The 4-2-3-1 is a system that Arsenal, Real Madrid, Everton, Bayern Munich and many more professional teams use. The formation can be employed in many different ways depending on the personnel available. It can be used to play a conservative, defensively sound counter-attacking game or opened up for an ultra-offensive approach. The interchanging of positions, room for tactical adjustments, defensive soundness, room for creativity and overall fluidity of the system is what makes the 4-2-3-1 effective. This book will take you through the fundamental roles and responsibilities of each player within the system. It also provides multiple training exercises, explains and demonstrates individual and team movement patterns, covers the strategy of team defending and team attacking in the 4-2-3-1 and a number of ways to modify the system.

A comprehensive look at modern zone formations through the eyes of the author and ten high level professional Italian coaches. Arrigo Sacchi (Milan, Italian National Team), Marcello Lippi (Napoli, Inter, Juventus), Walter Novellino (Venezia, Napoli, Piacenza), Carlo Ancelotti (Parma, Juventus) and Renzo Ulivieri (Parma) are among the impressive list of contributors to this valuable coaching reference. Formations covered: 4:4:2 3:4:2:1 4:3:3 3:4:1:2 4:3:1:2 3:3:4 4:2:3:1 3:4:3

This 4-4-2 Diamond is written for coaches who want to study and teach this attacking formation. It not only provides theory and tactics but it contains ready to use training ground exercises which you can implement with your team right away. The book provides a detailed breakdown of individual player's roles & responsibilities in the formation, a complete tactical breakdown, realistic and specific 4-4-2 diamond training ground exercises/drills, various analyses of 4-4-2 diamond vs. other formations and much more. The information is in-depth and comprehensive, yet presented in a simple easy to follow logical way.

This collaborative project, led by top Italian soccer coaching tactician and writer Massimo Lucchesi, offers a complete and insightful analysis of the world's most popular playing system. Every aspect of the 4-4-2 is covered, including the characteristics of the players, defensive tactics, attacking schemes, training exercises and adjustments to counter the opponent's system.

This pioneering soccer book chronicles the evolution of the sport and how it has affected the lives of players, coaches, and fans–perfect for those who adore the timeless game. In Inverting the Pyramid, Jonathan Wilson offers a masterly global history of the world's game, from unruly beginnings to contemporary strategy. Fully revised and updated, this fifteenth-anniversary edition analyses the 2022 World Cup, charting the influence of the great Spanish, German and Portuguese tacticians of the last decade, whilst pondering the effects of football's increased globalization and commercialization. Inverting the Pyramid has been called the "Big Daddy" (Zonal Marking) of soccer tactics books; it is essential for all soccer afficionados.

The 3-3-1-3 is not an entirely new concept, though it has become more popular in recent years due to its dynamic attacking nature. In particular, former Chile National Team coach Marcelo Bielsa and former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss Pep Guardiola have implemented this system with great success. This book explores, in detail, the strengths and weaknesses of the system, the roles and responsibilities of each player in both attack and defense and the permutations of the team shape against different formations and in varying situations. Depending on the circumstances at any one moment of the match in terms of the score, the opponent’s tactics, time remaining etc., the formation could become a 1-3-4-3, a 1-2-3-2-3, or even a 1-5-4-1 in an ultimate defensive setup. This adaptability, the FLEX, is made possible by teaching players to recognize the rotations required "on the fly" by presenting them with very specific game situations in training. In this book, Harrison takes you through his training sessions geared toward developing in players the tactical and spatial awareness necessary to run the FLEX 1-3-3-1-3 successfully.

This book is a comprehensive resource for coaching the 4-3-3 formation at all levels. The level of detail will help you emulate how top coaches, such as Pep Guardiola, Maurizio Sarri and Jürgen Klopp use the 4-3-3 to great success. It will enable you to see all the solutions, in order to optimise your team's tactical awareness and performance.

This book covers both the attack and defense phases in these popular modern zone formations. Lucchesi starts with a discussion of the characteristics of the players at each position and builds into a comprehensive tactical overview complete with build-up options and attacking schemes in the attack and marking responsibilities and zonal movement in defense. Also includes schemes for countering specific formations.

Detail offers a unique insight into the many levels of depth and perspective that currently exist for coaches of the beautiful game. With almost 2 million listens to the Modern Soccer Coach Podcast, Gary has spent four years talking to some of the biggest and brightest names in the sport. At the same time, he's been working at the professional level and pursuing his own coaching journey. This book takes the life of a coach and goes deeper to question certain facets and separate theory from practice. From development to results and family to career advice, this book has everything for a coach who wants to explore coaching much deeper than sessions and games. In a tough profession, Gary delivers coaches with perspective that can help them navigate through the tough times and enjoy the good times.

The 3-5-2 is a very dynamic and flexible system; it can be an ultra-attacking formation or solid defensive formation depending on how it is deployed. In attack the 3-5-2 is numerically strong in the midfield and comes with the benefit of two strikers. Creating width in the attack is never a problem with two wingers and strikers that could also run the channels. The formation is naturally set-up to encourage movement off the ball with the interchanging of positions when in possession; the interchanging of positions and movement off the ball allows different players the opportunity to fill different spaces, making the 3-5-2 more dynamic and difficult for the opponent to predict and deal with. In the modern game I personally find many advantages to playing the 3-5-2 formation, due to its fluid attacking potential and less focus on keeping numbers back. The defensive side of the 3-5-2 presents the formations biggest challenges, yet it can also be seen as a strength if the players understand how to form a back four or five in the correct situations. With only three defenders in the back, covering space in deep wide areas must be addressed and dealt with effectively. In order to offset the possible defensive weakness that come with three players not being able to cover the entire width of the field, the coach must choose player personnel and more importantly the formations tactics wisely. In this book I will cover multiple ways the 3-5-2 can be played to maximize its strengths, while turning the formations possible negatives into positives. When breaking down and analyzing any formation, it is important to note that the difference between formations is about 10 yards in player positioning. You can make an argument that most formations are similar and difficult to identify once the game has started. The transition from defending to attacking and attacking to defending creates totally new shapes from the original formation. The game of soccer is a free-flowing game but inside that flow there must be a structure which drives individual and team decisions. The coach is the one who will lay out the important tactical guidelines for the execution of the formation, so it is important to note that the same formation can be carried out in many different ways, depending on the coach. Tactics that will influence the way the formation played include things like setting a line of restraint, establishing a line of confrontation, identifying pressing zones, outlining counter-attacking areas, realizing when to press or drop-off, addressing the overall style of soccer to be played, player personnel, work load, location of the game, weather conditions, field conditions and much more. All these factors will directly influence the way a formation is played.