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4-3-3, Club to Reps
Pros and Cons of the 1- 4-3-3 System of Play
By Gregory Parker
Jun 6 2011 10:50

The National Curriculum is much more than a system of play. It is method of teaching modern football and moves us away from "wrestle ball" and "kick and chase". The NC has mandated that all our youth representative teams play the 1-4-3-3 system. The system has been chosen as the best way to teach modern football. Before we explore the 10 and 11 year old age groups and to interest coaches of older ages and advancing players, we will delve into some of the advantages and disadvantages of the 1-4-3-3 system.

By now, after offering some sample training sessions from 4v4 (6/7 yrs) and 7v7 (8/9 yrs) in my previous blogs, we can start to see how the stages start to fit together to help develop players in technique and tactics, in preparation for when they play 11v11 (age 12 years). A formation is never static and only offers a template or reference point for how a team is organised. There are many ways to play the system depending on the opposition and or the coach's tactics.

Figure 1 shows a basic 1-4-3-3 system with two holding midfielders. This is the starting point for ages 12-15 years. Later, two attacking midfielders are employed (the triangle point facing backwards)

Figure 1 Basic 1-4-3-3 Formation

Advantages

• The triangulation of the formation allows support angles for all players from defenders, midfielders to attackers. This helps with possession oriented football. Barcelona demonstrated this to a much higher degree during the recent UEFA Cup final. Additionally they used a bounce ball to shift defenders to create new areas of space that could be exploited during attack. "Tika Taka"

• Having wide forwards allows for attacking slants down the wings.
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