What Ever Happened to 4-4-2 What Ever Happened to 4-4-2

A famous manager once said:Ladies and Gentlemen, England will be playing 4-4-f*****g-2But for youngsters out there willing to become profe sional footballers, the 4-4-2 formation may end up being a thing of the past by the time they get to playing.The modern football team seem to have adopted this new style of play of a 4-2-3-1; 4 defenders, 2 holding midfielders, 3 attacking midfielders and wingers and a lone centre forward. And to be honest, I can see the appeal. Youve got your solid back four, which will be covered by at least one of your holding midfielders should one of your centre backs go roaming; whilst the other holding midfielder can venture forward every now and again with the faith that the other will cover for him. The attacking midfielders still give you the width you need with a play-maker in the hole behind the centre forward it works. But its boring Kyle Long Jersey isnt it? Next time you watch another game on TV and they show you how the teams are going to line up, I would say the majority of premiership teams will line up this way. But there are some quality footballers on show; majority of which are in that midfield 5.I feel sorry for forwards. (And yes being a centre forward myself does make me a little bias.) But in this day and age in football, there seems to be le s demand for a striking partnership meaning theres only one spot in the squads starting XI in which the centre forward can fit in. And even then hes going to be playing up there on his own. Which from experience is hard work.So why have we ditched the striking partnership? All you have to do is look back a couple of years in the footballing history books to see the likes of; Andy Cole and Peter Beardsley at Newcastle United, with a combined 55 goals in 42 games; Kevin Phillips and Nial Quinn at Sunderland, with a combined 44 goals in 38 games; the list goes on and on. We can go back even further too; Kenny Dalglish and Ian Rush; Linekar and Beardsley; and my absolute favourite of the bunch Ian Wright and Mark Bright at Crystal Palace. So why why why oh why has football evolved that only one striker gets a shout in the starting XI?I think there are two reasons:1)The game has become a lot more technical than physical, meaning the need for talented, Danny Trevathan Jersey flicky, pansy midfielders has increased.2)Everybodys trying to emulate bloody Barcelona.Well focus on number 1 first.The beautiful game has become a lot le s physical and a lot more technical. And it does make it more beautiful to watch. But the price you pay for beautiful football seems to be a centre forward. There isnt a need anymore for a big man up top for a flick on. There isnt a need for a big man and a small man up front to play off of each other; because the use of all of these technical footballers in midfield mean they can pa s it around outside the oppositions penalty area andthenthread it through to the centre forward.But the need for a forward is decreasing also because midfielders are scoring goals now. The top 3 goal scoring midfielders in the premiership are Frank Lampard, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes. And this goes to show the evolution of midfield football; the top 3 goal scorers have all been playing in the last 2 seasons. Football is evolving, and it is now the age of the midfielder. Midfielders are scoring goals, so why do you need a striker?But even this isnt 100% of the time. I remember when Roberto Di Matteo was manager of Chelsea and his furthest forward Jim McMahon Jersey player on the park was Eden Hazard. In which case there was no centre forward at all. Again this isnt the only case. Barcelona do it all the time. And that brings me nicely onto point number 2 why the HELL does everyone INSIST on Khalil Mack Jersey playing like Barcelona?Barcelona play beautiful football. Theres no doubt about it. But is it not pathetic that the whole world licks Barcelonas metaphorical a s because they play so much good football? Barcelona this, Barcelona that. Beave. If I was a football manager I would implement a style of play that was mine, that other people would want to emulate. But I would do it with the players and talent I had available to me.Im going to use England as an example. We have decided to adopt this 4-2-3-1 approach to playing, and I have also noticed an increasing amount of me sing around with the football outside the oppositions penalty area. And I think I can answer the question of Why are England so crap nowadays? Its because we believe we are better than we are. We believe we have the ability to try and play like Barcelona, pa s the ball around and me s about with it. No. We cannot afford to do that and we cant actually do it. We give the ball away so much because we try and pa s it around with no actual purpose at all. It seems to be pa sing for the sake of it. Steven Gerrard plays netball nowadays, and will never take the space in front of him. Gareth Barry, James Milner, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Michael Prince Amukamara Jersey Carrick are all available to play in the 4-2-3-1 formation; yet all of them run like theyre wearing concrete boots. We have the most pedestrian midfield in the world, and yet we still believe we have the ability to pa s and move, pa s and move, pa s and move our way into the oppositions goal.Play to your strengths is what Im trying to say here. Use whats available to you and dont over estimate your squads ability. I remember Gary Lineker tweeting #prayforstrikers and I tell you what, I am. They are a dying breed; and that is because of the increasing nature of technical football in the modern game. I suppose, for the game, its not a bad thing. It can bring some fantastic football to watch; but its a shame that the centre forward seems to be dying out. And to be honest, Ill use that excuse next time someone asks me why I never became a profe sional footballer:Nah, they just wanted to play like Barcelona; apparently a prolific centre forward who scores goals to win games isnt whats needed right now.(Not that Im bitter.)