The two more attack-minded midfielders are often positioned in the inside channels and provide forward runs between the winger and centre-forward to get into crossing positions.

The midfield three provide passing options for both build-up and attacking play. This will, in turn, create space centrally for midfielders or wide forwards to move into. These runs are often to try and get on the end of through balls, and in the process push the opposition’s defence back into deeper territory. The forward can drop short to link and help create overloads in central midfield, or provide direct runs beyond the opposition. The lone centre-forward moves across the pitch as the attack builds, pinning the opposition’s ball-side centre-back. A winger moving infield, meanwhile, creates space on the outside for a full-back to overlap into. Wingers holding a wide position can help create space infield for an attacking midfielder to run into. The latter approach is common for wrong-footed wingers or inside forwards, who aim to come off the flank and shoot at goal.

The main responsibility for the wingers is isolating full-backs and attacking in one-on-one situations – either working around the outside of their opponents to cross, or cutting inside to combine. What are the players' in-possession responsibilities in a 4-3-3? It was these teams’ tactics that led to the concept of Total Football and encouraged the likes of Johan Cruyff to use a 4-3-3 when he became a coach, too. By 1962, Brazil had adapted once more to create a 4-3-3 structure in which Mário Zagallo dropped from the front line into midfield.Īt the next World Cup, in England in 1966, the hosts and eventual winners used a more permanent defensive midfielder – Nobby Stiles – in a 4-1-2-3 formation.Īlthough the 4-3-3 was then used across Italy, Argentina and Uruguay for years to come, Rinus Michels’ Netherlands and Ajax sides of the 1970s were two of the most famous for inspiring the use of a 4-3-3 shape.

They went on to use this formation at the 1958 World Cup, which they won. In response to the 1950 World Cup final defeat at home to Uruguay, Brazil started to use a back line of four in a 4-2-4 formation. The front line is then composed of two wide attackers who play on either side of a single centre-forward. The most common set-up in midfield is one deeper player – the single pivot – and two slightly more advanced to either side. The 4-3-3 is a formation that uses four defenders – made up of two centre-backs and two full-backs – behind a midfield line of three.

Soccer position numbers 4 2 3 1