Season 9: PLAYER ROLES MEETS FORMATION MATTERS EPISODE 21: 4-3-3A meets Player Roles

Soccerblog 5 Minutes
ALL HAIL THE 🐐 OF FORMATIONS!!!!

It’s taken 21episodes, 231different players, and over 40 different roles to finally reach the main pinnacle of soccer formations… The kings are in town, so let’s give them the respect and undivided attention that they deserve. There is a reason as to why the 4-3-3 has become the most popular formation within football today. With its base structural fundamentals being that of a 4 man defence, 3 man midfield and 3 man attack, there is no other formation that allows for versatility, tactical flexibility and positional intelligence compared to both the 4-3-3A and 4-3-3B. They both allow for possessional dominance, counter attacking efficiency, pass and move with third man runs, and a ‘defence or death’ appraoch to our beautiful game.

Stick around Soccermanagerite as we delve into the kingpin, the icon, the formation that ensured many a Manager to become remembered as the greatest to ever do it within the space of 90 minutes.

Let’s see who has been rewarded the luxury of playing this unique formation:

DEFENCE

In between the sticks, we have who everyone thinks is the current best GK in ze game… The Brazilian Becker Alisson is indeed the most complete GK in world football today due to his incredible shot stopping, insane 1v1 ability, and his effectiveness on the ball. Any team that has him between the sticks should cherish every single minute since he is most defintely within the ‘match winner’ slot.

We continue on the flanks where we have two traditional ‘Wingbacks’ whose primary responsibilities will be to provide width, and in the Italian Davide Calabria and the Spanish legend Jordi Alba, both will occupy the wings in an attempt to stretch the opposition as much as possible while allowing the lads further up the pitch to do their thing in more central positions. In Calabria, we have a ‘Wingback’ that doesn’t do anything too spectacular on the ball but is postionally sound, while we have Alba who is well regarded as the best DM(L) of his generation and doesn’t really need that much of an introduction. In between both ‘Wingbacks’, we have the D(C) pairing that will provide an extreme level of steel and grit in the Dutchman Sven Botman, and the Brazilian Diego Carlos. Both are traditional ‘Stoppers’ who will work extremely hard to make their opposition find it difficult to bypass their defensive wall.

MIDFIELD

If you were wondering where the world class talents are outside of Alisson then I’d like you to check out this midfield 3 since they have what could be regarded as match and trophy winning quality within this area of the pitch. We start off with the man who is regarded as the best DM(C) within today’s game, as well as the most important player within his current club team, so much so that he continues to display consistent clutch performances when it really matters, the Spanish phenomenon, “Rodriiiiii!!!!”. In this team, Rodri will be tasked with being the man responsible for the conduction of play who will always attempt to make the rest of his teammates apply their positioning and movement off the ball while he seeks to find them. Rodri is also an exceptionally great defensive player who will protect his backline to the highest level.

If Rodri is the brains of this midfield, then man like “JUUUUUUUUDE” is the legs, and what a pair of legs he has! Bellingham is quite practically the most versatile M(C) in the current game and could’ve played any of the ‘B2B’ roles that are available, but he will be responsible for driving past his opposition, beating the press and using his explosive capabilities to run riot in between both boxes.

We finish off the midfield trio with the Austrian Xaver Schlager who is a player that tends to go under the rader due to his ’90’ rating, but is a very capable and neat player who will be tasked with getting up and down the pitch via using his high energy and hard working capabilites to add that extra layer of workrate that will be necessary to win the battle within the all too important midfield

FORWARDS

Although we have the shot stopping and ball playing capabilities of Alisson, the brains and aggressiveness of Rodri and the versatility and legs of Jude, none can compare to the main man within the team and a player who is well deserving of his ’96’ rating, the English juggernaut, Harold Kane. Harry is simply an amazingly effective football player who has been world class for a very long time but only seems to be getting his flowers now based on how his career has started at Bayern. When it comes to a F(C) who is brilliant on the ball from a creative point of view, not many can compare to Harold hence why we have given him the ‘D.L.F’ role which will allow him to drop deep into the midfield region (mostly around where a no.10 will operate) and spray those passes that will be recognizeable if you’ve seen him play for Spurs. He has some runners that will make those off the ball movement in both Domenico Berardi and Ferran Torres in addition to the movement of Bellingham and Schlager. Harry will still aim to meet the box as much as he possibly can since that is why he gets paid the big bucks, after all….

DEFENSIVE TRANSITION

Here’s another reason as to why the 4-3-3 reigns supreme above all… Although it does not offer the “perfect” structure in terms of the 4-4-2’s capability of having 3 banks within the defensive phase, the 4-3-3 is like a chameleon in its way of adapting to almost every defensive situation, albeit prior to a match (this is down to the fact that the defensive tactics you’ve chosen or innovation from the leaders within your XI will play their part). No matter how you choose to implement your defensive set up, you can bet your house (or your SM Reputation) on this formation’s ability to adjust in seeking to find the best approach against every other formation within our prestigious game.

When it comes to this starting XI (wether you choose a low, mid or high block), there will be a level of efficiency which allows the team to transition on the attack quite effectively… In Kane, Berardi and Ferran, we have 3 players that are hardworking off the ball and will do everything they can to make it difficult for the opposition to bypass them. Behind of our front 3 are another set of hardworking players, with Schlager and Jude providing the legs that are necessary to apply that pressure, while Rodri will be the director telling his teammates where to be in addition to outing fires since that’s his primary job in the team when they don’t have the ball. The back 4 will base their decision making on what occurs in front of them, but just know that the steel provided by both Carlos and Botman, while the Italian street smartness of Calabria and the expereince of Alba mean that this defence won’t be easily broken down. We also have an elite shotstopper in Alisson who will thrive in particular if you choose to press with a high block…

We won’t even begin to accept any sort of idea behind this formation not being the best within SMW since that discussion is not up for debate…

Anywho… Onwards to the final episode from the ‘Big 4’! ⚽ 🏃💨

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3 thoughts on “Season 9: PLAYER ROLES MEETS FORMATION MATTERS EPISODE 21: 4-3-3A meets Player Roles”

  1. Pls help I have tried everything I can but the form is not consistent 🙏🏻 and I’m not getting it right

    My first 11

    1-keylor navas
    2-jesus navas
    3- blind
    4- Acerbi
    5- koulibaly
    6- Henderson , parejo , Pacqueta
    8- brozovic
    9- immobile
    7- di maria
    10- Messi
    11- Aubameyang
    On a 4231b formation

    But 433A
    7- Henderson/parejo
    6- brozovic
    8- Pacqueta/ parejo
    9- immobile
    10- Messi
    11- di maria

    Im having difficulties utilizing Messi he do have a high work rate but no goals 6 goals in 18 matches

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