The main weakness of this formation comes in the wide areas. This formation is usually quite attack minded, especially if the fullbacks push too far forward, which increases the chance of them being caught on the counter attack. The defensive midfielder will often find himself outnumbered by the opposition’s midfield, which may lead to the wide midfielders being pulled out of position to cover the central positions. The main weakness of this formation is the lack of a central midfield, which in turn could lead to the opposition gaining complete control of the game. The team’s performances as a whole suffered in the 2014-15 season, the main reason was of course the departure of Luis Suarez but teams nullifying the impact of Gerrard certainly played its part too. But teams realized that if they pressed Gerrard and didn’t give him time on the ball he no longer had the physical ability to make space for himself, which meant he was often being bypassed and had little impact on games. By moving further back he could showcase his laudable range of passing, dictate the tempo of the games and in general, he had a great influence on Liverpool’s performance. The year before he had re-invented himself as the deep lying player maker, his legs were not what they once were and this forced him to adapt his style of play. All a team has to do is man-mark the defensive midfielder and press high on the full-backs.Ī great example of this is Steven Gerrard at the start of the 2014-15 season. Problems with this approach occur when teams figure this out as it’s fairly easy to counter. General weaknessesĪ common occurrence when playing a single defensive midfielder is the centre-backs splitting, the full-backs pushing up the pitch and the defensive midfielder dropping in between the centre-backs to receive the ball and start the attacks. Therefore the supply to the strikers will not only come from the central midfielders but also the full-backs giving the attacks more variety and therefore making the entire attacking unit harder to defend against. This control in midfield will then give the full-backs the opportunities to push forward further to try and contribute to an attacking move. With the 4 midfielders, teams will often outnumber their opposition which will give them greater control of the game and a large share of possession. The main strength of this variation is in central midfield.

Furthermore, it is very easy for this formation to be turned into the standard 4-4-2 which when deployed effectively can be very hard to break down and is a tactic often used by coaches in difficult away games. With good attacking play down the sides, the opposition’s wingers will have to work hard defensively which in turn will limit their opportunities to attack. The wide version of this formation ensures attacking presence in the wide areas, with two strikers to cross the ball to. It also allows for a central attacking midfielder (CAM) or number 10, which somewhat forces the opposition to either play a defensive midfielder or to press high/drop deep, in order to restrict the space and prevent the number 10 from receiving the ball and being able to turn and run at the defense or play a through ball to a striker running behind the defense. The 4-1-2-1-2 formation allowed Liverpool to get the best out of two very good strikers their goals fired them to a 2nd place finish even though they conceded 50 goals, only 3 less than Hull City who finished 16th. By sacrificing control in a certain area of the pitch, it allows a team to play two strikers which will often be against two centre backs thus reducing the battle to that of individual skill.ĭuring Liverpool’s rampant 2013-14 campaign, Steven Gerrard said “If teams want to play 2 v 2 against these two, Sturridge and Suarez, all the best”. In modern football, many teams often sacrifice a striker for a midfielder to try gain control of games and to increase defensive strength. One of the main strengths of this formation is that it accommodates two strikers.

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