Tactics and Formations (11 Viewers)

MikeM

Footballing Hipster celebrating 4th place with Tuz
Sep 21, 2008
12,879
3-5-2 is a top formation if you have the players and the coach to pull it off so as long as we keep it up, I'm happy.

I think everyone's fear with the 3-5-2 is that it is weak defensively when that is just the opposite. We are more formidable defensively with a 3-5-2 and like Red said, it doesn't require as much all out aggression.

The 3-5-2 allows us to keep possession better because of the sweeper Bonucci. When Pirlo gets marked out of the game we have another ball player in Bonucci. That's why you see Conte try Marrone there and it still works. The formation takes the pressure off the sweeper and encourages you to use a ball player back there.

If you remember in the early part of last year, Pirlo would get marked out of the game completely, like at Catania. Then we started to see 3-5-2. Not only is it harder to mark out Pirlo because we have 5 guys to mark in the mid instead of 4 but if he is marked, we still have a sweeper.

The only weakness we have is Bonucci being exposed in the center of the defensive or in desperate 1 on 1 encounters. That's the only thing that scares me in Europe.
 

David01

Senior Member
Aug 20, 2006
2,825
I have the impression more and more teams in Italy are adopting the same tactics
now Prandelli wants to do the same
not really a surprise considering all the Juve players in his team
 

Hydde

Minimiliano Tristelli
Mar 6, 2003
39,022
The only weakness we have is Bonucci being exposed in the center of the defensive or in desperate 1 on 1 encounters. That's the only thing that scares me in Europe.
This IMO can be our achiles heel.

A lot of our success in this CL will depend on how Bonucci fares vs top strikers. Im not keeping my hopes high for him, because the spain final showed us that against top guys he can crumble like a jenga game..... but if we are able to keep this guy on his senses.... or find a formation that doesnt require him in some way, im pretty sure we can rock some teams out there before going out.
 

Osman

Koul Khara!
Aug 30, 2002
61,667
I have the impression more and more teams in Italy are adopting the same tactics
now Prandelli wants to do the same
not really a surprise considering all the Juve players in his team
The formation was common in on and off kinda way for a while now, for some years 4-3-1-2 took over whole league, but 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 been around consistently for certain teams and coaches at all times (Gasperini, Mazzari and Guidolin).


And Btw, i'm not fond of 3-5-2 because it's defensively weaker, it's not IMO, but not sold on it because it's less creative and more predictable for us. But also mainly as already stated it has a less aggressive approach.
 

napoleonic

Senior Member
Sep 7, 2010
4,129
3-5-2 is a top formation if you have the players and the coach to pull it off so as long as we keep it up, I'm happy.

I think everyone's fear with the 3-5-2 is that it is weak defensively when that is just the opposite. We are more formidable defensively with a 3-5-2 and like Red said, it doesn't require as much all out aggression.

The 3-5-2 allows us to keep possession better because of the sweeper Bonucci. When Pirlo gets marked out of the game we have another ball player in Bonucci. That's why you see Conte try Marrone there and it still works. The formation takes the pressure off the sweeper and encourages you to use a ball player back there.

If you remember in the early part of last year, Pirlo would get marked out of the game completely, like at Catania. Then we started to see 3-5-2. Not only is it harder to mark out Pirlo because we have 5 guys to mark in the mid instead of 4 but if he is marked, we still have a sweeper.

The only weakness we have is Bonucci being exposed in the center of the defensive or in desperate 1 on 1 encounters. That's the only thing that scares me in Europe.
how do you think our 3-5-2 will do against 4-2-3-1 with fast wings?
 

PedroFlu

Senior Member
Sep 20, 2011
7,169
I think 4-3-3 demands so much from the midfielders to defend and attack. Pirlo is aging, these guys are the heart of the team. 3-5-2 allows them to rest a bit more while keeping possession for longer. I think it's important in the long run, even though the team was more dynamic in a 4-3-3.
 

