What’s the right Socceroos formation? 3-5-2 is the Socceroos current formation, the same one used at Premier League champs Chelsea.
This version, instead of having two straight out centre-forwards, Chelsea and Australia have one who plays deeper than the other. With Chelsea, Alvaro Morata goes deep, playing as a target man and Eden Hazard does the playmaking.
The only difference with Chelsea’s and Australia’s formation is that instead of having two central defensive midfielders and an attacking midfielder (Cesc Fabregas), Australia play with a defensive midfielder (Mile Jedinak or Mark Milligan) and two central midfielders.
This creates a diamond, with Jedinak or Milligan quickly passing the ball to Mooy, Luongo or anyone else who plays as a central midfielder. Then the central midfielders will pass the ball to the second striker/playmaker Tommy Rogic or Jackson Irvine.
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It will be difficult for the three at the back to defend against France with quality attackers, Antoine Griezmann, Kingsley Coman, Anthony Martial, Kylian Mbappe, Olivier Giroud, Dimitri Payet and Gameiro.
They will most likely play four out of the seven, and their usual formation, 4-2-3-1. The defensive midfielder is very important because it can drop deep and when there are defensive issues, the defensive midfielder can play as a centre back for the duration, making the left and right centre back play as full backs.
Mark Milligan is also familiar playing as a defender, centre or right back.
The central midfield to the second striker may not work against France, because as some say, even if Australia had the possession, it would be increasingly difficult to get the ball to the striker especially with the quality defensive midfielders Tiémoué Bakayoko, Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kanté and Blaise Matuidi.
They are some of the best interceptors and tacklers in the world, and they are quick to move the ball forward.
Also, injured second striker Rogic may simply not cause enough defensive problems against the French. He does play for Celtic and shows glimpses of class, but occasionally is very quiet, especially in the Japan game.
Rogic being lively will be very important for the Socceroos, but it is hard to see that happening, especially against an experienced French defence that is very hard to penetrate. In addition to this, the one up front occasionally lacks quality.
Tomi Juric and Tim Cahill are both inconsistent, with Nikita Rukavytsya more of a winger than a striker. Surprisingly, the 30-year-old has been scoring in the Israeli league, scoring four out of the club’s six goals.
But don’t get too carried away, it’s Israel and Rukavytsya’s team only scores an average of a goal a match. Overall, he’s scored six goals in 18 appearances.
Having only two people on the flank will make it very difficult to defend against the wingers and the full backs who might push up, but also, they will have a hard time attacking against four players.
This could result in the two central midfielders actually having to go out wide and defend against the two wingers, almost mimicking Australia’s old 3-3-3-1 used in the 2006 World Cup by Guss Hiddink.
Here was that formation used against Brazil, which Australia lost 2-0, with a goal from Fred in stoppage time:
GK 1 Mark Schwarzer, CB 3 Craig Moore, CB 2 Lucas Neill, CB 6 Tony Popovic, RM 7 Brett Emerton, CM 13 Vince Grella, LM 14 Scott Chipperfield, RW 5 Jason Culina, AM 4 Tim Cahill, LW 21 Mile Sterjovski, CF 9 Mark Viduka (c).
However, another solution is that the left and right centre backs move wider and play as full backs while getting defensive support from the midfield. Right centre backs Bailey Wright and Ryan Mcgowan can do this, but Matthew Jurman, the left centre back, generally only plays as a centre back or defensive midfielder.
It could be risky to be putting people in their unfamiliar positions.
Predicted formation: Mat Ryan, Bailey Wright, Trent Sainsbury, Matthew Jurman, Mark Milligan, Matt Leckie, Aaron Mooy, Massimo Luongo, Aziz Behich, Tom Rogic, Tomi Juric.
4-2-3-1/4-1-2-3, France’s formation, could be better suited.
It is a style for tight controlling, tika-taka football, which World Cup 2010 winners Spain used. Four defenders, two defensive midfielders helping the defence and an offensive midfielder to link the play between side midfielders and strikers.
The side midfielders also can play deeper, forming a front three. Australia used this formation in the 2014 World Cup against Chile, Netherlands, and Spain, but nine goals were conceded in those three matches. Australia doesn’t have a good record with the formation under former coach Ange Postercoglou, falling to 102nd in the world, their lowest FIFA Ranking.
So perhaps putting four at the back doesn’t necessarily mean that Australia will concede less. But the good thing is that there are a lot of players in the Australian squad against Honduras suited with this formation. It could also be useful in the future because Ante Milicic’s squad, the U23’s, use this formation.
