Season 2011-12 Fan Articles

A New Formation

By Neil   Turton  ::  08/12/2011   28 Comments (»Last)

I have seen a few articles recently on ToffeeWeb about what formation Moyes should be playing, which players should fit in to that system etc etc. Sadly for us, as much as some fans may find this fun to speculate on such matters, it is (like the Premier League), a pretty futile exercise. What I think is worth debating is what players he should use within his favourite 4-5-1 formation. I happen to think that it could be more accurately described as 4-2-3-1, and it?s the middle of the 3 that holds the key for me.

I?m sure I?m not saying anything that hasn?t really been said/thought by most intelligent fans already but I needed to get it off my chest. I should say from the outset that I?m not a massive defender of Moyes, I think he has his limits and the football can be pretty dour, but I think we?d be in a much worse position without him. I also acknowledge that his years of study and UEFA coaching badges means he knows more about football tactics and formations than I will ever know. But I?d like to think 25 years of football watching and playing gives me some idea of how the game works.

The crux of my argument is that I don?t think there is anything inherently wrong in the formation Moyes adopts, it just needs adapting. It?s all very well saying ?we should play two men upfront?, or ?we should play wingbacks because Coleman and Baines are full backs who like to attack?. This is what fans like to do. Play Football Manager in their head with their team and think that a change in formation solves any apparent issues. Most fans criticisms seem to focus on us being negative and would rather we should play 4-4-2. Others have suggested returning to the outdated 3-5-2. I?ve outlined below why I do not think either of these are tactically viable options.
4-4-2

Only managers like the two idiotic Steve?s of Bruce and Kean play a straight 4-4-2 regularly, while even Mick McCarthy, not renowned for his tactical nous, has this season employed Jamie O?Hara behind a lone striker, with mixed success granted. Everton fans lamenting Moyes for not playing 4-4-2 are massively wide of the mark if they think that is our problem. Any team playing that system is likely to have both central midfielders (who are generally expected to perform a ?box to box? role) over run by the modern 4-2-3-1 where their two deep-lying two will draw one or both of the attacking team?s central midfield higher up the pitch and leave the deep lying playmaker free.

If one in the 4-4-2 stays deep to mark the playmaker, he is rendered useless as an attacking force.

You are then left with strikers up against two centre halves. Whilst people may say this is better than one striker outnumbered, most Premier League central defensive partnerships are more than adept at marking two strikers. Unless you have the luxury where you have one striker capable of dropping in to space between defence and midfield and another that can run the line and poach goals (e.g. Rooney and Hernandez) so the deep lying striker can pull one centre half up the pitch and break the defensive line. Everton do not have this option. Playing Saha/Velios/Stracqualarsi/Anichebe as a pairing is just as easy for any central defence in the Premier League to deal with as playing with one on their own. The alleged ?defensive? 4-5-1 which Moyes employs, more often than not includes Cahill as one of the supposed 5 in midfield. This moniker is a complete misnomer. Cahill makes this formation 4-4-2 because of his nature. With the greatest respect to what he has done for Everton, he is not an intelligent footballer. Playing him ?behind? Saha basically means playing with two strikers because Cahill does not have the positional sense and ability to find space to be a playmaker. He therefore needs to make up for that deficiency with goals. Ignoring the fact that he hasn?t scored this calendar year, this means pushing further forward on to the centre half, rather than dragging him out of position, something even Richard Dunne can cope with.
5-3-2

I?ve read articles recently and seen people making arguments that Moyes should employ a formation based on wingbacks. The fact that 5-3-2/3-5-2 died a natural death with Glenn Hoddle leaving the England job in 1999 does not mean you should necessarily write it off. Formations evolve and come back in to fashion over time. In Everton?s instance however, it simply would not work in my opinion. The main argument behind it is that we have two attacking fullbacks in Leighton Baines and Seamus Coleman, so let them attack. Aside from the obvious point that Coleman can?t defend, rather than allowing these two to fulfil their attacking potential, this would have the adverse effect. The reason why Baines is currently the best attacking full back in Europe ? is that he is able to overlap whoever plays in front of him. It is a testament to Baines that despite Steven Pienaar leaving, his attacking output playing behind the largely ineffective Diniyar Bilyaletdinov hasn?t diminished. The overlap is the key to this. Most teams now employ a flat back four, narrow midfield and a central striker with two wide players supporting the strikers. With a player in front of him occupying the opposing full back, Baines is able to make forward runs without being tracked, unless of course the opposing team?s right sided attacker is either a hard worker, incredibly disciplined, not very adventurous or a combination of those traits.

