Guest Article: Injury Time Equaliser - Could the 4-6-0 Become a Common Sight?

This year’s World Cup saw Spain raise a few eyebrows as they started their campaign without a recognised striker when they lined up against Italy. Torres, Negredo and Llorente watched on from the subs bench as Vicente Del Bosque packed the park with small, tricky and agile midfield players.


 

Spain aren’t the first team to have played without a recognised striker in recent times however. Craig Levein set his Scotland side in this formation as his side travelled to Czech Republic. But the difference is Levein went out to park the bus with no intention of attacking the Czech goal - this was rightly criticised by pretty much everyone. This is not how to play the formation.

The 4-3-3 formation has been the chosen for many clubs in the Premier League for several years now, since Jose Mourinho had so much success at Stamford Bridge. Like Spain showed, a ‘false number nine’ poses a different challenge for defences to deal with.

Arsenal played against Southampton with Gervinho as the lone striker, but the Ivorian wasn’t always found battling with the centre backs. Traditionally used as a winger by Wenger, Gervinho drifted here there and everywhere, often vacating the striker position.

I think the 4-6-0 formation is suited to teams like Arsenal who play ‘Tiki Taka’ football where all of the players are comfortable on the ball and are constantly moving into space. If Gervinho dropped deep, someone else would fill in the position and that’s where the problems arise. With so many players moving around the pitch, how do you track runners?

Is there a claim for the 4-6-0 formation to be the next popular formation? Giroud will be hoping the answer is no.

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