Good article about 4-4-2 diamonds, 3-5-2 and all things tactical

[mikewalker 0]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/feb/08/the-question-jonathan-wilson-liverpool

GET ON THE TACTICS TRUCK

 

[Shack Attack 0]

I was about to post a link to exactly the same article! Jonathan Wilson is a very good football writer whose tactical analysis really should be available to a wider audience.

 

The obvious point about playing three central defenders is that you need two attacking full backs to provide width as Kelly and Johnson did for Liverpool on Sunday. Drury and Martin have both proved pretty adept at getting forward for us this season which may well have convinced Paul Lambert that a 3-5-2 could make us more solid without affecting our attacking options too greatly. It didn''t work this time but I wouldn''t be surprised to see PL try it again as he strikes me as the type of manager who is constantly looking for ways for his team to evolve.

 

The only part of JWs article I would disagree with is -

 

"The diamond tends to prosper only as a defensive formation, or in a culture where so many teams field a diamond that the lack of width does not matter because everybody has the same weakness."

 

I don''t see the diamond formation as defensive when PL sends out a team in this way. Measured maybe, perhaps even slightly cautious, but certainly not defensive. Also, I don''t think there were too many other teams employing a diamond formation in League One last season!

[Shack Attack 0]

I was about to post a link to exactly the same article! Jonathan Wilson is a very good football writer whose tactical analysis really should be available to a wider audience.

 

The obvious point about playing three central defenders is that you need two attacking full backs to provide width as Kelly and Johnson did for Liverpool on Sunday. Drury and Martin have both proved pretty adept at getting forward for us this season which may well have convinced Paul Lambert that a 3-5-2 could make us more solid without affecting our attacking options too greatly. It didn''t work this time but I wouldn''t be surprised to see PL try it again as he strikes me as the type of manager who is constantly looking for ways for his team to evolve.

 

The only part of JWs article I would disagree with is -

 

"The diamond tends to prosper only as a defensive formation, or in a culture where so many teams field a diamond that the lack of width does not matter because everybody has the same weakness."

 

I don''t see the diamond formation as defensive when PL sends out a team in this way. Measured maybe, perhaps even slightly cautious, but certainly not defensive. Also, I don''t think there were too many other teams employing a diamond formation in League One last season!

[Mahogany 0]

Yeah he''s a great writer. The Guardian Football League Blog was asking for ideas at the start of the season and I suggested they get JW to look at Championship tactics. Got a reply saying they liked the idea and would look at getting him to do it but so far no luck.

I think the thing about the diamond for us in league 1 was that we were just a much better team than most of that league so any shortcomings the tactic had were covered by our players simply being quite a lot better.

I think we''ve seen the problems it has more this year which is why PL has been trying out a number of formations.