Vlad

In Allegri We Trust
May 23, 2011
24,211
how do you think our 3-5-2 will do against 4-2-3-1 with fast wings?
It could be tough. I'm not to fond of 3-5-2 because I always think that we lose one player in mid or attack. It's very difficult for wingbacks as it requires from them to constantly run up and down the pitch which is hard to achieve for the entire 90 minutes and our wings will often be unprotected. While at 4-3-3- if one fullback goes to attack the other stays back so even if he can't track back our wings won't get exposed as much. I remember some spectacular performances last year while using 4-3-3 with plenty of chances, possession and only bad luck, referee errors and good goalkeepers saved those teams from embarrassment. Inter, Fiorentina, Atalanta away, Lazio, Milan, Fiorentina, Palermo,Udinese at home and plenty of other matches because it was our main formation for the most part of the last season. I especially remember when we started 3-5-2 against Milan away and we were dominated for the most part of the match. When Conte changed to 4-3-3 and with good substitutes, situation on the pitch changed. We became more dangerous and scored.
We had some excellent games with 3-5-2 also against Roma and Napoli to be precise and personally even though I'm against it, while it works as it is right now Conte will use it.
 

Lion

King of Tuz
Jan 24, 2007
36,189
whenever you play matches that have players that will man mark pirlo out of the game, you need ball passers that can dictate the tempo in their stead.

marchisio has done that so far in some way.

i don't like it tat giach is seen as marchio's backup. giach cannot impose himself on the game or on the ball, and we end playin with a 2 player handicap in mid.

i want marrone to be back up for marchisio. hell maybe even experiment with pogba in the center
 

Red

-------
Moderator
Nov 26, 2006
47,023
The problem is that those players aren't going to run off the ball the way Marchisio does.

Giaccherini is far from ideal, but he does provide excellent movement a lot of the time.

Depending on whether he can oust Lichtsteiner from the RWB slot, I'd be quite interested to see Isla have a go at being the vice-Marchisio.
 

Quetzalcoatl

It ain't hard to tell
Aug 22, 2007
66,945
I know it's been discussed before, but can someone remind me what are the benefits we get from using 3-5-2 over 4-3-3? Because I'm not sure I see it. I'm saying this off the top of my head, but weren't we scoring at a similar rate but conceding less with the 4-3-3, and keeping possession, barraging opponents' goals and just generally dominating more?

Is it because the 4-3-3 requires a lot more work from our midfield and the 3-5-2? Shouldn't be a problem with the great depth we have there.

Or is it just to fit in players like Asamoah and Bonucci, and keep Chiellini as CB? Not worth it, if that's the reason.
 

ALC

Ohaulick
Oct 28, 2010
46,616
I thought it was because Conte wants to play 3 defenders and the only RW we had was Pepe.

I agree though, 4-3-3 is more dynamic. Not to mention other teams are playing 3-5-2 also so we just end up with congested midfields.
 

Klin

نحن الروبوتات
May 27, 2009
61,693
I don't think it's the formation. Our general play has been different than last season. We run less off the ball, even though one could say it was Conte's instruction, but it wasn't just last night. Our link up play with our forwards hasn't been very good. They're always finding those one touch passes which more often they won't succeed. We're not seeing the sort of attacks we saw last season where the team attacked in numbers and together. We're generally slower in our build up play too.
 

Cheesio

**********
Jul 11, 2006
22,514
The 4-3-3 is the way to go, we play our best football and dominated all the games playing that formation, we used to had 60/70 % back then,now we struggle to keep possession against the small teams.
 

ZoSo

Senior Member
Jul 11, 2011
41,656

Buffon
Licht-Barza-Bonucci-Chiellini
Vidal-Pirlo-Marchisio
Isla-Quag-Vucinic​

Asamoah LB maybe?
Matri CF also.
Pepe/Isla
Vidal-Marchisio-Asamoah?
 

Klin

نحن الروبوتات
May 27, 2009
61,693
We won't abandon the 3-5-2 this season after we bought a lot of players for it, and rightly so. What we need to change are our game plan and movements.
 

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