The 4-5-1 The killer of entertaining football?

4-5-1 is a counter-attack tactic. 9/10 people behind the ball and 2/3 ready for the counter from the wings. Greece did it, Chelsea does it, some weaker teams do it...and it works. And that's because 4-5-1 fills up the midfield...and makes the opposite team to get nervous. Then...the free-kicks...and the corners...and the penaltys...Yes, it kills entertaining football. But what counts is the goals after the 90 minutes.

However...my NT...Portugal plays 4-5-1...and their football is one of the best in the world right now. And that's because with 4-5-1 it is very easy to transform into 4-3-3...we see in Portugal C.Ronaldo and Figo go many times to the wings and own the defenders and try to cross to the opposite winger or to Pauleta...or even to Maniche long range. But then there is a problem...Portugal can't score many goals in important games...

What I can conclude is that it depends of the players skills. It is normal that a teams with quick wingers and almost no quality midfielders makes a more defensive play...but with good midfielders...everything can change...because it fills up the midfield...

Jambo Den said:

I think what you're seeing now is a realisation of how important the midfield battle is. Managers now see this is where the game is won and lost and flood the midfield to try and increase their chances of winning the battle.

However, it's all about how the midfield is set up. Some teams can just play 5 flat out midfielders (including a couple Makalele style DMs) and try and strangle the football being played by the other side, but as others have pointed out teams like Portugal and Holland put an emphasis on wide players, often turning into a 4-3-3 when they're attacking, and when they're in full flow it looks fantastic to watch. Just means that the wide players e.g. Robben, C. Ronaldo etc need to have a good option to get in support and run beyond the main striker.

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The midfield battle is important as hell, but when you see both teams flooding the mid with players (half of them being of average quality) you get a pretty atrocious thing to watch. And even so, winning the midfield battle doesnt mean winning the game.

Liverpool outplayed Man Utd, got more possesion and still didnt manage to score.

I didn't really tought that Liverpool outclassed Man Utd. It was a pretty even game IMO...

Liverpool played 4-5-1 also most of the time infact... sometimes yes it's freaking boring... and it shows with the amount of goals we scored in the league.... it's just alarming.... but i still think that it's our striker problem and not the tactical problem... :boohoo:

4-5-1 was originally created by the Deportivo team which won the Spanish league some seasons ago. The idea comes from a formation which has two layers of midfield so the formation at that time was 4-2-3-1. Two defensive midfielders covering the midfield while three offensive types will do the attacking. So you see, 4-5-1 is anything but being defensive. It`s the same formation the France NT which won the Euro 2000 used, the three attacking midfielder at that time was Henry, Zidane and Pires, while Vieira and "Dede" Deschamps doing the dirty work.

The 4-5-1 that`s commonly used these days are the lates evolution of the 4-2-3-1 system, only these time you got three defensive midfielder and two wingers. A team would not be able to utilize this formation when you got no good central midfielders who can attack as well as defend. Andrea Pirlo is an example of a perfect midfielder for this formation, cos` he got this offensive vision of his that he got for playin` playmaker some years ago, but he is also got the defensive attribute of a defensive midfielder.

So that`s the short story of 4-5-1 that I can remember. Is this an offensive of defensive strategy ? It`s up to you to judge. But killing football ? Definitely not, this formation on the other hand will give even more variety in tactics, strategy and techniques. Football is beautiful because it evolves and developes from time to time, so that`s why it will never be boring.

It's just a phase.. that's all. So, chill out everybody who is freaking out. Go take a vacation!

Arsenal seem to have found a way around it.

I'm prepared to defend diving all season now.

Get ready for Sol Campbell, Pascal Cygan, Phillipe Senderos, and Kolo Toure to lead the goal scoring charts.

Amika said:

but i still think that it's our striker problem and not the tactical problem... :boohoo:

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It is. You got someone like Crouch who's strong in the air and can hold up the ball but Benitez has him playing alone. He needs a striker-partner.

Johnny_Big said:

I didn't really tought that Liverpool outclassed Man Utd. It was a pretty even game IMO...

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If the game had to be a winner, you know it would be Liverpool. In the second half we create a few chances, and Man Utd didnt do anything.

Christ. I've just got back from playing a match, just simple Sunday League Under 17's football, and our opponents played a 4-5-1 . Meh, our 4-4-2 owned them

I've said the same thing in previous threads, I do not think lone striker system works. It just makes the striker more vunerable, I mean, come on, 4 against 1, you'd be feeding the ball to the striker and he would have no one else to support him unless the midfield are more in an attacking role, pushing up further.

The 4-5-1 may be effective but I'd hate to play as a striker in one. Though I guess it all matters who is behind you. If you've got some attackive midfielders/wingers then it pretty much turns into a 4-3-3 which is what I'm in now.