Not Quite A 4-5-1

Don Howe has an attempt at explaining the 4-5-1 system that is dominating the English Premiership, over on the BBC’s football pages. Howe misses the mark through not adeqately outlining the transition roles in attack and defence. More importantly, he fails to grapple with the fact that modern systems employed by teams like Chelsea, Barcelona and Brasil have 4 banks of players, not 3. How Chelsea play is not adequately explained either by reference to 4-3-3, or 4-5-1, but is more accurately a 4-2-3-1, or 4-3-2-1, depending on the day. I’ve been an advocate of 4-2-3-1 for many years now and as the European season progresses I’ll make some time for a few more posts on football tactics and systems.