🔗 Share this article

Some fixtures just don’t sound right. Maybe it’s just about imaginable that, had things gone slightly differently in the 70s, Malcolm Allison or another manager coaching their side behind the Iron Curtain for a crack at the legendary tactical masterminds, but Dynamo Kyiv against Crystal Palace remains a clash that elicits a double-take. It seems like a mismatch: how can those teams possibly be in the identical competition?

However this is the contemporary world. Ukraine is fighting invasion, its sides weakened. The English top flight is extremely rich. And Crystal Palace are managed by among the emerging talents of the continental game. They not only play each other on Thursday, but they won with a notable comfort. It was their third straight win, their 19th consecutive match without defeat.

Coaching Speculation and Future Steps

And so, because no team of their stature can even just be allowed to enjoy a winning streak, all the talk is of which club Oliver Glasner could move to. His contract expires at the conclusion of the season and he has refused to sign an renewal. He is fifty-one; if he is going to lead a major team with the chance of an extended tenure in charge, he lacks a great deal of time to secure a transition. Might he then be the solution for the Red Devils? He indeed, after all, play the same formation as Ruben Amorim, just rather more effectively.

Strategic System and Cultural Background

Which brings up the question of why a system that has drawn so much scepticism at United works so effectively at Palace. But it’s never only about the formation, nor is it the situation – within reason – that one formation is inherently better than a different one. Rather specific tactical shapes, in combination with the manner they are implemented, prioritise particular elements of the game. It is, at the minimum, intriguing that since Harry Catterick’s Everton claimed the championship in 1962-63 with a W-M formation, only one side has secured the English league title using with a back three: the Italian’s Blues in 2016-17.

Antonio Conte’s team won the title in that season with a back three and effectively two No 10s.

That success was something of a rare occurrence. The London club that campaign had no continental commitments, allowing them fresher than their rivals, and they had squad members who fit the system virtually remarkably perfectly.

N’Golo Kanté, with his endurance and reading of the game, is almost a duo in one, and he was operating at the base of the engine room together with the calming presence of Nemanja Matic and Cesc Fàbregas, among the most penetrating playmakers the Premier League has known. That provided the platform for the dual playmakers: Eden Hazard, who revelled in his unrestricted position, and Pedro, a master of the run into the penalty area. Every one of those players was enhanced by their partnership with the teammates.

Systemic Reasons and Strategic Difficulties

To an extent, the comparative absence of titles for the three-man defense, at least in terms of winning titles, is cultural. Few teams have secured the title using a back three because not many sides have played a back three. The World Cup win in 1966 cemented in the national mindset the efficacy of zonal marking with a back four.

That stayed the standard, nearly without question, for the twenty years that ensued. But there may additionally be particular strategic reasons. A back three gets its breadth from the wingbacks; it could be that the extreme high-energy style of the British football makes the requirement on those individuals excessive to be undertaken consistently.

However the 3-4-2-1 presents particular difficulties. It is solid, offering the trapezoid structure – a trio of central defenders shielded by two holders – that is commonly recognised as the most effective way to defend against opposition fast breaks. But that is only one aspect of the match. If they advance forward from the protection of the three defenders, given the prevalence of formations with a central trio, a pair of midfield players will often be outmanned without support from elsewhere – unless one of them has the exceptional gifts of the French dynamo.

Eddie Nketiah rejoices after netting his team’s second goal against the Ukrainian side.

Strengths and Limitations of the Approach

The inherent solidity of that compact defensive block, additionally, although an benefit for a side aiming to withstand attacks, becomes a possible drawback for a side that aim to take the game to the opposition. Its biggest strength is also its primary flaw. The rigid nature of the system, the way the center is divided into holders and creators – exclusively defensive mids and No 10s in modern terminology, with zero No 8s – means that without a player to step across lines there is a danger of being read easily; once more, the Blues had the ideal man to fill that role, David Luiz frequently advancing forward from the back three to become an additional midfield presence.

Divergent Styles at Selhurst and Old Trafford

Palace don’t care about possession. They have the second-least possession of all teams in the top division. It’s not at all their role to have the ball. And that is the main reason why a direct comparison with United’s difficulties is challenging. United, by history and by demand, can not be the side with the second-lowest ball retention in the league.

Although they chose to counterattack against other elite sides, the majority of their games will be against opponents who defend deeply and would be happy enough with a draw. In most games there is an onus on them to control the ball.

Maybe a progressive side could play a 3-4-2-1 but it requires very particular players – as Conte possessed at Stamford Bridge. The Austrian’s success with it has come at Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt, where he has been in a position to have his side sit deep and attack at speed.

They have defeated West Ham and West Ham, because the majority of sides do at the present, frustrated the Blues, and ripped Liverpool apart on the break. But they’ve additionally drawn at Selhurst Park to Nottingham Forest and Nottingham Forest, and found it hard to beat the Norwegian side. Sit deep against Palace and they have difficulty for creativity.

Adjustment and Future Possibilities

Would Glasner adjust were he to go