GKs: Mat Ryan/Mitchell Langerak/Danny Vukovic
LBs: Aziz Behich/Alex Gersbach
CBs: Trent Sainsbury/Matthew Jurman/Ryan McGowan/Milos Degenek
RBs: Bailey Wright/Josh Risdon
CDMs: Mile Jedinak/Aaron Mooy, Massimo Luongo/Mark Milligan
CAMs: Jackson Irvine/Tommy Rogic
LAMs, RAMs: Robbie Kruse/Nikita Rukavytsya, Matthew Leckie/James Troisi
STs: Tim Cahill/Tomi Juric
The 4-2-3-1 has six defenders and four attackers.
The 4-1-2-3 formation led Australia to win the Asian cup in 2015, could be used instead of the 4-2-3-1. But it is more attacking, leaving fewer people on defence.
In this formation, the difference between the 4-2-3-1 is the LAM and RAM become LW and RW, as a result, play wider, suiting Leckie and Rukavytsya better.
Also, in this formation, there are two CAMs, and one CDM. In 2016, an example of this is (CAM) Mooy, (CDM) Jedinak and (CAM) Rogic. The four at the back and the striker are the same.
On the transition to defend against the opposing wingbacks, this formation can turn into a 4-5-1 formation, meaning the winger’s retreat, but the attacking midfielders stay where they are.
Four of Antoine Griezmann, Kingsley Coman, Anthony Martial, Kylian Mbappe, Olivier Giroud, Dimitri Payet and Kevin Gamerio will play up front, with six Australians defending against them. It seems more likely to keep these players quiet.
Australia’s attacking in the opposition half would be crucial, however, if they were to win.
However, you don’t have to take my word for it. Which formation would you pick?
fabian gulino
Roar Rookie
4-3-2-1.
Paul
Guest
I'd keep Goodwin as an A.M and bring Izzo in now. Possibly bring in Petratos for Kruse.
Paul
Guest
I wouldn't give him a gig.
Paul
Guest
I think once he sees our lack of depth at the back he'll go 4-2-3-1
Redondo
Guest
From what I’ve seen of Williams this season he’d be off inside 10 mins against France.
Redondo
Guest
Rukavytsya is not worth any more chances. Why not try a young guy who might eventually be a good footballer.
Redondo
Guest
I didn’t see those games Nemesis but from what I have seen of Wright he’s good defensively but a liability with the ball. Against good teams, it will be risky playing out through Wright at right back. He also adds little to the attack. It might be better to convert a good defensive midfielder - Milligan has played there and done ok or someone like Brillante. Wilkshire is great for A-League but might be bit a slow now for a World Cup. Behich and Gersbach seem way too left-footed to swap over to right back.
Nemesis
Guest
From the players that were used in squads during the Qualifiers, here are my potential candidates for the 23 man squad. In brackets are new youth, or experienced, names that could be used. There are obviously many more possibles, but I've just chosen one. GK: Ryan, Vukovic, Langerak, (Jones) RB: Wright, Degenek, (Wilkshire) LB: Behich, Gersbach, Goodwin, (Meredith) CD: Sainsbury, Jurman, Rhys Williams, Mrčela, (Spiranovic) DM: Jedinak, Milligan, Luongo, Irvine, Amini, (Brillante) AM: Mooy, Rogić, Leckie, Kruse, (De Silva) ST: Jurić, MacLaren (Giannou)
Cousin Claudio
Roar Guru
The great advantage Van Marwijk has over Postecoglou is that he is more mature and flexible with his choice of tactics and formations and will not blindly and stubbornly stick to his same tactics or formation every game. Bert's tactics will change every game or even during the same game and that's what you need in tournament play. The way we play against France will be different to the way we play Peru and Denmark. You can count on that. His favoured formations are the 4-1-3-2 or 4-2-3-1 where he places great importance on one or two defensive midfielders patrolling in front of the back four, holding possession and cleaning up any dangerous attacks from the opposition. Players like the Jedi, Brillante, Wright, Valeri, Williams and Milligan will have very important roles to play while he will look to very fast attacking wingmen and stikers to play that lightning fast counter attack that the Footballroos have often been the victim of lately, He doesn't favour stodgy holding players and prefers fast mobile midfielders and attackers. Keep possession and position when you need to, but be ready to play the telling long pass and run on to it with pace. He may well employ the park the bus tactics and physical approach against France, who even he would concede are superior technically. Its a tactic that won Italy the WC in 2006 and got Holland to the final of 2010. Against Denmark or Peru he will play maybe one more attacking midfielder and look for the counter attack and sometimes long ball into the space ahead. Denmark, Peru and the Footballroos will fancy their chances against each other and will lead to some fascinating open, attacking play for all 3 games. Looking forward to ithe WC; ours may be a more open group than we think, especially with Bertie calling the plays.
