Tactical Analysis - Manchester United's 3-5-2 formation

LvG busy planning the system

Background and History

It is rightly said, Football battles are won and lost in the midfield. Midfield is the heart of any football team that dictates the play to the forwards in attack and shields the back four in defense. And that is why managers and coaches around the world spend most of their time devising a plan, tactics, formation et al in order to have the most balanced midfield that can cater to any demand from offense or defense.

And it was not until early 1980's, when FIFA conducted a multipurpose study to determine what affects the outcome of a match, it was realized that a team with more physical fighting ability in the midfield often enjoy the dominance over their counterparts. And this study was conducted at a time when 4-4-2 was the most widely used formation by successful teams.

Football coaches around the world accepted the study and started to devise a plan so as to modify their dominant 4-4-2 formation even further to take full advantage of the midfield-fighting rule.

The result of the planning was a new 3-5-2 formation where one of the defenders can be moved to the midfield so as to add more force, and hence the physical fighting ability, in the midfield. The effects and benefits of this formation were seen almost instantly when Carlos Billardo of Argentina and Franz Beckenbauer of West Germany adopted this system to lead their teams to 1986 and 1990 World Cup finals respectively.

So as new as this formation (3-5-2) might seem, it not really the case. It has been in existence since the mid-80's and has been used by various coaches and managers since then. Most recently by Louis van Gaal for his Dutch national side in 2014 World Cup and now in his pre-season matches for Manchester United.

So now having known the history and background of a 3-5-2, let’s try and understand what are the strengths and weaknesses of this formation and how does it suit – or for that matter does not suit – Manchester United in particular.

Defensive Strength

A 3-5-2 ,in general, consists of three central defenders, two wing-backs, three midfielders, whose positions can vary as per needs, and two central strikers. This system largely influences the defense and the wing backs while midfield and striking is more or less unaffected. However, this system provides a huge advantage to Manchester United in midfield too which we will talk about later in this article.

Talking of defense first, the formation caters to the ‘Balance Principle’ in football which states, “The number of defenders should always be same as that of opposition strikers plus one”. So playing three defenders at the back takes care of any opponent that plays with two central strikers upfront. However, while playing this system, at least one of the centre-backs must be a versatile midfielder who has the calmness and composure to play passes towards the midfield. Someone like Javi Martinez, used by Marco Bielsa in a similar 3-5-2 formation at Athletic Bilbao, who is used as a playmaker while playing centre half. Another example could be the re-invention of Javier Mascherano by Pep Guardiola as a play-making centre half at Barcelona.

This springs up a huge opportunity for Phil Jones, who has played in the midfield positions quite often, at Manchester United to take up the mantle of playing as a play-making centre half. And he can be ably supported by Jonny Evans and Chris Smalling alongside him to complete the three centre halves.

The wing-backs, too, have a major role to offer in this formation where their agility, speed and stamina is put to test. In modern day football, the wing-backs are more like deep-seated attackers where they bombard forward in support of the three-attacking midfielders whenever the opportunity arrives. Dani Alves at Barcelona and Marcelo at Real Madrid are perfect examples of true wing-backs. Playing three centre-halves in a 3-5-2 provides an extra shield at the back where the wing-backs may not have to necessarily track back as much as they would have to in a 4-4-2 or a 4-3-3 formation. This results in more attack without having to compensate in defense.

It provides an exciting opportunity for players like Antonio Valencia, Luke Shaw, Rafael and Adnan Januzaj who are great going forward but are defensively suspect. On the other hand, traditional wingers, like Nani and Ashley young, who are more suited for a 4-4-2 formation, might become an overhead for this formation.

Moreover, the use of true wing-backs spreads the play across the entire width of the pitch which provides more space in the midfield areas to be exploited by the three central midfielders.

Offensive Strength

Coming over to midfield, the biggest advantage that 3-5-2 offers to United is solving their number 10 conundrum. Louis van Gaal recently admitted that there are atleast four number 10’s in United squad fighting for one available spot which makes the team highly unbalanced. And rightly so. Because if you look at it, Rooney, who is a natural striker, because of his versatility and performance, has been mostly used in the number 10 position in previous seasons. This has led to natural number 10’s in United squad, like Kagawa and Juan Mata, to be played out of positions as left-sided or right-sided midfielders. Moreover, the goal scoring exploits of Rooney, something he displayed in 2010 while playing a classic number 9, as a natural striker has also been under-utilized. And hence, the imbalance.

However, with a 3-5-2 formation, Rooney and Robin van Persie can play in combination as the two central strikers with either Juan Mata or Kagawa in behind them playing in a number 10 role. This will ensure Rooney, Mata and Kagawa all playing in their preferred positions and hence providing the much needed balance in the squad. The remaining two positions in the midfield can be taken up by Michael Carrick, who can be used as a ball winning midfielder, and Anders Herrera who can play a classic playmaker role alongside the number 10.

However, just as nothing is perfect, a 3-5-2 is no exception either and it has its own weaknesses too.

Weaknesses

The most discernible is when one of the three central defender drifts in or is found out-of-position, the other two moves in to compensate and, thereby, leaving huge spaces at the wings to be exploited as there are no proper fullbacks in this system. However, this can be averted if the wing-backs are agile, alert and fit enough to track back whenever necessary. This kind of explains why Louis van Gaal has asked Luke Shaw to further build on his fitness if he wants to fit in this system. With wing-backs tracking back more often than going forward, a 3-5-2 will get transformed to more of 5-3-2 which would mean less attacking options.

Conclusion

So to conclude, the 3-5-2 formation is flexible and versatile which allows the players to put their qualities to maximum effect. The full backs can bombard forward to apply their attacking potential without having to worry much about defensive and tracking back duties. The centre halves may not necessarily be the ball-winning, hard-tackling traditional centre half, but rather a more intelligent and versatile defender who can also be used as a deep lying playmaker. Moreover, the natural number 10’s can be used in their preferred position allowing the central strikers more freedom upfront.

Therefore, the 3-5-2, as of now, looks to be the perfect formation to start a new era at Manchester United under Louis van Gaal. And the Dutchman is clever and adaptive enough to change the system whenever the need arise as he perfectly said in his recent press conference up ahead before United's clash against Inter Milan later today: “It’s difficult to change the systems and I had to start this system at once because we don’t have time to change it," van Gaal told media at a press conference in Washington DC.

"We only have three weeks before the season starts, so I have to use all my training sessions to implement this system.

"They know already the other system [4-4-2 or 4-3-3]; they have played that from their youth, so that’s easy. You saw that in the [Netherlands’] game against Mexico – I’m sorry to say that when we were 1-0 down I changed the system to 4-3-3 and then we beat them!"

So I believe its perfect to say, It’s all exciting times up ahead at Manchester United with this 3-5-2 formation.