With a switch to wingbacks, the opponent?s full back only has Baines/Coleman to worry about. This will have one of two effects, neither of which is positive. Firstly, the opposing full back can stay deep, let Baines attack them and back themselves to deal with him one-on-one. This creates space behind Baines that the opposing right-sided attacker can exploit and force the left-sided of the three centre halves to move across to left back to cover, dragging him out of position and creating potential problems in the middle.

Secondly, the opposing fullback can overlap and force Baines/Coleman back, thus completely nullifying them and turning an attacking 3-5-2 setup in to a defensive 5-3-2.

I believe that with only a slight tweak, and one signing (a good, technical right-sided midfielder), Everton can play a formation and style of football that can unlock these sides lower than us who come to Goodison, frustrate us with 9 or 10 men behind the ball, and invariably come away with a hard earned draw or 1-0 win. My solution would be to drop Cahill. This is the key role to breaking down a defensive team. We have three options to replace him. Leon Osman; Bilyaletdinov; or Ross Barkley. In fairness to Moyes, he has tried this on occasions mainly using Osman but even then, Osman has been deployed too advanced and not finding proper space, mainly due to his lack of pace. Barkley was tried there in the Carling Cup tie earlier this season against West Bromwich Albion and struggled, as WBA played a formation where you couldn?t fit a cigarette paper between the defence and midfield, let alone a promising young midfielder. In the absence of any money to spend on some sort of David Silva-esq player (someone who seems to be able to find more space than a cat in a Renault Espace), why not Bilyaletdinov there? He hasn?t worked as a winger, so before we ship him back to Russia for whatever we can get, let?s try him where he?s been reasonably successful for his national team.

A withdrawn playmaker there forces either a centre half to come out and mark him, or a holding midfield player to sit deeper. Either way, the opposing team?s formation is disrupted, creating space somewhere. With Rodwell and Fellaini as insurance, if an opponent?s midfield player sits and picks up our playmaker, it creates space for one of them to step forward in to that space.
A 4-2-3-1, with Coleman at right-back, two of John Heitinga/Phil Jagielka/Sylvain Distin, and Baines left-back. In Jack Rodwell and Marouane Fellaini we have a central midfield partnership comparable to most teams in the league. The attacking options are more of a problem. If you choose to play Bilyaletdinov in the middle of the three, the obvious choice on the left is Royston Drenthe. While I bemoan Osman?s lack of pace, I still maintain that the shape of this formation would allow an intelligent player like Osman to perform a wide role. I know he won?t beat players and swing crosses in but that isn?t the job of these wide strikers anymore. Osman can keep the ball, is diligent in his tracking back to help Coleman defensively and is good enough on the ball to keep it and allow Coleman to overlap when attacking. In an ideal world a new signing here would be perfect but that is not going to happen. While not blessed in the striker department, within this framework, a lone striker can flourish, provided they play off the shoulder of the centre halves, be it Saha/Velios etc.

I know there is nothing ground-breaking here, but the shape and flexibility within that shape are what is needed to beat these defensive-minded teams. Intelligent ball playing players are what is needed, not Cahill pushing high up and putting alleged pressure on the opposing back four which can all to easily be absorbed.

The argument that one upfront is defensive is complete nonsense. With this shape you have one up front, with two attack minded midfielders either side that can make it three upfront, while still having a ball playing midfielder in an advanced position. You also have two full backs that can join in the attack when the attacking midfielder/forward in front of them tucks in to draw in the fullback in field ready for the overlap.

I wrote this purely as a cathartic exercise for myself to be honest, I expect a lot of people will disagree and pick holes in it. As I said at the beginning, I obviously don?t claim to be an expert or have a fraction of the knowledge that David Moyes has but I think what frustrates fans in to complaining about his formations is that he doesn?t change shape or system. He has a very rigid system that he plays against Arsenal at home as he does against Stoke at home and doesn?t seem to acknowledge that there are different ways to beat these teams. Even substitutions don?t tend to bring about a great change in shape or approach. With twenty minutes to go and 1-0 down at home, invariably he will simply change player for player and not change the formation. As a final throw of the dice he will finally give the supporters who demand two upfront by withdrawing Cahill for another striker which only serves to further exacerbate the problems I highlighted earlier.

And breathe? oh, I feel better after that? Calculated rant over! COYB

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