When viewing a game, it might seem to a person who is not familiar with football that twenty-two people just randomly run around the field, trying to score a ball into the opposite goal. However, this is not at all true - football is an extremely tactical sport, and strategy plays a vital role here. Even the best players, entering the field without any scheme and idea, without a clear distribution of positions and responsibilities, will lose to organized, but weaker opponents.
The tactics of football is primarily based on schemes - the so-called constructions, which are very diverse. Initially, in football everyone played according to one scheme, which was known as the “pyramid”, but others gradually began to appear. And today there are a huge number of them. Some of them are more popular and often used, some are exotic specimens.
The tactics of football allows the coach to even change the scheme during the match, converting one structure to another. From this article you will learn about the classic schemes that were used when football was born, and you can also look at modern constructions. As already mentioned, now there are a lot of them, so only the most popular ones for today will be described here.
Pyramid
Scheme 2-3-5 - this is the so-called classic pyramid, it was with her that tactical football began. It was extremely simple and implied the presence of two defenders, three midfielders and five forwards, two of which would be extreme, two half-central, and one central.
This scheme originated in the late nineteenth century and was used by almost all teams until the thirties of the twentieth century, when the World Cups began to be held and this sport became much more competitive than entertaining.
In this formation, the defenders played an exclusively defensive role, the midfielders linked the attack and defense, the extreme attackers were fully responsible for the flank, including in the defensive aspect, well, the central striker was the main author of the goals and almost always became the top scorer. Such a football tactic was spectacular, but not particularly effective, therefore, with the development of football, another scheme appeared that completely replaced the pyramid.
Double-ve
The tactics of football since the beginning of the thirties have changed a lot, and this can be seen primarily in the double-ve scheme (3-2-5), which replaced its predecessor. It was then that football teams began to pay more attention to protecting their goal - the number of defenders increased to three, and the number of midfielders dropped to two. Two insiders played over them, who organized the attacks - and they ended with the central striker, who was assisted from the flanks by the wingers.
This scheme is called “double-ve” for the reason that when you look at it, you can highlight this letter, which is formed by the players of both defense and attack. However, this scheme, which initially seemed many levels higher than the previous one, also turned out to be imperfect - and this was proved in the mid-fifties, when the appearance of the 4-2-4 arrangement literally destroyed the 3-2-5 scheme. Soccer tactics are as close as possible to what can now be observed on the field.
Brazilian system
Almost all tactical schemes in football that you can see today on the field came from this structure, called the “Brazilian system”. 4-2-4 - this is the first scheme in history that used not two, not three, but as many as four midfielders, as well as not one, but two shock forwards. The secret was the fact that with a much more reliable defense, where one central defender could insure the other, and also each of them could insure the last defender for his part, the attack literally swept away the three-man defense.
This was achieved due to the fact that one of the two central attackers was pulled back during the attack, luring the central defender and opening access to the goal. That is how the Hungarian national team, which began to play according to the 4-2-4 scheme, was able to become the first European team to defeat the founders of English football, who played according to the 3-2-5 scheme.
But what does Brazilian football have to do with it? Why is the phrase “Brazilian system” used? The thing is that the Hungarians were one of the first to start using the new arrangement, and the Brazilians were the first to achieve serious success with it - right up to a landslide victory at the World Cup. That is why Brazilian football of that time is associated with this formation.
4-2-3-1
To date, the most popular and widely used scheme is 4-2-3-1 - that was the tactics of the Russian national football team at the 2016 European Championships in France.
Why is this building so popular? It is worth noting that four defenders is the main standard of modern football, which was introduced along with the Brazilian system and has not changed since then. Two central midfielders play above the line of defense, most often among them there is one breaker-breakwater, which acts as a kind of third central defender, playing a little higher, as well as box-to-box, that is, the central midfielder who plays from his own penalty box to someone else’s - it can help both in creation and in destruction.
Above these two midfielders is a playmaker, who is the main distributor, creative director, and attack generator. One central striker plays above him, and on the flanks of him on the flanks play the wings. This scheme is so popular due to its versatility - it is good both in attack and in defense, you can attack both through the center and through the flanks, you can hold the ball, or you can play on counterattacks. In general, this is the best arrangement to date.
Unfortunately, this tactic of the Russian national football team did not help her to perform adequately at the European Championships, but this is definitely not the fault of the tactical structure.
4-3-3
The second most popular for today is the 4-3-3 scheme, which differs from the previous one in that there is no clearly defined playmaker - there are three central midfielders, whose roles can vary greatly depending on the situation. Most often, with this arrangement, they play the so-called total football, the goal of which is complete domination on the field and maximum possession of the ball. However, given the high line of defense and strong pressure, this scheme is very vulnerable to counterattacks - that is why teams professing such football tend to simply prevent the opponent from taking possession of the ball. Naturally, the tactical schemes in football do not end there - further you will find other rather interesting constructions.
4-4-2
It is worth noting that this article does not discuss the tactics of football 8 on 8 - only building big football 11 on 11. In futsal there are fewer people on the field, respectively, and the construction will be different. So, with regard to less popular schemes, it is definitely worth remembering 4-4-2, which was very often used at the beginning of the zero. There are two options: in one, the team plays with two central midfielders and two wingers, and in the second, known as the “rhombus,” the midfielders form a rhombus in the center of the field.
4-3-2-1
The new pyramid implies a game focusing on attacks through the center. There are no pronounced wingers in this scheme, but there are three central midfielders, two insiders and one central striker. The entire attack is conducted through the center, which significantly narrows the capabilities of the team using this construction.
3-5-2
The game of three defenders in most cases is a thing of the past, but in Italy it is still used quite often. In this case, three central midfielders saturate the center of the field, while two extreme midfielders support attacks and, if necessary, return to defense. When using such a construction, it is not easy to find a balance between attack and defense - it was used for the “catenaccio”, where Italians went ahead with seven attack players to score one goal, after which two attackers remained ahead, and all the rest were in the penalty area or on the approaches to it for total defense.
5-3-2
This scheme is very similar to the previous one, but it is much more defensive. Now they are practically not using it, since its strength consisted in the presence of the libero - the central defender, who played in the box, the so-called "cleaner". He was the last bastion of defense in front of the goalkeeper and cleaned up for the rest of the defenders, who played a little higher.