SEASON 3: FORMATION MATTERS Episode 19: The 4’s series (4-2-3-1B)

We had two siblings back to back whilst discussing the 4-5-1A and 4-5-1B, and we’ve got another set of relatives here as today, we’ll be discussing the ‘brother ’of the 4-2-3-1A. But unlike the 4-5-1’s, today’s formation is COMPLETELY different from its sibling.

The 4-2-3-1B is a fantastic formation. It provides a lot of balance in all thirds of the pitch, as well as the versertatily to easily convert into different formations based your set up. It consists of 4 Defenders, 2 Defensive Midfielders, 2 Wingers, 1 Attacking Midfielder and 1 Forward. As I’ve already mentioned, this formation has a lot of differences compared to its sibling, the 4-2-3-1A. For starters, The 3 behind the Sole Forward in the 4-2-3-1B consist of 2 Wingers and 1 Attacking Midfielder. The Wingers operate outwide and, dependening on what type of tactics you use, they will either look to hug the touch line or make ‘out to in’ runs similar to what a Wide Forward does. The Attacking Midfielder within this formation is more of your ‘Classic Number 10’ in the mold of an Ozil. What this means is that he wants the ball to feet and wants to be the sole playmaker ( he wants everything to be played through him). The ‘Number 10’ position in the 4-2-3-1A can be asked to play many different roles and does not need to always be on the ball. Something that you cannot ask the ‘Number 10’ within this formation to do. The Supporting Attackers within the 4-2-3-1A do not start as wide compared to the 4-2-3-1B and they also prefer to operate in Central regions on the pitch. Both formation may look similar on paper but they are completely different.

Although this formation has been around since the 80’s, the real pioneer of the 4-2-3-1B (in my opinion) was former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez. The Spaniard is cut from a similar cloth as Mourinho, but rather than operate using a 4-5-1, Rafa decided to use the 4-2-3-1B for majority of his time at Liverpool.

PROS
• Very balanced, very structured. A formation that tends to never fail
• Wingers thrive within this formation
• Creative no. 10’s ( Maddison, Wirtz, Bruno Fernandes) thrive within this formation. * Formation can covert in to a 4-5-1A and 4-4-1-1. *One of the few formations that do not have a specific vulnerability to any pattern of play

CONS
• Centre Forward MUST be a Target man as any other type of Forward does not have the attributes required to play in this formation
• Advanced playmakers (Mount, Paqueta Musiala) will not play to their best within this formation

The 4-2-3-1B is highly rated for a good reason. But, when it comes to the cream of the crop (in my opinion….. again), there’s only 2 formations that are the kings. And we’ll be discussing them next….