plays for Portugal. He keeps the ball, doesn't take too many chances with passes and brings some creativity with him. He has the running energy that Herrera brought to the role and would be an improvement over Herrera up front but defensively he would be a demotion there.

More importantly, is this the best way to use Bruno Fernandes?

The logic here would be having Bruno deeper would advance the ball and having Jadon Sancho up front would still give you a creator at the head of the field. it can't beimproveBruno's version, but if you do thatequipmentbetter then it's a net gain.

Fred would be more of a substitute for the role of Herrera. He has the necessary energy and resilience. His death leaves a little to be desired, but he's good enough to be a pitcher.

But if Fred takes on that role, the big question remains: where will Bruno Fernandes go? Of course, he could fill Lingard's role at right-back but Lingard's main goal was to do the dirty work to make room for Rashford and Pogba. Brunohe canto do that, but it's a waste of your talent.

Adding Fred in midfield gives him the balance he needs but forces Pogba or Bruno onto the wing (much like we did with Pogba in the latter stages of 2020-21). It also means you have just two more spots in the top three to fit Rashford, Greenwood, Martial, Cavani and Sancho.

All in all, it doesn't seem like the best use of United's talent. It should also be remembered that while Rashford and Pogba thrived in this formation, Anthony Martial only scored two Premier League goals for OGS in 2018-19. Jesse Lingard had a great game against Cardiff but never scored again. Is it really a good idea to go back to a formation that only benefited two of your four forwards?

Even though United now have better players than before, it just doesn't seem like the best way to maximize all their talent.

Pep Guardiola 4-3-3 with "Free Eights"

When people say they want a midfielder to play behind Pogba and Bruno (or Bruno and Van de Beek), the formation has that one in mind. De Bruyne and David Silva are two incredibly creative players and Pep has managed to put both in central positions with the freedom to move forward and attack. The dream is for United to repeat that with Pogba and Bruno.

This build is much more complicated than simply having a defensive player providing cover and giving creative players the freedom to move forward. It's arguably even more complicated than the previous 4-3-3.

This formation had to do with the creation and protection of space and who was assigned to which space. The most important aspect was the protection of the environment.

Fernandinho wasn't left alone to protect the midfield. Someone would still be sitting next to him, helping protect that area of ​​the field. While United Matic helped by putting a midfielder alongside them (Herrera), City found another elsewhere on the pitch: at left-back.

When City had possession, right-back Kyle Walker would come in to form a three-man defense with the two defenders. Meanwhile, his left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko or Fabian Delph would be placed in midfield alongside Fernandinho to essentially form the pivot double.

That's why Pep used midfielders Delph and Zinchenko at left-back. Once in possession, they played the same roles they were used to. It's also why Gareth Southgate called up Delph as a midfielder in the 2018 World Cup squad and used Kyle Walker at right-back - the same roles they played at his club!

Can United replicate something like this? In fact, they can. In fact, they haveperfectplayer to do it.

Lukas Shaw.

Shaw, playing a slightly more central role wouldn't have been too outlandish for him. When playing left center in a three-man defense, Shaw often broke into midfield to create more of a three-man midfield.

When he got forward in his famous overlapping runs, he often ended up in the second midfield position, where he was quite effective.

Dropping down the middle alongside the midfielder isn't too dissimilar to some of the positions we saw during Project Restart last season.

And to top it off, we recently saw what Shaw can do in midfield rotation.

Now that you've seen Shaw emerge as one of, if not the, best left-back in Europe last season, you might be wondering, "Is this the best way to use Luke Shaw?"

That's a perfectly valid question and one of the great disadvantages of this system.

That brings us to the front. Every system needs someone to provide breadth. In Jürgen Klopp's 4-3-3, as in most 4-3-3s, this task falls to the full-backs. But as we've seen, Pep's full-backs don't go much further. One went to the middle of the field and the other joined the defenders.

In addition to width, these free eights need space in midfield to work their magic. To create all this space, Pep went against the general trend of using inverted wings and simply placed Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane on their natural sides to create breadth. With Sterling and Sane playing high and wide, De Bruyne and Silva had plenty of room in the middle of the park to do their thing.

This allowed De Bruyne and Silva to service half-spaces, lure defenders closer and then play the ball to Sterling and Sane, who could fire cuts into the box for touches. City have scored a ton of touches this season. Occasionally Sane and Sterling kept cutting, but then De Bruyne and Silva just opened up to provide creativity from broader areas. There has always been balance.

That would be very difficult for United to replicate. For starters, their ends need to be big and wide. When Mason Greenwood and Anthony Martial play on the wings, they both constantly move to the center. That would create a jam in the middle and ruin everything.

New signing Jadon Sancho is the most natural winger they have but playing him high and wide and forcing him to hug the touchline is a huge waste of Jadon Sancho. It works best in the gaps north of the area.

If your wide players narrow, it would force your eights to move outward to give them space and cover space. Not exactly where you want Bruno, Pogba or Van de Beek.

On the left side you would find another problem. Pep's system required him to have his left foot on the left side of the field. With Luke Shaw having to squeeze into midfield, Mason Greenwood is the only other left-handed forward United have. Left is definitely not your best position.

Which brings us back to Luke Shaw. Maybe having him in midfield isn't the best way? Maybe you're thinking about having it high on the sidelines to give it that width? It's a new idea, if not radical, but it would require you to use a player like Fred at left-back, who then slips into midfield (Alex Telles would be terrible in that role). Again, you end up with that extra defensive midfielder on the field and not a lot of attacking points for all your forwards.

Oh, and did I mention the fouls?

City's style of play made them very vulnerable to counterattacks. Luckily, Fernandinho was a master of tactical free-kicks. Adjusted for possession, Fernandinho committed 2.38 fouls per 90, a truly impressive amount and one of the highest for midfielders in the league. However, he was only hired seven times.

It's very unlikely that you'll be able to repeat the work Fernandinho did today without having his name on all the time.

When the time comes, United won't be able to do that unless Nemanja Matic has suddenly found the fountain of youth or signed a top-flight midfielder.Öwhen they suddenly have very high expectations and think James Garner might fit the role. Based on his few appearances in 2019-20, Garner appeared to already have the technical and tactical skills to play in the Premier League, it was more of a physical issue. Now that it's grown, Unitedit couldConsider it an option for this season.

If United sign a suitable defensive midfielder this summer, they'll have the team pieces to support any version of the 4-3-3, but both will require them to draw some of their best players from their prime positions. It wouldn't make much sense and probably hurt the team as a whole.

At first glance, keeping the 4-2-3-1 seems like the best way to maximize the talent they have on the team. On the other hand, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Kieran McKenna are smarter men to me and wouldn't make such a move without a plan.

Just sign a midfielder who has some passing ability so you don't rely too much on Paul Pogba and you'll be fine.