ABC it's easy as 4-3-3

Evolve or be extinct. It is a simple fact that if you do not move with the times then you will get left behind, a fate that professional football in England is in serious danger of sucombing to.

Historically England is a nation who favour the 4-4-2, a formation which has been around since the introduction of the eleven player rule. The 4-4-2 is a very British formation; not too edgy, nice and reliable, solid defensively and efficient on the attact - but it also lacks style and flair, there is little room for fluidity. Yes, the 4-4-2 is very British, formal and rigid.

In Academy Football there is a different story altogether, players are being developed to produce a new breed of English player. Creativity, technicality, confidence and composure are becoming customary; guile is a more desireable trait than grit, determination, and brute force. Many Academies are no longer looking to produce players for the 4-4-2, the mission is create individuals who can master the 4-3-3.

The 4-3-3 rose to prominence with Ajax and has since been perfected by Barcelona, with a little assistance from one Johan Cruyff. The 4-3-3 is everything that the 4-4-2 is not, it encourages flair, fluidity, attacking through the middle, short and sharp intricate passes - it favours the technicians over the giants, all whilst maitaining the security of a back four. More over, the 4-3-3 is flexible and can be quickly adjusted to change tactically:

In Figure 1 you have a traditional 4-3-3 with a solid bank of four defenders, three midfielders and three central attackers. With a simple adjustment this can be converted to Figure 2, where you keep the security of four defenders but have a defensive midfielder for additional protection and play two attack minded central midfielders to encourage creativity. The shape of the forwards change so you have one focal point central attacker and two players pulling out high and wide - very useful for stretching the pitch and pulling opponents out of position. This variation of the 4-4-3 was favoured by Pep Guardiola during his extremely successful tenure at Barcelona. With some slight tinkering you can create a much more defensive formation, Figure 3, with one of the attacking midfielders being sacrificied for another holding/defensive midfielder, this type of 4-3-3 is favoured by Jose Mourinho and is effective at counteracting the formation used in Figure 2. And for those games in which your team is dominating play, the compact central midfield leaves space for the fullbacks to assist with the attack whilst keeping the insurance of two central defenders and at least one holding/defensive midfielder providing cover - Figure 4. The beauty of the 4-3-3 is that it is possible to make changes to your tactics without substitutions, but simply in the transition from defence to attack, for example when defending you could set up as Figure 3 and when you regain possession your team shape can adjust to Figure 2 and eventually Figure 4.

With the prevalence of 4-3-3 in Academy football it seems strange that so few Premier League teams use this formation.It is logical that the system played by a First Team should be the mould of an entire Academy set-up as the role of an Academy is to produce First Team players, so why do so few clubs enforce this ideal?

As time goes by more and more emphasis will be put on producing technically superior players, add that to the never-say-die mentality that is engrained on the English psyche and it is only a matter of time before there is a vast improvement on the standard of player we produce. To increase the speed of which this process happens there needs to be a philosophy in place that provides a natural progression from Academy football up through to International football and as Academies are focusing on the 4-3-3 it can only be a matter of time before more clubs and eventually the National team follow suit.

Evolution is a slow process and has it's victims and well as its victors; there is a slow and sure change manifesting in the way the game is being approached  in England, let us hope that it is not so slow that it creates a gulf between us and other leading nations that is simply too large to close.

Foundations are the Key

The tallest buildings in the world wouldn't stand if they didn't have the correct foundations, neither in fact would the shortest. When starting with a building project you have to start from the bottom and build up, and make sure you get the experts dealing with the appropriate stages; plumbers do the plumbing, electricians do the wiring and so on. Follow these rules and you will have a safe and reliable building, and when the planning and attention to detail is meticulous you can end up with something magnificent. Now replace this metaphorical building with a young footballer and the same rules still apply.

The general school of thought in football is that the best coaches work with the oldest players and the newest coaches have to do an apprenticeship with the younger players. I believe that this is a huge misconception; coaching u6/7 is completely different to coaching u18 and requires a different approach, something that not every coach can adjust to and expecting them to do so would be similar to hiring an electrician for your pipes and a plumber for your wiring.

Coaching a u6/7 age group can be frustrating at times, but the rewards far exceed the negatives. With this age group you have a completely blank canvas and can teach good habits and work on the foundations to build a solid technical footballer. Many people think that you have to over simplify things and treat them like infants, but speaking to and treating them as equals is a refreshing change for 6/7 year olds and gives them an extra impetus. Getting things right early on means you start to build a better and more intelligent footballer and you may even surprise yourself with how technical or complex you can be.

With older age groups the style of coaching is very different, the focus shifts from teaching to refining. You have to be able to notice subtle and slight faults with a player's technique and know what minor changes are needed to make the biggest difference. Football is a game of habits and it is unlikely you will completely reinvent a player at u18 so your focus is on making their strengths even stronger and their weaknesses less so. The latter age groups in youth football also become a lot more tactical, you need to teach players not only their roles and responsibilities but that of their teammates and how they must all intertwine to create a harmonic machine.

With the introduction of The FA's Youth Modules more emphasis is being placed on age appropriate coaching but there also needs to be an incentive to encourage the strongest coaches to stick with an age group if this is where their greatest skill-set lay. It is human nature to want to grow and develop and moving to a new age group gives you a new set of challenges, but maybe the stigmatism that often goes with coaching the youngest age group forces coaches to move to older age groups earlier.

Slowly and surely attitudes are changing in football, and new ideas come in thick and fast to help different aspects of the game improve. Hopefully we reach a point where we do not judge but show appreciation to those who are patient and inventive enough to get most out of the youngest age groups, without them there is a far greater task further down the line.