Phoenix Academy
180
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480
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over 16 years

Hi guys, not sure if this will get much traffic but I was wondering if anyone had any good sources / information / evidence about the strengths and weaknesses of each type of formation (442, 433, 352 etc)?

In particular it would be great to have anything about how / why particular formations are better against certain formations? - Like playing 433 against a three man defense or more players in midfield when playing against a 442 

Just trying to improve my tactical knowledge and how to counter the opposition in a tactical and collective sense.

Jag
Not Elite enough
730
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8K
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almost 17 years

Couple of books I've got, which aren't bad are:

The Complete Guide to Coaching Soccer Systems and Tactics by Jacob Daniel

Coaching Soccer: Match Strategy and Tactics by Luca Prestigiacomo

You can find lots of good stuff on the Web, articles etc. Just google things like '4-4-2 formation strengths and weaknesses'.

Marquee
5.3K
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9.5K
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over 12 years

If you can find a copy of Inverting the Pyramid by Jonathan Wilson (he's a Guardian football columnist) then I reckon that's a great book for some of this stuff. Its very readable and is a history of different formations and styles of play and how they developed in response to the other tactics teams were using etc.

The other thing is that sometimes the focus on formation alone doesn't tell you much - 2 teams could both be playing a 4-2-3-1 for instance but one is playing with a high line, constant pressing, and wide players hugging the sidelines, while the other is playing deep and narrow, conceding possession and trying to create counterattacks. Same formation, very different tactics. Also one man's 4-2-3-1 is another's 4-3-3 or 4-2-1-3  - same players playing the same roles but depending on whether you count the wide players as attackers or mids, and whether DMs and AMs get lumped together, you can call it different things.

There's quite a few websites where people do tactical analysis of games, which can be good for insights especially if you have seen the game they are talking about. Zonalmarking.net and outsideoftheboot.com are 2 good ones. Leopold Method are great for A League games.

Trialist
14
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78
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about 8 years

Perfecting the Ajax Square by Mike Fridge is nice

Trialist
32
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57
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over 8 years

HÖÖK wrote:

Perfecting the Ajax Square by Mike Fridge is nice

I'm intrigued but a Google search didn't return anything. Where do you get it? Is this the guy who coaches Southern United? 
Marquee
5.3K
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9.5K
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over 12 years

Tekkers, dunno if you are still looking at this thread but I just came across this website which I think is pretty much exactly what you asked for in your initial post: 

http://7500toholte.sbnation.com/football-tactics-f...

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