How Guardiola Revived a Century Old Tactic

How is it that man city always find a way of overloading any midfield and outnumbering any defence in the blink of an eye? Well, that’s because they’re reliant on a structure that first appeared in football nearly 100 years ago, a structure that defies the concept of a formation. In fact, an increasingly discussed topic in football is whether formations are still a viable way of describing a team’s structure. While a team may line up as a 4-3-3 on paper, they could potentially never actually resemble that shape, and players will consistently shift their positioning depending on a number of different factors. But regardless of whether its a 4-3-3, 3-4-3 or 4-2-3-1, some of the best teams in Europe are now going back to a shape first used in the 1920’s, and that shape is the WM.
Whether its Guardiola, Arteta or Xavi, the WM has made it’s way back into football, but it’s use today is completely different from it’s origin, and in today’s video, we’re going to be taking a look at why it’s the perfect system for the modern game.

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Chapters
00:00 Why are Man City So Dominant?
01:06 Origin of the WM
02:14 Same Structure - Different Philosophy
03:12 The Benefits During Build-Up
04:15 The Extra Man
05:03 Guardiola's 3-2-4-1
05:56 Offensive Half Patterns
08:26 Cut-Backs
09:18 Closing Remarks

[agostonpad]

The fact that xavi and arteta are both guardiola students shows how good he is at developing other managers, wich is also a factor at deciding how good a manager is

[vladimpaler]

What is striking to me is the increased need for football intelligence on the field. For many of these systems to work well the players themselves must not only understand and practice the principles involved, but be able to adjust them real time to changes in the opposition. What I saw in the MC-ARS game was Gündoğan, De Bruyne and Haaland recognizing changes in Arsenal and adjusting for them at pace. I do not know if Guardiola coached it, but there were times where De Bruyne ran behind the opposing midfielder and then split out one way or the other from the blind spot. Every time Arsenal changed positioning City changed theirs to match.

[jordan_]

I feel like over the past few seasons, since about 2019, football tactics have evolved quite a lot compared to years before.

[nuntius]

I like how there is no single tactic that always works and they're always changing so football never gets boring

[vincesalamander]

That's why Guardiola is probably the GOAT
Because he changes the football forever, like Cruyff, Michel, Lobanovsky, Sacchi... But even 15 years later, he keeps going ! He keeps find new things.

Pep, the guy who change the world with a false nine, with midfielders as defenders, now win with a pure striker, and with defenders put as midfielders !

[fpsoccer]

Great video!

I also wanted to note that different ways of "creating the box" can have different tactical deficiencies in transition as well.

Moving the fullback tends to leave that specific wide area open as the distance the fullback needs to cover is quite large is one example.

So far, Guardiola's solution of playing Stones, a CB, in this position is the best solution. He is close to the center to break defend, and isn't far from his defensive position in Guardiola's 4-4-2.

Absolutely exceptional.

[josebatxu]

The new meta is gonna be the 2-4-2-2 to beat the press that De Zerbi is using at Brighton

[alfredbarten]

When I played in high school in the mid-50s, we used 2-3-5. I think everyone did then. We never spent much time discussing tactics, though. That was the sad state of soccer in America at that time.

[charlesbritten]

The key difference with the current use of 3-2-2-3 and the old WM is that it used to be a case of both sides playing the same formation and matching each other all over the pitch, with very little switching of positions. It was the use of a deep-lying centre forward that destroyed the old WM. England just about defeated Austria 4-3 in 1932 when Sindelar was in this formation, but Hideguti was devastating for Hungary in 1953, aided by various other switches of position in what was essentially a 4-3-3. It left players used to rigid man-marking with nobody to mark, with Hungary creating overloads galore. The irony is that back then 4-3-3 dismantled WM, but now the reverse is true.

[Writeousne]

What you'll find is football formations are very fluid and often change through the match. What is a 4231 on paper is a 433 of the ball or even a 424 off the ball. Where the striker and wingers press the back line or the cam becomes a second striker and presses a back 5 with the other two wingers.

[achilles]

Formation only describes defensive structure AND how a team is setting up at the start of a goal kick.

Attacking is about movement. That is the only way to find space and get an edge over the defence. By being able to anticipate, quicker than the defenders, where your teammate is headed.

[dimitrissimitzis]

Finally the WM formation. Panathinaikos has been using it for 2 years now offensively, while in defence we use the 442. It has done wonders since we have the 4th biggest value, but are the first in the league

[akashrakshit]

Klopp's recent tweak with LFC is very much the same and as a LFC fan it is refreshing to see.

[zelandakhniteblade]

The very old tactic that I think is under-utilised right now is split strikers. This was a relatively popular method in the 70s and 80s, if never reaching the level of striker partnerships. The theory was that most attacks were initiated by long diagonal balls so you put your strikers out there to collect them, then used attacking midfield players to flood the box late so as to be more difficult to pick up. Belgium played this way sometimes under Martinez with de Bruyne occupying the 10 role in a 4-4-2 diamond.
Now imagine how this looks in a 3 man back line. I could, for example, easily see a 3-2-3-2 formation using this principle being highly effective. The back 5 line up as in this video but the CF turns into a third offensive midfielder. The aim is again completely different from the original one, with the main concept being to overload the midfield but now the effect is even more extreme than using a box. You do need highly flexible players to make it work but that's hardly an issue on City's budget. Maybe an option for when Haaland gets injured.
Going forward tactically though, I suspect the direction will depend at least as much on referees as player development. Right now, the teams that dominate are either built around possession and press or around heavy defence and counters. One of the main reasons this works so well is the development of the tactical foul. If a press team has their top line broken, they can commit a minor foul and reset - no harm done. A referee might give the occasional yellow but not enough for it to matter and with so many subs available, you can just switch out if it does. On the opposite side, teams specialising in counterattack look to score their goals within a few seconds, meaning that there is likely to be at least a few chances in a game where they can avoid a foul. If the defence is strong enough, they only need one goal...
This is for me the biggest issue in the current football. If refs sort it out, penalising niggly tactical fouls more harshly, we would probably see a new revolution in football tactics. I suspect there are a few top coaches around who would struggle if their tactical foul crutch got taken away from them.

[fredherfst]

Nice. My knowledge and appreciation of tactics went from 10 to 49%…
The problem with tv coverage for a casual user is …duhh…lack of any mention of tactics.
Always loved the game in all its shapes and heroes. Born in Amsterdam, got my first football at age 6, then moved to the soccer wasteland that was Victoria bc in 1957.. but still there was local soccer. All my Dutchy family played.
I love the attacking games these days. Brains at work.

[barnider]

it really is a wonderful tactical rebirth, because nowadays the sitting back and passively defending tactics are popular, especially against bigger teams. this tactical setup could be the long-term cure for this problem of the more open, attacking teams. also, i'm curious how Brighton's artificial transition trend will turn out to be. next season is looking to be one of the most exciting ones tactically

[mattjameskendall]

I noticed that Liverpool has been moving TAA to the deep midfield and Konate shifting wide right in a back three the past couple of weeks, I wonder if this thinking has come to Liverpool.

[nerdifymusic]

Fascinating. Making alterations to my FM23 tactical recreation.

[ebtinz]

Tuchels Chelsea made this formation more renown. I remember pep in 2021 before the champions league final, speaking about the box middle that Tuchels Chelsea was using to control and win games.

[abakella]

While this is a great formation because of the defensive and attacking midfielders, what I especially love about it is the rotations. It allows the scheme to take advantage of players' versatility and fill multiple roles at once