How Guardiola Revived The 4-4-2

The 4-4-2 is regarded as a formation of yesteryear. Something that a team “going back to basics” would employ. But not anymore. Pep Guardiola has brought the 4-4-2 to his team of world-class talent at Manchester City.

But it’s not the 4-4-2 that you’d recognise.

Explained by JJ Bull.

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[EZAblinG]

The 442 never needed reviving, Sean dyche has been keeping it real for years

[Ccirgrg]

Pep: we have no strikers

Also Pep: let's play 442

[anythingidc]

"robbery, tch, ribery and robben, ribery and robben, robbery" JJ legend😂😂

[badphoenix]

Great video! Just a suggestion - maybe have a few presets on the animation software that you use where you can tap a button and it immediately re-arranges the players on the board to a high-block or mid-block or low-block etc. This will prevent having to move each player up the field one-by-one when you are trying to show teams moving up/down the field. I feel like a lot of time is spent every video on this inefficient method of moving players around and this could help speed it up as well as make the video flow smoother.

[VictorMurp]

I'd ask for a tactical explanation of Burnley's 4-4-2 but the video would be about 12 seconds long

[NeonLeonNoel]

I know Guardiola watches other team passing sports like basketball, but I wonder how much he was inspired by them. Basically in all these segments, he's just arranging an attacking 5 to rotate to pull the defense apart. And in the NBA the passing plays they set up basically try to get the defense in bad matchups and make a mistake in who they should cover.

[clarenceonyekwere]

Thanks J.J Bull, I’ve been trying to explain the German League, “transition is king” works so well.

[tom]

There’s a lot of talk in the comments about other managers who have used the 442 and how it’s very much alive, but the video itself doesn’t really debate this as its more about Pep’s evolution and how he has accumulated and applied his ideas into a unique 442 at City, rather than the so-called decline of the formation. Pep hasn’t found a way to make a dead and ineffective formation effective again, rather, he has put his own spin on the formation so it can facilitate his tactical approach. If the title was “reinvented” instead of “revived” then maybe that would make more sense. Title aside it’s a great video :)

[darkshines]

The real lesson of this is that our traditional idea of what a team shape is, has become a bit meaningless. What the line-up graphics on Sky, BT, MOTD or whatever are showing us is how the broadcaster thinks the team will shape up when without the ball for a sustained period (and even then often incorrectly). Pretty much every top team ends up with a 'front five' across the vertical spaces when attacking, but the shape of that five and how they develop the ball into those attacking shapes is a bit different. A comparison of how City, United, Chelsea and Liverpool progress the ball into their attack would be incredibly interesting because they're all different, and I think Chelsea might be changing their system a bit this year as well

[vincegonzalez]

The 4-4-2 is used quite regularly in La Liga, and Lille just won Ligue 1 using the 4-4-2. But yeah, I guess thanks Pep for reviving a formation that never went away?

[Goofy]

"Robbery" was a great duo though!

[wallahic]

Could you do a video on the importance of the third man run. Bielsa recently said the third man is the least developed weapon in football.

[lqyxkek]

Pep: today we are gonna play 4-4-FOKIN 2

[Omnipotentmonkey]

Simeone has been incredibly successful with 4-4-2. Dyche has defied the odds with 4-4-2, Ranieri won the PL title with 4-4-2, and even Mourinho employed it to some extent last season with Kane and Son.

Guardiola didn't revive anything... it didn't need reviving.

[mrpickles]

Based on the moment of the game a team's starting formation is a reference point for players' general playing position. The team's shape which is the most important aspect changes based on what third of the field they are in and what moment of the game they are set in i.e. attacking, defending, or the two transitional moments.

A team who both individually and collectively understand their roles based on each moment will always be far more organized then someone who simply states "we play a 4-4-2

[antoinedoinel]

I think that Pep's offensive tactics revolve around attacking the inside channels or space between fullback and centre back. Hence, he always has wide players to occupy the full backs, and players running into the channel. This is the constant even with all the ostensible formation changes. Therefore his formation changes seem to be more to do with considerations of available personnel, build up formation (which depends on the first line of the opposition's defensive block, e.g. 1, 2, or 3 forwards defending the first phase of build up), transition defence in having 5 players behind the ball, and how to occupy the oppositions central midfielders so they don't track the channel runner. To me this is the constant. Given that he started not to have all his full-backs run forward from the middle of last season (as LVG pointed out), this 4-4-2 now resembles how he played during his last season at Barca with Cesc and Messi as the 2 false 9's and Busquets and Xavi as the double pivots. Perhaps organising the video in relation to the spaces he likes to attack could have been a little bit more insightful and thus put the formational changes into a better context. But in saying this, I think the video still touches upon these points.

[santicabg]

Really makes me think of Brazil current tactics; playing with a 4-4-2 with Neymar and Firmino as false 9's with Richarlison and Gabriel Jesus working inwards from the wings. Eventhough Neymar deploys deeper as a No 10 most of the times.

This Copa América used a lot the 'false 9' concept. Argentina, Brazil, Chile and arguably Colombia. This could make a Tifo IRL nice video.

[Stegibbon]

Didn't need reviving, Burnley haven't played anything but 4-4-2 since bloody 1930!

[antodaf]

Really enjoyable explainer, only thing I would add is that this 'false 9' term is kind of a slight misunderstanding of what is really happening (in modern football matches). The only reason it looks like the 9 is perhaps dropping only ever so slightly deeper in Pep's teams is because of Messi, who as we know, uses and perfected the one-two in almost every attack he is involved in.

Therefore, whoever you put in the 9 position, as witnessed recently for Messi's first goal for PSG, will come slightly deeper, play the one-two and voila, a goal was created.

In modern football, with all players having a good level of ability and fitness, the 9 position, as Pep likes to see it, is an unselfish striker, who is kinda happy to act as a sort of wall so-to-speak .... in order to bounce passes off for the incoming wingers or midfielders who are carrying momentum by running from deep and of course, then finishing the move by possessing a very, very high level of finishing ability.

[jobeyq]

Tifo do such a great job of overcomplicating things that are actually quite simple to understand.