FOOTBALL FORMATIONS

About this formation

Terry as the deep CB with David Luiz closing down and playing the ball out from the back. Bosingwa and Cole pushing forward, with Mikel retreating into the space between Terry and David Luiz to maintain defensive stability.

Essien is the box-to-box player, collecting short passes from Mikel and Luiz and moving the ball quickly upfield and closing down the opposition midfield when out of possession. Lampard operates in a similar capacity but not dropping as deep, picking up short passes from Essien and either spreading the ball to the overlapping Bosingwa or Cole, or playing killer passes through to Torres. He also supports Bosingwa on the right with one-twos and opening up space. Lampard makes runs from deep and takes shots or plays through balls, collecting from Essien or the deep-lying Malouda. The two CMs mark their opposition equivalents.

Of the front three, Malouda falls back to collect passes from Essien and either play in Cole on the overlap, or cut inside himself for the shot, pass to Lampard or to move the opposition full-back out of position. When needed, he can cross from deep.
Drogba also comes deep to collect the ball, harass the DM or CBs and drag them out of position to all Lampard to run into the space. When collecting short passes, he can run with the ball at the CBs with support on either side from Lampard and Malouda. Torres acts as a more traditional striker, albeit hanging slightly to the right in order to take advantage of Ashley Cole's crosses and not block Drogba's runs through the centre. He is the player with the least defensive responsibility on the field, mainly operating to collect crosses and passes to apply the finishing touch.

When more attacking impotus is required, Ramires can come on in place of Mikel with Essien moving into a deeper role. Ivanovic can come on instead of Bosingwa when defensive strength is required.