One of the most widely used formations in the history of football but has its time been and gone? I know United like to use it still for some games, effectively I may add but its usually weaker teams and at Old Trafford but does it really have a place in the football world anymore. We saw England use it and look seriously outdated and far behind other teams at the Euros, I would suggest you would need to search very hard for evidence of any top european club using it in the recent past except for English clubs and I cant think of many national teams of real quality who do. Is it time for 4-4-2 to retire and let more fluid formations take over or is it still the staple of many a football club? Going on the United and Liverpool board btw.
442 has been dying for a while now, even teams that still use it play more of a 4411 with one of the strikers dropping deep, like Rooney for United and Van Der Vaart for spurs, and even those teams that use 4411 have evolved into using more of a 4231. Sent from my mobile
Still the best option for a club with real pace and quality down the flanks imo. Wingers and overlapping full backs will make it very difficult for any full back that doesn't have their own winger in support. The only reason it's declined recently is the lack of out and out wingers in the world game. All the good ones seem to be being converted into wide attackers like Ronaldo. Possibly a result of full backs getting fitter, and thus increasingly able to do the winger and full back job themselves.
I think that's more to do with the way tactics have evolved. Most full backs need to more competent playing on the wing these days than in defense as they are asked to move forward at every opportunity, and most teams that play attacking full backs use an anchor man that rarely strays too far away from the two central defenders often dropping back to almost make a back three, the wingers tuck in because it drags the defending full backs inside and that leaves a massive gap for the overlap, that's a tactic that is still very tough to defend against when done right. 442 is still an effective tactic for more direct teams or classic route one football, Stoke have used it pretty effectively, but teams that like to play short passes prefer to have three men in the middle. Sent from my mobile
