3-5-2/5-3-2: Worth Taking A Look At?

Courtesy of Toto-artist

Friday night saw the top two teams in Italy, Juventus and Napoli, face off in a tense 1-1 draw. The match was played at a high tempo and there were tackles, and elbows, flying in all over the place. A great watch by anyone's standards.

What I couldn't help but notice as an Englishman watching a foreign football match was that not one but both teams lined up in a 3-5-2 formation, and it worked. This prompted me into thinking if this kind of system would work for an English team, or even the England team. After all we saw Terry Venables play it a couple of times in Euro '96 to some success and it seems that most of the pieces are in place for a possible revival.

Why Use It?

This formation is first and foremost used to provide extra defensive cover against a very strong attacking team; it provides you with more opportunities to snuff out an attacking team or an individual attacking player, such as Ronaldo or Messi. However, Brazil won the World Cup with it in 2002 and they were a very attacking team themselves so it is not solely for defensive purposes. In this mode it was used to free up the attacking talents of Rivaldo, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho without a single one of them having to worry about tracking back. In this way you almost negate your own midfield and therefore it is not a formation to be played with by the likes of Barcelona or Arsenal, who like to keep ball in the middle of the pitch.

Wing-Backs/Wide Midfielders

The first thing that has to be addressed when playing this kind of system are the wing-backs, who are the most important players in this system without a shadow of a doubt. A big issue is whether you play wing backs in the wide positions (5-3-2), thereby opening yourself up to the criticism of being too defensive, or wide midfielders (3-5-2), which could be perceived as too gung ho. The match on Friday saw Juventus playing with Lichtsteiner and Peluso; and Napoli with Maggio and Zuniga, all of whom are recognised wing backs with the possible exception of Zuniga who has also played at wide midfield. More importantly is that all of these players are very capable going forward, the most defensive of these is definitely Lichtsteiner and he already has 4 goals this season. Throughout history 5-3-2 has relied on talented, and very fit, wing-backs. The Brazil team of 2002 had two of the best wing-backs of all time in Roberto Carlos and Cafu.

Roberto Carlos - One of the best Wing-Backs ever
(courtesy of  Рыбакова Елена)

This kind of attacking wing back is essential in a 5-3-2 system as without them your are setting up to camp in your own half. It is also this type of wing-back that is extremely prevalent in the Premiership at present. You look around the top teams and see players like Baines, Evra and Rafael, Zabaleta, Walker and Johnson: wing-backs who chip in with their fair amount of goals and assists. Perhaps the only team in the top 7 who currently play with more orthodox full-backs are Chelsea who, with a combination of Azpilicueta, Ivanovic and Ashley Cole, leave their forward play to their vast array of talented attackers, but even Cole knows how to find the net.

Back in '96 Venables was not so defensively-minded. Darren Anderton and player of the tournament (!) Steve McManaman were the wide players, neither of whom could ever have been described as a wing-back, and this turned the formation into more of a true 3-5-2. All very well but this system relies heavily on your...

Centre-Backs

Next in the spotlight are your three centre-backs. Going back the Serie A match on Friday night Juventus and Napoli both played with three orthodox centre-backs, with the exception of Juventus' Giorgio Chiellini who has also played at left-back. Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus) and Paolo Cannavaro (Napoli) played the sweeper role giving their fellow centre-backs more of a licence to rush out and quash any potential threats coming from the space between the midfield and attack of the opposing team. The only point in the game where this idea fell apart was the Napoli goal, where Gokhan Inler was given far too much space on the edge of the box and was able to smash a shot goal-ward which was somewhat fortunately deflected past Buffon.

Playing three centre-backs is likely to be an idea against which there will be a lot of resistance. You just don't see it anymore in the English game. But this is not to say that it isn't possible; Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea all have three very capable centre backs who are regularly rotated and could easily play this formation with a bit of practice.

The centre backs who were used by Venables were not so orthodox, Tony Adams was the sweeper with Stuart Pearce on the left and Gareth Southgate or Gary Neville on the right. These formed more of a back three with two players who were just as comfortable defending on the wings as they were in the centre which allowed the wide-midfielders to be more relaxed about tracking back.

The Anchor Man

The final player to be considered is the anchor man, the midfielder who sits just in front of the back three and in between the wing-backs to protect and fall in if more cover is needed. Paul Ince was the perfect man for the job in ‘96 and Gilberto Silva played the role magnificently for the Brazilians in 2002. Manchester United/England seem to have a ready-made man for it in Phil Jones and Chelsea have got David Luiz who seems to prefer that role to the restrictive centre-back position. Combined with the anchor man you have a deep lying playmaker, such as Pirlo on Friday, who can collect the ball and instantly look to spread the ball forwards to one of your attacking players.

Who Could Use It?

This could be a very useful formation for a game like that which Manchester United are playing tomorrow night. Dealing with Cristiano Ronaldo is going to be extremely tough and having Evra/Rafael backed up by three centre-backs and Phil Jones would be sure to make life difficult for the Portuguese maestro. It would also give Rooney, Van Persie and Kagawa more licence to stay up the pitch, giving Mourinho more to think about there.

England would also be a possibility. It is more than likely that the 2014 World Cup will see Leighton Baines and Glen Johnson or Kyle Walker in the wing-back positions, three of the best attack-minded defenders in the Premiership. As for the centre-backs Joleon Lescott , Gary Cahill and Phil Jagielka would form the perfect defensive three with Phil Jones sitting just in front.

However there is a good chance that England’s love for 4-4-2 and now 4-3-3 will eclipse this mini-revival, but who knows, formations have spread before and perhaps it won’t be long before we see the return of 3-5-2 to the English game.