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Van Gaal's formation is the wrong fit for his personnel
Andrew new author
Roar Rookie
21st August, 2014
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Louis van Gaal (Paul blank / Wiki Commons)
Andrew new author
Roar Rookie
21st August, 2014
10

Louis van Gaal, welcome to the stage. Manchester United’s new manager has not only managed to lead his team to their first opening day loss at Old Trafford since 1972, he has done it attempting to play a 3-5-2.

In doing so, he has set tongues wagging around the world not only about the result, but also about his chosen modus operandi.

It was all champage and cigars when Van Gaal’s 3-5-2 demolished Spain at the World Cup, but a loss to the 37-year-old Garry Monk, managing Swansea, has put a bit of a dampener on things.

You see, one of the great things about football not shared with many other sporting codes is the ability to alter formations before or during games, as well as tactics and personnel. Just ask anybody scratching their head over a fantasy team they have opened in the next tab.

Recently, the supremacy of Spain and Barcelona on the world football stage has led to a widespread love of the 4-3-3, while the tradition until recent times in England was delightfully well spelled out in Mike Bassett- ‘We’re playing 4-4-f**king-2′.

But I digress. Has Van Gaal lost the plot completely, or does 3-5-2 actually make a lot of sense? Harry ‘I’m no wheeler-dealer’ Redknapp’s QPR opened the 2014/15 season with this formation, Steve Bruce spent much of season 2013/14 employing three at the back and even the master of tiki-taka himself, Pep Guardiola, has recently been playing with three at the back.

The Italians have been doing it for years. In fact, Aston Villa and Liverpool tried it at times last season with some success, and even now it could be argued that Liverpool are playing with three at the back as Steven Gerrard drops deep between the centre-halves and the fullbacks push high.

So why is it happening and is Van Gaal actually as bonkers as he seems? Does he not understand English football? Or is this the start of a trend that will not only work at United, but also become a go-to formation around the world?

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The problem facing most coaches is how to balance the fine line between wanting to dominate possession and scoring goals. Unfortunately, unless blessed with the Xavi, Iniesta or Messi, this is far easier said than done.

Possession is incredibly hard to control without enough midfielders, while without enough strikers goals are hard to come by. And here lies the $64 million 4-3-3 question. Do you drop the wingers in to create a midfield overload, or keep them high to create a goalscoring threat? Keep them high and you struggle to get control of the game, drop them in and you end up having a single striker looking lonelier than a ginger in a nightclub.

Enter Mr Van Gaal and friends. The 3-5-2 provides five midfielders to control possession while still allowing two central strikers to provide goals. And the added bonus is that there is enough room for them to both operate within the width of the box, rather than needing to do most of their work near the sidelines.

No, maybe he’s not crazy after all. And maybe Harry, Steve and Pep are onto something too. Oh, and the Italians of course. Maybe the problem isn’t the formation at all. Maybe it’s the fact that regardless of formation, when the likes of Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Tyler Blackett, Anders Lindegaard and Ashley Young are doing the defending, you’re up the proverbial creek.

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