mojojojo101A quick disclaimer: First I have to say I very much doubt SAF would play anything like a formation like this and I doubt that any manager in the Premier League would take as a big a risk as breaking as far away from what has been established as the norm in English football over the last few years. This is just my musing/thoughts on what I think, could, if developed well, be a fascinating and most importantly an effective system.
Firstly I should say I like Bielsa a lot as a tactician, his sides play at an almost frantic pace, they press high up the pitch and when they win the ball back launch very fast breaks at the opponent’s goal. I mentioned Sampoali in the title as unlike Bielsa he has his forwards come inside much earlier to deliver a more direct goal threat. That said there are other influences in here, mainly from Guardiola (Barca), Scolari and Dunga (Brazil)
So, the shape, I guess it could be loosely described as a 3-4-2-1 or 3-4-3 but I think that one of the main strength of this formation is its ambiguity. Brazil’s formation under Dunga caused sides problems as despite knowing how the side would line up they weren’t sure how they team would actually operate.
The players; I thought it would be a good idea to write about how each player in the system would hopefully operate, because as useful as arrows are they can only do so much.
De Gea: Not much to say really. Would be relied on more to come of his line than he does now as well as being calm and comfortable on the ball. He’s a decent passer of the ball when he wants to be and his distribution would come in handy when launching counter attacks.
Smalling: A reasonably simple role for Smalling. Fulfils all the major roles a normal CB would, man marking the left most of the opponents strikers. If needed he could also move out to the right to give Rafael a hand, handing his man over to Evans. In possession he would drift wide, similar to how Pique/Puyol have done for Barca in recent years.
Evans: Evans’ quality is in the reading of the game. He isn’t a particularly strong CB and he isn’t the most comfortable coming up the pitch but he should do well mopping up any balls played over the top of Smalling and Jones. He is also a pretty solid passer as we have seen at times this season and if the opportunity arises moving forward to play a quick through ball would not be discouraged.
Jones: An interesting role here. Jones’ role is primarily as a CB and marking the right-most striker should be in his mind at all times but he would also have freedom, and licence to drive forward into midfield and beyond if the opportunity arose, this would give Man Utd a player in an area where n one would likely pick him up and he could ghost forward easily before picking a pass or getting a shot off. (Think Edmilson at World Cup 2002 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6wKnR3cPo0)
Rafael: Rafael’s strength are in his energy and work rate, here is given a whole flank to run, largely by himself in a similar manor to his countrymen, Dani Alves, does at Barca. It’s a lot of responsibility to hang on such a young player’s ability no doubt but he is developing into a great all round player and I think this kind of role would suit him well.
Anderson: Anderson has been given a lot of stick in recent months but I still maintain he is a very good player. In this role his main jobs do not concern creating chances as much as making darting forward runs from deep to ‘distract’ from the more creative players. I’d expect him to get a few goals in this role in a similar manor to those he got vs Schalke last year.
Carrick: In this formation a role he was more used to earlier in his career, playing generally higher up the pitch and winning the ball back earlier. That said his composure on the ball could be a vital asset to holding onto leads and he is also a much underrated passer of the ball, especially long diagonals. The ‘interesting’ caveat to his role would be to drop in to the defensive 3 when Jones drives forward in order to maintain a solid base to the team. (Similar to how Gilberto Silva dropped in to defence for Brazil under Dunga)
Evra: Slightly less advanced than Rafael on the other flank and despite having Nani ahead of him would be pretty much relied upon to deliver the vast majority of width from the left.
Rooney: Fills a very similar role to his current one, although deployed slightly deeper. Given a free role to drift around in attack to find space and when out of possession tasked with harrying opponents CB’s into making errors in dangerous areas.
Nani: Again fulfilling largely a free role in attack. Allowed to drift wide to either flank (predominantly the left) in order to pick up the ball before crossing/driving inside to create chances and score goals. In defence would be concerned with marshalling the opposing right back.
Hernandez: Hernandez’s pace is a very dangerous weapon and his deployment in a wider position exploits that by giving him large areas of space to run into behind either the full back or the centre back. Defensively he wouldn’t be tasked with a great deal, harrying the CB/LB when the opponent have the ball in deep positions but when they move the ball forward he would stay high up the pitch, forcing both the CB and LB to be concerned with marking him, indirectly limiting the opponents attacking potential down their left and giving Rafael a helping hand in a situation he may otherwise be overrun in.

Each player is given lot of freedom on the ball and the decision making is left very much to them. Out of possession the team would press high up and fast trying to win the ball back as high up the pitch as possible. However if Plan A isn’t working there are the players available to be able to slow down play to pursue a more measured approach (Carrick and Rooney).
In Conclusion I didn’t mean to write so much; p. Oh well. I’d like to see what other people think, how realistic is it do you think that a top level manager (not just in England) will try to imitate the school of Bielsa? Is a return to a back 3 viable while one striker formations dominate? Where do you think this particular system would struggle / do well??
Thanks for reading.

16.12.2011