While you will be familiar with 3-4-3 and 4-2-4 and 3-5-1-1 and suchlike as ways of describing how a team plays, I don’t like this numbers game.
Firstly, because I’m very uncertainly grounded in maths, and secondly because the numbers are dull and, I feel, of questionable value. I usually have major problems matching up what I see and what the pundits have told me I ought to be seeing.
I know what I ought to be seeing: attractive, exciting, attacking football.
I also know that those formations are never designed with that in mind as they are invariably defence-based. Coaches are good at planning defence but not nearly so good at organising things up front.
I have worked on this matter and managed to overcome my aversion to maths long enough to devise my own numerical trio: 3-6-0. Something different because it features only nine players? The much greater difference is that these are not players, these are degrees: 360 of them.
My 3-6-0 is not a formation. It is an invitation; an invitation to players to broaden the scope of their passing. And it is an appeal for greater use of the backheel.
This story is from the May 2019 edition of World Soccer.
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This story is from the May 2019 edition of World Soccer.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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