Tactical analysis - The 4-3-1-2 solution for Manchester United

Time to become flexible?

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” The question I have for you at this point of our journey together is, “What is your genius?” – Albert Einstein

The above is exactly a point that David Moyes should sit back and ponder upon.

It is quite natural that when you come to a new club with a new set of players, you are bound to take your time to get versed with the geniuses of all the individual players. And once you get acquainted with all those skills, you, as a manager of the team, try and mould the team to play in a way so as to include the most skillful players in your playing eleven and, at the same time, make optimum utilization of their individual strengths so that they all complement each other.

With David Moyes handling the reigns at Manchester United for over nine months now, the problem of getting acquainted with players’ strengths goes out of the question. However, whether he has been able to utilize those strengths optimally remains highly debatable as suggested by United’s team play and the league position so far this season.

So how has David Moyes employed his players this season?

The former Everton manager’s approach entails players covering as much space as they can; basically each player, in a 4-4-2 formation, is supposed to guard a certain specific area of the pitch and is not allowed to drift much from those designated positions. This strategy allows the play to be stretched across the entire length and breadth of the field so that there are no pockets of spaces left to be exploited by the opposition.

Also, it makes the team less susceptible to counter-attacks because players are rarely found out of their positions. This involves a more direct play which requires deep lying midfielders who can play those long diagonals and strong powerful strikers who can bring those ball down and hold up the play to allow others to come into the attack. However, this game play restricts players’ movement to a great extent.

No denying the fact that the above system can be hugely successful in its own right, as was perfectly displayed by Otto Rehhagel’s famous Greek side which won Euro 2004, but only if you have the right personnel to execute these plans on the pitch. And this is where Moyes has committed his biggest mistake at Manchester United by trying to employ a strategy without properly gauging the strengths of his squad and also without any proper planning for the same.

Moreover, neither the fans nor the players at Manchester United would be ready to accept the defensive style of football. All the previous successful United teams were built on the ethos of fast flowing football and, hence, the direct football explained above might be good for teams defending against bigger oppositions, but certainly not at the club of the stature of Manchester United.

United’s current set of players – especially Kagawa, Mata, Van Persie, Welbeck, Cleverley – who form the core of the attacking group aren’t quite adept to fit in the system employed by Moyes . These are the players who have been groomed and styled to play possession based football that relies on quick intricate passing in and around the opposition penalty box to draw defenders out of their position. They like to be given the freedom to leave their original positions and drift into the pockets of spaces to keep the defenders guessing. Their strength lies in fluidity and flexibility and certainly not in playing long balls, crosses or set pieces. Therefore, David Moyes is currently trying to make the fishes climb the tree and then wondering what is going wrong.

Even if the Scotsman is able to bring in world class players – having good technical ability on the ball – to United in the summer transfer window, it wouldn’t affect their performance much as they, too, wouldn’t be able to adapt to the style of football that is being currently employed at Old Trafford. Shinji Kagawa is already facing the ill effects of this and very soon Juan Mata could follow suit.

Hence, David Moyes has to put his thinking cap on and devise a new plan for Manchester United as soon as possible.

So what is the solution? How can David Moyes best employ his side on the pitch so that their individual strengths are put to good effect?

The solution lies in the 4-3-1-2 approach as depicted by the figure below:

First and foremost, Moyes has to let go of his rigid style style of football that restricts players’ movements. He has to allow the players to make supporting runs, even if it means leaving their designated positions for a while, to help the player in possession of the ball have ample options to pass. This will inject much required flexibility and fluidity into the United system which will further help them attack through the middle of the pitch – something that has been found lacking in the reds play this season. The 4-3-1-2 formation above is perfectly suited to execute this support play.

Moreover, this formation will also allow United to finally forfeit their traditional 4-4-2 approach where emphasis was always given on the wings. And rightly so if you consider the inconsistent and pathetic form of United wingers ever since Cristiano Ronaldo left Old Trafford in 2009. Also, with modern defenses getting tighter and stricter, 4-4-2 has become almost obsolete.

Apart from these, the biggest add-on that the 4-3-1-2 solution offers to United is solving their number 10 conundrum.

Because, lets just accept this, however good Rooney might have been in that number 10 role, largely due to his versatility, the Englishman’s real strength and talent lies as a potent and lethal striker playing right on top of the opposition defense and scoring goals – something that has always been underutilized at United due to lack of options or reluctance to change. Infact, Rooney has himself acknowledged the fact that his best position is the main striker upfront and he proved the same in 2010, which still remains his best season in a United shirt, where he played the number nine role and scored over 30 goals.

This reluctance to change the system and keep employing Rooney in that role behind the main striker has not only reduced his own real strengths, but has also affected the players – like Kagawa and Mata – who are much better suited to play that role and are yet being used either wide right or wide left due to the unavailability of the slot already captured by Rooney.

Therefore, 4-3-1-2 provides a perfect opportunity to put United’s main attackers’ real strengths to good effect. Mata or Kagawa, as they had already proved at Chelsea and Borussia Dortmund respectively, are perfect to link the midfield with the attacking duo of Van Persie and Rooney who’d be playing further up the pitch. Carrick, besides shielding the back four, would play the role of deep lying midfielder feeding short passes to Januzaj, Kagawa or Mata or long balls directly to Rooney and Van Persie. Fellaini, on the other hand, can be utilized for his ball winning abilities.

Januzaj can play on either flanks with the support of the full backs and can also drift inwards to have a go at the goal. The Kagawa/Mata, Rooney and Van Persie triangle upfront would be a treat for the fans where all these players can shift positions and put their goal scoring exploits to best use. While defending, however, Rooney or Kagawa, depending on their position, might have to drop back in support of their full back to provide that extra security.

Now, with this plan in mind, if Moyes tries to bring in Fabregas, Kroos or Reus into the midfield next season, it would make perfect sense as they would be best suited to play any of the three midfielders’ role in this 4-3-1-2 shape.

Hence, as was rightly said by Einstein that everybody is a genius and you just have to figure out what they are best at – something that Sir Alex was master of which also explains his successes even with, what many considered, mediocre squads – David Moyes just have to take a leaf out of his predecessor’s book and identify the fishes, monkeys, birds et al in the Manchester United jungle and just make the fishes swim, monkeys climb and birds fly to see the jungle bloom again.