Sam
Guest
Correct - didn’t see that! And to be honest I wouldn’t have thought he would have it in him, so that is good to hear. Interesting that there is a lot of talk about BVM continuing with Ange’s ‘template’ so to speak. I would doubt that he will continue with a back three, but that remains to be seen. If he DOES stick with the back three then absolutely Bailey is one of the first picked. Still have doubts about him as an out and out RB over the course of an entire tournament.
Grobbelaar
Roar Guru
Kangajets It's a run of the mill 4-2-3-1 by any other name (a variety of which has been used by the majority of WC coaches for nearly two decades now), and it's as " conservative" or "attacking" as you want, depending on the manager's game-day instructions and the players at your disposal, i.e. the broad shape of the formation is neutral, it's what you do with it that matters. Having said that, it's a good point being made above by Nemesis that Leckie would far prefer to play as a true winger than to be burdened by the defensive responsibilities which come with Ange's 3-1-4-2 (or variations thereof, often looking more like a 3-6-1).
That A-League Fan
Roar Guru
Thanks, Nemesis. But to be honest, if Wright couldn't play right back, I would most likely have preferred 3 at the back.
Nemesis
Guest
You obviously didn't watch Bailey Wright playing against Manchester United (QF) & Manchester City (2 legs SF) in the League Cup in December 2017 & Jan 2018? In the match against Man United he played Right Back and, from memory, in the away leg vs Man City he also played Right Back. He was outstanding playing against opponents who are as good, if not better than, the opponents he'll confront in Russia.
Sam
Guest
If Bailey Wright/Josh Risdon are our RBs against France, we are in for a hell of a time. Wright can play CB. Risdon has consistently been disappointing for the Socceroos. Surely it's time to see if Gersbach can play on the opposite flank. I would take that over installing an aging and increasingly less effective Milligan, a slow and lumbering Degenek or a completely tactically inept McGowan any day of the week. RB and ST are our most pressing problems. Overflowing with talent in central midfield, so the question is who misses out under Marwijk's system? My guess is Rogic will be moving to the bench as an impact sub.
Cool N Cold
Guest
"4 at the back , 2 defensive midfielders and 4 attackers free to roam ..." ............................Ryan....................... Degenek, Sainsbury, Jurman, Behich ................Jedinak........Milligan.......... Kruse.................Mooy..............Leckie ..........................Cahill........................ Defending enough?
Kangajets
Guest
4 at the back , 2 defensive midfielders and 4 attackers free to roam .., that’s Ernie merrick at the jets ... Sounds good ..... I thought Van Marwijk was a bit more conservative, but looking forward to what he does with the Socceroos . I back him to get it right .
Nemesis
Guest
Maybe, this article was written before the appointment of Bert van Marwijk? So, now that we know the coach, we can review his previous coaching to get a better idea about the system, structure & philosophy the AUS National Team could follow. According to Brett Emerton, who was coached by van Marwijk at Feeeynord for 3 seasons & they won the UEFA Cup in 2002... He favours, but is not wedded to, a system of four at the back, two defensive midfielders and four attacking players given licence to roam – the last element something Saudi Arabia did so well when qualifying for the World Cup under the Dutchman. Emerton reckons one Socceroo in particular may benefit. “He always played with two out and out players out wide,” added Emerton. “It might bring a smile to Mat Leckie’s face. Leckie under (Ange) was given a defensive responsibility, (van Marwijk) might just see him as an all-out attacker which would be good to see. “He was able to adapt, make small adjustments to play a few systems." Full story: https://www.foxsports.com.au/football/socceroos/brett-emertons-insight-into-bert-van-marwijk-coaching-record-style-of-new-socceroos-boss/news-story/5a563280b5eaf2da45e99c4de297bd06
Nick Symonds
Guest
4-4-2 keep it simple.
Simoc
Guest
Given the new coach has apparently used an identical formation through every team he has coached it should be a safe bet to say he won't change.
Kangajets
Guest
4-5-1. With a midfielder with a bit of freedom to attack .