Tattica: Can Solá's 3-5-2
work in MLS?
Chivas USA’s new Mexican coach Jose Luis Sanchez Solá reshuffled personnel and tactics, installed a 3-5-2 formation and added Latino players. He played this way throughout the whole preseason. The question at the start of 2013 will be can a 3-man back line work in the flat four-man-land that is MLS?
After a 3-0 loss in their opener to the Columbus Crew, the easy answer is no. But wait a moment, one game is too early for a judgment. There was disappointment, but reviewing the conceded goals meant that not all the blame was to be put on the defender’s shoulders. “Defense isn’t the problem,” Sánchez Solá told reporters in his postgame press conference. “[Columbus] scored on us twice when we had 10 players in the area. The three-man backline isn’t the issue.”
And in fact, the Goats bounced back coming from behind to beat FC Dallas 3-1 in the second week of the season. Solá stayed with his 3-5-2 formation, lining up Walter Vilchez, Joaquin Velazquez and De Luna as central defenders.
Using this kind of formation is unusual in MLS, a league loaded with 4-man back lines. But trends in tactics change. A few years ago, playing three at the back had disappeared. Things changed. Playing with a spare man alongside two man-centre backs, who pick up the opposing forwards, while wing-backs run up and downs the flanks with an extra man in midfield to help ball control is becoming fashionable. Just take a look at Italy’s Serie A, where bigger teams fell in love with this formation following Juventus and Napoli’s success.
Wigan Athletic's use of it in EPL is interesting too. It's a reactive way of playing as the counterattack is usually the biggest threat for this formation. However this is not always the case, as Juventus proved in being able to build an attacking formation in a 3-5-2 pattern.
No question, for teams sitting deep and playing counterattacks, having a spare man at the back provides an edge against teams with two central forwards. Things can go badly playing with three men chasing a lone striker in a three forward formation as 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1.
In that case, there needs to be strong wing-backs able to come down covering all the flanks in the defensive end. Often moving back just one of the wide-backs is better, because you build a four-man back line instead of a 5-man line that risks making the squad sit too deep, near the penalty area, leaving too much space for the opponents in the middle of the pitch.
If a team is playing 3-5-2 against another one lined up in a 4-3-3 formation, it is not necessary to utilize five men to deal with three forwards. Otherwise, you will have a three versus three in the midfield, losing the edge of play with an extra man in the midfield.
Instead, if you ask just to one of the wing-backs to collapse behind, depending where the ball is, in the way to rebuild a four-man backline, you will have four defenders facing three forwards, still having an extra man, four against three, in the middle of the pitch.
In a league like MLS, with teams often looking to pass vertically when they have the ball, packing the centre of defence with three men is a good idea, especially when your team lacks speedy centre-backs. In the offensive end, we could have centre-halves stepping up into midfield and playing with the ball, allowing the wing-backs to push even higher.
Obviously, playing 3-5-2 isn’t for everyone. It’s an approach that requires specific skills and playing a three-man defence isn’t simply removing an extra defenders from a four-men defence. It requires time to acclimate and time will tell if Solá’s approach can be successful in MLS.
Michele Tossani is a football tactician with a Ph.D. in History. Michele resides in Florence, Italy and is a tactical analyst for Futbol-Tactico.com
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